Video: Vietnamese Martial Arts Performance in Hue

When I was out for the day exploring the Imperial Tombs in Hue, Vietnam, I had the opportunity to stop at a traditional martial arts school to view a performance. When I think of martial arts, my mind naturally tends to go to China or Japan, but many Asian countries have some form of traditional martial art that is commonly practiced. In Vietnam, this is a type of Kung Fu known as Vovinam which was developed in Hue in the early 20th century during the Nguyen Dynasty.

The martial art uses the body, mind and weapons as an effective form of combat and self defense. In this performance, the students of the school (who are all orphans), demonstrated all of the different techniques involved in Vovinam. I was very impressed.

The performance started of with a kind of “dragon dance”, followed by some individual performances highlighting some of the different forms. The performance then began getting very exciting as some of the students began sparring with each other, finishing with three of them battling it out.

The final part of the performance involved some unbelievable Kung Fu techniques where one student broke a pile of tiles with his head, finishing with another who placed a spear head on his throat, bending the spear shaft with his strength while a brick was smashed with a sledge hammer on his back, all while the spear head was at this throat. The technique requires an incredible amount of strength and will power, which he has built up over many years through practice and discipline. They certainly got my applause.

Watch the video below of this traditional martial arts performance. The video shows most of the performances, but I didn’t capture the final spear performance as I was so entranced with what was happening and there were a lot of people standing around the student for safety. These students are very talented.

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