What are the best sports programs in Vietnam?

Vietnam's traditional sports are colorful and varied, with martial arts, chess, rattan ball and bull-racing being the most popular among the Vietnamese people.

In order to promote the development of sports, since 1991, Vietnam has designated March 27 every year as "Vietnam Sports Day".

Vietnamese martial arts

Vietnamese martial arts have been greatly influenced by Chinese martial arts since ancient times, while boxing from Southeast Asian countries has also penetrated into Vietnamese martial arts. However, while absorbing the essence of martial arts from neighboring countries, Vietnamese martial arts have also retained a lot of their own characteristics. The uniforms of Vietnamese martial arts are similar to those of judo and taekwondo, and different colored belts are used to distinguish the level of practitioners.　

The most influential Vietnamese martial art at present is Yue Wu Dao. It is a Vietnamese way of doing martial arts, influenced by China's Southern Shaolin and Muay Thai, and developed as its own school.

Today, practicing Vietnamese martial arts has become an urban recreational trend because it improves the body's speed, strength, flexibility, coordination, sensitivity and endurance. In recent years, it has grown so much that it has spread to more than 40 countries and regions.

In 1988, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) formally approved the inclusion of wushu as an official sport in the Asian Games.

Wushu competitions officially appeared in the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing.

Chess

Chess is one of the most common forms of folk entertainment among Vietnamese people, enjoyed not only by city dwellers but also loved in rural areas. In Vietnam, the chess pieces and the way of playing are exactly the same as in China: the same board, the same "rooks, knights and cannons", the same "Chu River, Han River boundary", and the same way of moving.

In some villages in the north of Vietnam, there is also a form of folk entertainment featuring Xiangqi, locally known as "human chess" and "card chess".

Every year during the Lunar New Year or the fall harvest season, villagers in these places hold "Human Chess" and "Poker Chess" competitions, attracting many sightseeing tourists.

The "Human Chess" game is played by people dressed as chess pieces and divided into two sides. The chessboard is drawn on a wide field. The "actors" on both sides of the big board are generally young people, wearing "chess uniforms" that are very distinctive, and each "actor" holds in his hand a piece of paper with the words Each "actor" holds in his hand a wooden tablet with the Chinese characters for "general, sergeant, bishop, rook, knight, cannon, and pawn", and stands on the corresponding position in the chessboard of the venue. The "generals" and "soldiers" and "bishops" of both sides are played by the most outstanding and handsome young men selected from the village.

The two masters chosen by the two villages play against each other on a small chessboard by the side of the field, and a person gives orders according to the moves made by the two players, and the pieces played by the people on the big chessboard move according to the orders given to them. Actors every step, the audience outside the field to beat the drums to cheer, in the eat each other's pieces is the sound of the drums. The "pieces" that are eaten need to exit the field and continue to watch the battle from outside the field.

Playing cards is similar to playing human chess, except that instead of people playing the role of chess pieces, wooden cards with the names of the pieces are inserted in the field. The wooden tiles are inserted at the positions of the pieces in the field, and a person is responsible for moving them according to the number of moves made by the two players.

Chess has a long history in China and Vietnam. As early as 1925, the legendary Guangdong chess player Zhong Zhen, known as the "Chess Immortal", traveled around Vietnam and had a great impact on local chess activities, and is still listed in the Vietnam Chess Genealogy.

Chess made its debut at the Asian Games in 2010 as an official competition.

Rattan ball

Rattan ball is a unique and ancient sport popular in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries with a long history. It is similar to the Chinese shuttlecock game, in which you use your ankles, knees and other joints to pinch and push the ball to prevent it from falling to the ground. It is similar to the Chinese shuttlecock game. Rattan ball is somewhat similar to volleyball, but the difference is that it is played with the feet instead of the hands, so it is also called "volleyball kicked by the feet".

Modern rattan ball has a history of only 40 years, and was officially listed as an official event of the Southeast Asian Games in 1965. 1982 rattan ball entered the Asian Games as a performance item, and was included in the 1990 Beijing Asian Games as an official event.

Niu Racing

Niu Racing is a unique traditional sport of the ethnic minorities in southern Vietnam. According to legend, once upon a time, farmers of the Khmer ethnic group in Vietnam used to go to temples to help monks plant their crops, and temple elders took this opportunity to organize cattle races, with the best pair being rewarded. The races were held by pulling wooden wheelbarrows on sandy roads during the dry season for rice planting, and by pulling plows in paddy fields during the rainy season for harvesting, which gradually evolved into traditional folk races. Since 1992, the method of competition has been clearly defined. Each group has two pairs of oxen to participate in the race, and the sequence of the program is determined by drawing lots. The race is divided into two rounds, the first round is called "Hoo" round, along the runway jogging, crossing the border for the loss; the second round is called "put" round, that is, fast running, more than the speed of the race, the race is very tense, especially from the end of the line 100 meters of the sprint, the competition is more intense.

The cattle race has been developing in recent years and has become a popular sport and cultural activity in Vietnam.