When did the reform begin ?

The "modern" tunic came in during the 1930s, although Vietnamese women in the countryside still wore the traditional tunic.

Some people believe the ao dai must have first appeared in the South (Nam Bo) because this region was the first under French domination and was a colony directly under French administration. The Vietnamese there were the first to wear Westernized clothes. Westernization came later to the North, which was a protectorate. In addition, the North had a Sino-Vietnamese traditional culture that had been established for two thousand years while the Vietnamese culture in the South was only several hundred years old.

Others think the modern ao dai appeared in the North, as designed by Cat Tuong, a painter whose pseudonym, Le Mur, is the literal French translation of his name, Tuong (the Wall). For that reason, the new tunic was called the "Lemur dress." Cat Tuong could easily sell his designs at his dressmaking business.

Yet still others believe that a Vietnamese designed the modernized tunic, which first appeared in Paris in 1921.

We can probably draw two conclusions about the origin of the modern ao dai:

1) The need to modernize women's dress appeared at about the same time in Viet Nam as in the West.

2) This need found expression in the press, which created a popular movement. Credit goes to two reviews, Phong Hoa and

Ngay Nay, both of which belonged to the Tu Luc Van Doan Group. Although the new fashion may have appeared earlier in another place, the active and efficient writing in Phong Hoa and Ngay Nay popularized the modem ao dai.Painters educated in the French Indochina College of Fine Arts transformed the former tunic with the four or five flaps to show off the woman's figure. They reduced the number of flaps to two, one in the front and the other in the back and discarded the belt. The new tunic was buttoned and shorter, hanging a little lower than the knees; the looser sleeves allowed blood to flow more freely; the collar was higher or turned down. A tighter bodice replaced the looser Vietnamese bra or yem. Supple trousers replacing the skirt covered the buttocks more tightly before making a graceful descent to the ankles.

The modern ao dai was widely popularized in 1934. Before, only women married to Frenchmen dared to wear such fashionable clothes and leave their teeth unblackened. Little by little, the new clothes won the favour of women who had been educated in Franco-Vietnamese schools, including female teachers, nurses, and midwives, and the school girls themselves. Two trends opposed each other. The conservatives considered the new mode of dress immodest; in contrast, the progressives thought women must catch up with modern times. In the end, the progressives won.

During the War of Resistance Against France, which began shortly after the August Revolution of 1945, only women in towns temporarily occupied by the French wore ao dais.After the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the Geneva Accords divided the country into two regions; then the American War broke out. The ao dai continued to develop in South Viet Nam. However, it was not a suitable garment for life under American bombs in the impoverished North; there, blouses were popular. Women wore ao dais only for formal events and when travelling abroad.

After peace was reestablished in 1975 and the country was reunified, the ao dai recovered its role and position across the country. Women's fashion began to develop markedly after application of the policy of renewal at the end of the 1980s. Western fashions - especially skirts and jeans- began to compete with the ao dai. However, in recent years, fashion designers and contestants in beauty contests have paid attention to the ao dai. Designs for the ao dai have won international prizes, increasing its esteem. And, the ao dai has secured its place as a symbol of Viet Nam.

When did the ao tu than appear ?

No known document records this garment's emergence. However, its appearance is likely tied to when Vietnamese learned to plant cotton, spin, and weave 30- 40centimeter broad cloth on a rudimentary loom. Also, it may come from when they learned to plant mulberry, raise silkworms, spin, and then weave. thin, soft cloth such as crepe, gauze, and fine, thin silk.



The four-panelled traditional dress is a gauze or silk robe worn over a white or yellow shirt. The robe consists of four narrow pieces of fabric that run the length of the body. Two pieces are joined at the back down to the heel. The front two pieces are joined with the two back pieces down to the waist and then tied together into a knot under a green, pink, or yellow belt. The robe is usually brown, black, or ebony gauze.Women attending spring festivals often wear an ao mo ba, which is a set of three robes: the outer one is black or brown gauze, while the two inner ones are either light yellow, lotus coloured, or sky blue. In the old days, women wore skirts, but later they had pants made of black coarse silk or black satin; some women wore red crepe.

This poem from the first half of the century gives an image of a girl in her traditional dress:

A small turban, the hanging tail still high,

This morning I wear peach yem straps

Satin pantaloons, a blouse of new silk gauze,

And carry a flat palm hat with fringes.

My mother smiles: "Father, Look!

On her feet, sandals with curved tips.
Our daughter is beautiful, beautiful,

When will she be wed?"

"Perfume Pagoda" by Nguyen Nhuoc Phap

A fashion reform occurred in Ha Noi during the mid-twentieth century, while Viet Nam was still under French domination. Men began to dress in Western style, and women began to wear a modern robe that was a renovated ao tu than. Ha Noi women welcomed the new fashion and used French silk- particularly dark red and violet - and soft, thin Indian cloth to make the colourful, modern ao dai.

The reform movement also affected girls in the countryside. However, many people strongly opposed the changes, including the poet Nguyen Binh.

With your velvet turban, your rustling satin pants,
Your modern ao dai, Dear, you make me unhappy!

Where is your yem of floss silk?

Where is the silk belt that you dyed last spring?
Where is your four-panelled dress?

Your black scarf, your trousers of black, raw silk?
- "Country Folk" by Nguyen Binh

Nowadays, women wear the traditional four panelled dress only on festival days and to sing folk songs and love duets on stage or perform in plays such as the cheo opera, Quan Am Thi Kinh (The Goddess of Mercy). Today, although there are many types of renovated ao dai, the ao tu than is the basis of the graceful modern ao dai. To learn more about the garment's history, visit the History Museum near the Red River or the Museum of Ethnology in western Ha Noi.

What does the word "ao dai" mean ?

In Vietnamese, "ao dai “ means "long dress." For many, the dress has become a symbol for the beauty of Vietnamese women.

The ao dai began to attract international attention during the American War in Viet Nam. At that time, many Western writers, journalists, and tourists writing in French and English referred affectionately to the ao dai.

Some Vietnamese terms such as: "nem" "pho" and "nuoc mam" along with "viet Minh" "Viet Cong," and "Ho Chi Minh Trail" have appeared in Western dictionaries. Now, "ao dai" has also earned an entry. Webster's New World College Dictionary defines "ao dai" as "the traditional costume of Vietnamese women, consisting of a long, high-necked, close-fitting tunic split along the side to the waist and worn over loose-fitting trousers."

What does a flying dragon on the ao dai represent ?

The dragon in Western myth and folklore is often a monster and a symbol of evil. Many Western artists have used the dragon to depict the on-going struggle between good and evil. For example, Saint Michael who defeats the devil, and in many stories a gallant knight duels with a dragon and either dies in the depths of the dragon's teeth or returns home victorious.

In contrast, in Asian countries the dragon is revered as a sacred animal. The Vietnamese people are proud to be descendants of a dragon and a fairy. The dragon came from the ocean and the fairy from the heavens. They fell in love with each other and married. Later, the fairy became pregnant and gave a birth to one hundred eggs, from which one hundred sons emerged. Fifty sons followed the father to rule the regions near the sea, while the mother took the other fifty sons to conquer the mountains. One of their sons founded the country of lac Viet. "Lac Viet" is the name of ancient Viet Nam.

In Viet Nam, the dragon is a symbol of power, glory, luck, happiness, and prosperity. As such, it can ward off evil spirits. For example, dreaming of a dragon or feeling the presence of a dragon spirit is a good omen. During feudal times, only the king could use this image, which was a symbol of his power. The dragon motif often decorated the king's clothes to show that the dragon's destiny was intertwined with the king's. In 1010, King Ly Thai To (914 - 1028) established the Ly Dynasty and decided to move the capital of his kingdom from Hoa Lu in northern Ninh Binh Province to Thang Long, present-day Ha Noi. "Thang Long" means "rising dragon." The king named the city after seeing a dragon ascend from the new site. In 2010, Hanoians will celebrate Ha Noi's 1,000th birthday with a feast of cultural activities.

The dragon's deep roots in Vietnamese spiritual life gives it a traditional and sacred role in Vietnamese culture. As time has passed, the image of the dragon has become a popular motif of adornment on ao dais. Fashion designers have used embroidery and paint to replicate the spirit of the dragon, adding to the ao dai's elegance and tying its modern style to antiquity.

How was the ao dai uniform revived in school ?

Twenty years ago, Dam Thi Ngoc Tho, then principal of Ho Thi Ky High School, created a stir in the town of Ca Mau at the southernmost tip of the Mekong Delta. Tho announced a school regulation in 1983 to reintroduce the traditional white ao dai as a uniform for girl students. "Ladies and Gentlemen, let us demonstrate beauty and equality in our socialist school," she told an audience of more than 800 parents. "I believe I'm right. Otherwise, the Communist Party will discipline me."

One provincial officer even accused Tho of being bourgeois. He and others believed the ao dai (popular under the former Sai Gon regime) was a remnant of the past. The flowing dress had nearly disappeared after South Viet Nam was liberated in 1975. Tho's critics felt that modern students shouldn't waste their money on clothing and detergent. Even one of Tho's best friends expected the decision to be withdrawn within a year. however ,after the principal finished her speech, the audience sat silently for a few seconds. Suddenly, everyone started clapping. Tho was so happy that she burst into tears.

Even today, her memories of struggling for the ao dai remain fresh in her mind. She recalls that in 1981, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Binh, then Minister of Education and Training, visited Ca Mau. She advised the teachers to create an equal and disciplinary educational environment for the children. "I had many poor pupils who studied very hard. They wore patched clothes, so they never socialised with their rich schoolmates," she recalls.

Tho lay awake many nights thinking about the ao dai. In those days, the dress cost little more than the students' ordinary clothes. One ao dai could last a schoolgirl two years, she reasoned. With such uniforms, her pupils would appear equal, and the school would flourish with beauty.

Tho and her colleagues lobbied intensely before the uniform was actually accepted in the schools. Tho submitted articles to the local newspapers. She explained the benefits of an ao dai uniform and sought the support of local educational authorities. The teachers even wore their own ao dais to set an example for their students. They also met with the students' parents and asked the latter to save their money to buy ao dais. In some cases, the school's Trade Union provided dresses for those who couldn't afford them.

As a result of these persistent efforts, Ho Thi Ky High School approved a dress code for the 1983 - 1984 school year. Rumours and criticisms waned. Other neighbouring schools began to adopt the same practice. Within seven years, the ao dai was officially recognised as the most beautiful uniform for school girls in Viet Nam.

How has the ao dai developed through time ?

Among the factors differentiating the world's peoples are language, housing, and dress. According to Vietnamese scholar Phan Ke Binh's Vietnamese Customs, "most of our dress since the Tang Dynasty has imitated the Chinese."

Chinese civilisation influenced Vietnamese culture during the thousand years the Northern (Chinese) people dominated Viet Nam. Court dress (head-wear, clothes, belt, garments, boots) and ancient military uniforms (hats, armour, clothes, shoes) reflect this influence. However, the Chinese presence did not affect civilian clothing for the common people, particularly the women's robe called "ao tu than" or "four-panelled traditional dress." Ao tu than is the forerunner of the ao dai . It does not look like a Chinese woman's

What are several quick assessments of the ao dai ?

This might be a good summary: "Beautiful, but not for every woman and every occasion." Or: "elegant," "graceful," "simple but showing off the woman's slender form," "a charming dress with its flaps fluttering attractively in the wind ...”

Visitors to Viet Nam have used all sorts of adjectives to express their admiration for the traditional tunic worn by Vietnamese women. Because the .ao dai is close-fitting, it becomes slender women, as most young Vietnamese women are. It is like Raymond de Dalmas’ description of the kimono as "perfectly suitable for the Japanese women's particular beauty and making them appear even more lovely." Yet we don't often meet women wearing kimonos in Tokyo's streets, perhaps because the garment is not appropriate for work. For the same reasons, we rarely meet Hanoi an women wearing .ao dais in the streets.

Western women, who are generally less slender than the Vietnamese. love the .ao dai but rarely wear one because they feel uncomfortable. As Edie Schule notes in her memoir, Earth and Water, "Emmie Clare was immensely popular with her students, but when we met, she had just ended a three-month tussle with school administrators over their requirement that female teachers wear .ao dai to work. We all considered this a victory since the .ao dai has been transformed from a piece of 'traditional' attire into an uncomfortable, inconvenient form-fitting burden."

How does a Western woman look in a Vietnamese ao dai ?

Below is a personal experience by writer Ngoc Hien:
I was at a Vietnamese wedding recently but saw only one ao dai. The interesting thing was. the wearer was a Western woman. I don't mean to object to the fact that none of the Vietnamese women at the wedding wore an ao dai because each Vietnamese woman looked attractive in her Western dress or skirt.

Cultural exchanges happen two ways. If Western costumes make us look good, we should wear them. If a foreigner becomes more graceful in our Vietnamese ao dai, we'll favour her wearing it. This is not strange.

The interesting thing is that the ao dai has turned out to be very useful, for it can hide ninety per cent of the wearer's physical imperfections. The two free-floating flaps will hide short legs or bow legs. You don't have to worry if you have a large waist. In fact, a fat woman can use an ao dai to make her body look slimmer.

However, these advantages for Vietnamese girls may turn out to be disadvantages for Westerners. The reason is their shoulders. Some Western women's shoulders are too large for an ao dai to hide. Ao dais look better on the slender shoulders of Vietnamese.

But there was no problem for that Western woman, whose husband was a Vietnamese photographer. He himself looked like a hippie with long hair and a beard. But his appearance didn't reveal everything. He must have advised his wife to wear an ao dai to the wedding. Furthermore, while a singer crooned "Ha Dong's Silk Gown," he pleasantly explained to her the meaning of the song about the white ao dai she was wearing. Her gray eyes opened wide in delighted astonishment.


In spite of her large and strong shoulders, the Westerner was quite graceful in her ao dai , which was printed with bamboo leaves. Perhaps her ao dai was the only true and interesting thing to win attention from visitors at the wedding party.


When the party was over, a taxi arrived. The taxi driver opened the car's door. Oh My! Before sitting on the car seat, that lovely young Westerner slightly lifted her ao dai's back flap to one side as skillfully as any Vietnamese girl.

How did the traditional tunic evolve into the modern ao dai ?

Women wore the traditional Vietnamese tunic when they were not working in the fields. Urban women wore the garment for festive or solemn occasions or when they went to the pagoda. The traditional tunic differs from one region to another.

The north of Viet Nam (Bac Bo) and Central Viet Nam (Trung Bo) have many tunics, including an unbuttoned one with two front flaps of equal length that hang freely and one with front flaps tied together and worn over a bodice that covers the neck for modesty's sake. A five-piece unbuttoned tunic has an outer, larger flap on the left side that is twice as broad as the inner flap on the right; a belt keeps the flaps from hanging too low.

The four-flapped tunic was very popular in Kinh Bac, a region of traditional culture north of the Red River and including Bac Ninh Province and part of Bac Giang Province. This tunic, often worn over two others, is called the "three-piece dress;" women wear its third part made of gauze when going on pilgrimages in the spring. The gauze outer tunic is black or brown or dark violet; the two inner tunics are ivory, lotus-pink, yellow or sky-blue. The collar is round; the flap, straight; and the sleeves, tight. The tunic is buttoned from the waist up to under the arm, but from there to the neck, it is left unbuttoned; the collar is turned down to show a part of the coloured inner tunics.

When the Nguyen lords settled in Central Viet Nam in the 17th century, this tunic was influenced by the long dresses of the Cham culture. Because of this influence, the four- flapped tunic became the ao dai.

How did the first ao dai show take place in Paris ?

In 2001, for the first time, models presented the Vietnamese women's .ao dai - a graceful, fitted tunic with flowing panels worn over simple wide-bottomed trousers - at the UNESCO House in Paris before hundreds of guests, including forty ambassadors from the Asia-Pacific region. Designer Huong Lien took the .ao dai to the west. "This was the happiest event in my life," she said upon returning from the exhibit.

Mr. Pham Sanh Chau, the Vietnamese ambassador to UNESCO, had invited Ms. Huong Lien to bring the exhibition. The delegation arrived in France on 28 May and went immediately to Tours to begin work. The team spent two days getting acquainted with the stage and the models. "The stage presented no problems," Ms. Huong Lien said, "but the models did. They were Filipinos, Chinese, French, Koreans and Overseas Vietnamese. We had to retailor over fifty .ao dais to fit them! That took time and energy, but we finished on schedule."

The first exhibition opened on 31 May at the L'Univers Hotel in Tours. The Vietnamese delegation presented two collections - a traditional one, "Vietnamese Ao Dai Through the Century," and a modern one, "Stylised Ao Dai." The team collaborated with Vietnamese-French designer Ms. Pascal Valery Tung Lam, who had sponsored the trip to France and had even postponed a show scheduled for April in order to work with the guest designers. "We had to return to Paris immediately after the show in Tours, arriving at 9 AM," Ms. Huong Lien continued. "That left us with only twelve hours of rehearsal time before our opening. We were all so nervous! Mr. Pham Sanh Chau had told us that this exhibition was important both as an opportunity to introduce the .ao dai to international friends and also to demonstrate the value of the .ao dai to the cultural heritage of the world. This would be part of UNESCO's campaign to promote and protect intangible forms of world heritage and the first fashion show held at UN ESCO House. The programme, which allowed forty minutes for the Vietnamese exhibition, also included music and dance from Korea, Japan and India."

To demonstrate the beauty of the .ao dai, the Vietnamese delegation presented three collections: "Vietnamese Ao Dai Through the Century;" "Wedding Ao Dai:" and "Ao Dai with the Country's Name Written in Characters." All the outfits were made of Vietnamese silk. The delegation also handed out fliers in French and

English outlining the history of the .ao dai. "As our models stepped onto the stage," Ms. Huong Lien added with pride, "the audience exclaimed in surprise and pleasure. The spectators broke into spontaneous applause. We had worried whether the international models could convey the soul and beauty of the ao dai, but they succeeded in showing the garment in a new light. Mr. Kochiro Matsura, Director General of UNESCO, enjoyed reading the characters. 'Very beautiful!' he exclaimed, applauding enthusiastically. Overseas Vietnamese showed approval and support. After the exhibition we burst into tears of happiness!"

How did the ao dai challenge Confucius ?

Traditional Confucian culture extolled community and family. Women were not considered as individuals but only as instruments for perpetuating the family lineage. The woman's duty was as wife and mother. She had no need to show herself by wearing fancy clothes or using make-up, especially after marriage. A serious woman's dress was modest and did not display the graceful curves of her body, especially her breasts and buttocks. Some teenage girls even wrapped their breasts to diminish attention and to avoid being considered coquettish. Even the word "vu"(breast) was considered vulgar and banished from decent conversation.

The ao dai, with its aesthetics, abolished such Confucian taboos by replacing the Confucian spirit of community with Western individualism, for a woman in an .ao dai asserted herself as someone with an independent identity.

Cham showcase

A special style of Cham pottery, known as Go Sanh, is the focus of a private museum established at 173 Le Hong Phong Street in Quy Nhon, Binh Dinh province. The ancient pottery on display at this location was collected by Mr. Nguyen Huot in the decades before Vietnam’s reunification. Mr. Huot’s son, Nguyen Vinh Hao, inherited his dad’s prized collection and opened the museum.

The museum houses thousands of antiques from the Kingdom of Champa, which flourished in Central Vietnam. The Cham statues on display range from expensive golden statues once owned by the royal family to religious stone statues to roughly made images. The collection is extremely precious.

Part of the museum’s appeal is its architecture. Visitor expecting a boring museum lined with glass cabinets will be surprised. While modern material has been used, the house features typical Cham motifs, plus some elements of traditional northern architecture.

In front of the house stands a huge pair of gate columns, bent like ivory tusks - a style common to the gates of Cham towers. Cast from concrete, the columns gain their ancient look thanks to wood carvings at the top. Inside, visitors are welcomed by a blazing red Shiva statue. Kala demon heads fixed on thick wooden planks look incredibly vivid, recalling the glory days of the Cham capital Vijaya, which flourished and then perished in the 15th century.

Items are contained in large glass cases and in wall recesses, as they would be inside a Cham tower. Statues of Brahma, Vishnu and other gods are mostly intact, having spent hundreds of years underground. The gods' static gestures are complemented by their vivid facial expressions. In this space, visitors can feel the spirit of the ancient Cham people and their once-great kingdom.

Opened in early 2006, this museum immediately attracted the attention of researchers and collectors. Built up over a lifetime, this collection reflects a passion for the Chams' ancient culture.

Earthly delights

Researchers and collectors of antique pottery are still talking about an exhibit that took place last year titled “From Go Sanh to Quang Duc”. Long Tuyen investigates. In the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum a map shows two ancient pottery centers, Go Sanh in Binh Dinh and Quang Duc in Phu Yen. The first thrived in the old Kingdom of Champa, the other on the border of Phu Yen province in Quang Nam prefecture of Dai Viet under the reign of King Le Thanh Tong.

Found by Vietnamese researchers before 1975, Go Sanh pottery was produced in the wealthy Vijaya Dynasty of the Cham Kingdom. Quang Duc pottery evolved out of techniques and enamel technology learned from China and from the ancient Chams.

The clay for Quang Duc pottery was sourced at An Dinh and the enamel was made from blood cockles from O Loan Lagoon. The fires were fed with hop seed bushes and queens crape myrtle wood, plants peculiar to the An Dinh area. Researchers have found that all Quang Duc pottery has shell marks and distinctively colored enamel. Using shells to test firing temperatures was a technique used by ancient potters in many places, but exposing blood cockles to high heat to create colored enamel is a practice unique to Quang Duc wares.

A shipwreck found near Binh Thuan contained Jingdezhen and Dehua porcelains from the 16th and 17th centuries, plus Go Sanh - Binh Dinh and Quang Duc - Phu Yen pottery. This shows that Quang Duc pottery was exported as well as being valued locally.

In its heyday, Quang Duc pottery was sold in many places in Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City antique collector Tran Dinh Son had some items of Quang Duc shell pottery, including a lime pot with a poem in nom script, that were found when a canal in Saigon was dredged after 1975.

The Quang Duc pottery trade dates back 300 years
Artisans report that the Quang Duc pottery trade dates back 300 years and was established by the Nguyen family from Binh Dinh. There are grounds to suppose that Quang Duc pottery is the successor of the Chams' famous Go Sanh - Binh Dinh pottery of the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th centuries and later Dai Viet pottery.

When the Nguyen family moved to Ngan Son they found excellent clay, fuel and waterways on which to transport their pottery. Their wares were very distinctive. Unbaked pottery was placed into a firing bag and blood cockles were stuffed inside before firing. According to antique collector Nguyen Vinh Bao from Binh Dinh, Go Sanh and Quang Duc pottery was fired using hop seed bushes to increase the kiln temperature and create the distinctively colored enamel.

Quang Duc village is now in An Thach commune, Tuy An district, Phu Yen province. Many trade villages remain in this area. In Quang Duc village, Quang Diem Luu Phuoc Temple still contains parallel sentences that read:
“Merits from the ancestors are permanent.
Luck for the descendants lasts for numerous generations.”

Vietnamese architecture

Vietnamese architecture arises from the Kings Hung dynasty.Before the 10th century, villages and hamlets appeared in this period according to several tales of Linh Nam. The ancient Vietnamese used wood to build houses to protect themselves from tigers and wolves. Two kinds of houses were depicted on the bronze drums; one in the shape of a boat and the other in a shape similar to a turtle shell.

Due to dense lakes, swamps, rivers, and highly humid tropical climate, the most appropriate building material is bamboo and wood to set up houses on low stilts. At the end of the 19th century, houses on stilts remained in mountainous areas, midlands, and plains throughout the country.

In order to be suitable with the rugged terrain, Co Loa Citadel was made out of clay during Thuc Phan Dynasty in the 3rd century BC. The architecture during the Chinese sovereignty, from the 2nd century BC to the 9th century, consisted of various structures like ramparts, royal tombs, citadels, folk-houses, and pagodas.

Ly Dynasty
During the 11th century while a united-feudal state was developing, the Ly Dynasty initiated a new phase in architectural development.
Generally, the architecture of Ly Dynasty, 11th and 12th centuries, had five orthodox styles: citadels, palaces, castles, pagodas, and houses.

Thang Long Citadel had a complex of palaces, many of which were 3-4 floor temples. At that time, the Thang Long culture deeply reflected the cultural characteristic of the tower-pagoda. The architectural characteristics of the Ly Dynasty were residential complexes, more ornamental roofs, doors, door-steps, banisters, and rounded statues, all in a suitable design for the climate and traditional customs of Vietnam. Streets, markets, ground and stilt houses in popular architectural design developed simultaneously as royal palaces.

Tran Dynasty
Under the Tran Dynasty, the dominant architecture models were the royal palace, pagoda, house, temple, and citadel. These styles were deeply and significantly illustrated in the Binh Son Tower in Vinh Phu Province, the Pho Minh Pagoda in Nam Dinh Province, and the Thai Lac Pagoda in Hung Yen Province.

The complexity and structure of Pho Minh Pagoda is an outstanding example of the architectural style of the Tran Dynasty period and of the following centuries. The structure was designed in 3 main sections: the lobby, main hall, and sanctuary.

The inside yard, or interior garden, played an important role in the traditional architectural style and reflected the concept of oriental space. The contemporary architecture of royal palaces was designed with upper floors and systems of consecutive corridors in an open-air space, which was very convenient for living in a warm climate. In spite of the crowded development, the majority of construction materials were still bamboo and wood.

Even though the Ho Dynasty lasted for only 7 years, it left an outstanding architectural heritage such as the Tay Do Citadel in Thanh Hoa Province. The splendid doors of the citadel still remain.

Le Dynasty
In the turn of the 15th century, under Le Dynasty, orthodox architecture had two dominant styles: the imperial palace and the royal tomb. From the 16th to 17th century, religious architecture gained a lot of popularity in architectural development.

But Thap Pagoda in Bac Ninh Province is famous for its structure and for the techniques used to build the tower and carve and paint the statues. When feudalism lost popularity, folk-art continued to be reflected in carvings and paintings describing active scenes of rowing, hunting, sloughing, wrestling, and cutting.
The pagoda and temple construction techniques achieved progress during the 18th century.

Nguyen Dynasty
The development of Bac Ha region at the beginning of the 19th century was slowed down, after the capital was moved to Hue by the Nguyen Dynasty. At the same time, development in Thang Long increased and citadels, cultural structures, temples, and new residential areas were built.

The center of the significant development was in Hue where imposing citadels, palaces, and tombs were built. The Vietnamese culture in Hue was influenced by the gardened-type houses which is quite different from the tubular type of houses in Hanoi.

Hue’s architecture was considered as a collection of traditional influences which relied on flat surfaces, citadel and urban centers, interior decoration, and scenery structures.

Modern and Contemporary Architecture
At the end of the 19th century, architectural characteristics were influenced by new construction style brought by European urban planning and the interaction between French and Oriental cultures. Since the reunification in 1975, Vietnam’s architecture has been impressively developing.

Many new urban and residential areas, industrial zones, and new villages with major architectural works have brought high artistic value to regional development. Nowadays, architectural development consists of 5 main domains: interior design, architectural design, environmental design, urban planning, and regional planning. Also, issues on spontaneous development of urban area, protection of architectural relics, and house-building strategies are problems that need urgent solutions.

The Art of Traditional Wrestling

On a beautiful spring day in Nam Dinh, a light breeze blows over the multicoloured traditional flags planted at the four corners of the arena where the finalists of the National Wrestling Championship are about to compete.

Were it not for the dry rhythm of the drum and the overheated ambiance appropriate for sporting events, the surroundings might be a set for an artistic performance, insofar as Vietnamese traditional wrestling (vat) resembles dancing. Indeed, the most impressive aspects of this extremely popular sport are its picturesque and well-choreographed qualities.

Wrestlers waiting for the fights to begin sit around a "carpet." There is no ring or rope. Using lime, villagers have drawn a square of around 10m on each side. The audience sits around the square, watching with anticipation as wrestlers rub their sweaty hands on the earth, all the while watching their opponents out of the comers of their eyes.

"Toong! Toong! Toong!" The drum calls two competitors to the fight. Like all traditional Vietnamese sports, a drum, a gong or sometimes both accompany wrestling. The drum adds rhythm and stimulates the athletes. A speaker announces the competitors, who stand up and step forward to the middle of the "carpet." They are barebacked and wear red shorts with a silk belt around their waist, red for one contestant and yellow for the other.

They dance with light footsteps recalling those of birds. Their arms make supple and undulating movements, displaying their musculature.

Then go the warm-up stage, a spectacle full of panache and rich in colour. Normally, this lasts two minutes while the drums continue beating. Although the performances vary according to schools of martial arts, ail warm-up dances must match the drum's rhythm. Once the wrestlers have finished their warm-up, the principal referee introduces the wrestlers by raising their arms as in boxing. Then the wrestlers turn away, facing opposite sides of the arena. The drum resumes with well-spaced rolls. The two adversaries turn, face to face, and shake hands. Then, with hands on their hips, they stare at each in defiance. As the drum gives a dry beat, they turn and step away from each other. They take further steps as the drum continues, this time at a greater and greater speed. With this, the "artistic" part of the match ends. There are no gifts once the fight officially begins. The wrestlers turn around. They bend their backs and, lowering their knees until they almost crouch, extend their arms. Eyeing one another, they advance toward each other as if gliding, preserving their equilibrium for the first strike.

The beating of the drum regulates the fight. The rhythm accelerates as soon as one of the adversaries initiates a hold. It returns to normal once danger has passed, as if the drum wants to let the wrestlers recover their breath and preserve their guard. When a wrestler falls, the rhythm accelerates, becoming more and more pressing. A finishing stroke of the drum puts an end to the combat when the loser's shoulders touch the ground. The winner and loser stand up, applauded by a prolonged drum roll.

Each wrestler has his own holds, passed down by his coach, who is the only person who knows these secrets. The winner is the wrestler who turns his adversary with his "face to the sky" and forces his shoulders to touch the earth. Under modem regulations, a match is composed of three four-minute rounds. But traditional matches often lasted for hours, since the rules did not allow a draw.

Vietnamese Rugby or Vat Cu

The rhythmic sound of a drum echoes for kilometers-vibrating, pressing, increasing in urgency. Any spectators arriving late from neighbouring villages hasten along their way. The crowd grows larger and larger around a flat piece of empty space in front of the village pagoda.

Suddenly, the drum stops. Then it resumes, but this time in three long series and accompanied by the metallic sound of a gong. Three respectable old men in long blue robes with puffed sleeves appear. The man in the middle holds a multi-coloured flag; the man on the right, a small drum; and the man on the left, a gong. These are the referees. Behind them come two teams of twenty players each. These young, well-built men are barebacked, with colourful loincloths and red or yellow belts designating their team. The captain of one team holds a tray with a ball on it, covered with a pink cloth.

The referees and players stop once they reach the centre of the playing area. The team leader places the tray on the ground, lifts the pink cloth and delicately places the "ball" in a hole dug in the middle of the playing field. The ball (cu) is made from the root of a banana tree and is twice as large as a football. It weighs four to five kilograms.

Organisers have already dug two goals-holes from 50cm to 60cm deep-at the two ends of the field. During the game, players must catch the ball, as in rugby, and throw it into the goal. Once a player has caught the ball, he may run or pass it to a team-mate. But unlike rugby or soccer, the ball may not touch the players' feet. A single goal wins the match.

This particular match is about to start: The two teams move to the middle of the field. There are no fixed positions. The drum and the gong strike their last notes. With this, a member of the red team passes the ball to a team-mate, who pushes past one, two then three opponents. But a fourth player relentlessly blocks him and grabs the ball. The "yellow" team runs, heading for its goal. The yellows soon regroup to protect the ball. Like fencers en graded, with bent knees and arms stretching forward, they are ready to deal with any opponents who want to interfere.

But the "reds" reorganise and counter-attack. Around ten red players worm themselves into the yellows' defending circle. Then go a collective struggle to possess the ball. Within several seconds, the ball passes back to the reds. They are now in the offensive position and make a lightning attack towards their goal. But they fail. A "yellow" runs even faster and prevents the score. The game continues amidst struggling arms and legs. As the competition grows heated, someone suddenly throws the ball dozens of steps away from the players. A red retrieves the ball and, before any of the yellows can react, races towards his goal. After some quick passing, in the blink of an eye, the ball lies in the reds' goal. Cries, applause, and the sound of the drum and gong bring the players back to reality: The reds have won.

This game requires speed, skill, strength and daring. General Pham Ngu Lao, the "right arm" of Vietnam's great general Tran Hung Dao, invented vat cu (literally, "ball wrestling") in the 13th century to train his soldiers to defeat the Mongol invaders. Like many uniquely Vietnamese sports, vat cu almost disappeared during the French occupation. However, the National Sports Committee has studied the game's original rules and is trying to revive the game. Without doubt, vat cu has returned to become one of the most popular games at Lunar New Year festivals.

Bamboo Jacks (choi chuyen)

This girls' game (chơi chuyen) includes ten thin, well-sharpened, round bamboo sticks and a ball, which traditionally is a fig, a miniature variety of eggplant, a small rock or a clod of clay.

These days, tennis balls are becoming more popular as a substitute. The player tosses the ball into the air. While the ball is in the air, she must quickly pick up the sticks and then catch the ball.

Players often recite a singsong nonsense rhyme: "Cai mot... Cai mai... Cai co… So mang... Thang chang... Con chit... Ngam nga... Ngam nguyt... Chuot chit... Sang ban doi…"

In the first round, the player picks up the slicks one by one. Next, she gathers two sticks at a time, and so forth up to ten. In these stages she plays with only one hand. The girl picks up sticks and catches the ball while reciting the rhyme. Meanwhile, her face reddens and her eyes become intense as she performs in front of her friends.

The peak of the game is the last, most animated stage with all ten sticks in a bundle. During this stage, the player losses the ball and then transfers (chuyen) the pack of sticks from one hand to the other. She must successively switch the bundle, first once, then twice, then three or even more times before catching the ball. The hands of a girl playing chuyen open and close like small, nimble butterflies. If a player's hands are not swift or if her eyes are not sharp, or if she fails to coordinate the two, she will lose her turn. The game will pass to the next girl. Playing chuyen warms up the body and creates a lot of fun. During summer or autumn, small girls play it everywhere, from the shade of a village banyan tree to a deserted market stall.

Rice cooking competitions (thi thoi com)

During Tet, a number of villages in northern and central Vietnam hold cooking contests that may sound simple, but follow strict and complex rules: Cooking in the wind and rain. Tu Trong Village, Thanh Hoa Province has a temple dedicated to the 11th century warrior Le Phung Hieu.

During the temple's weeklong festival the first week of Tet, villagers hold culinary competitions: cooking ordinary rice in water, steaming sticky rice and making rice cakes.

Contestants cook in the open air while in a bamboo boat floating on the village pond. Charcoal, the usual fuel, is prohibited. Instead, each competitor receives some dried sugar cane, which burns only with difficulty. The challenge increases if it is windy and raining. Each contestant must set her rice pot in exactly the right place to take advantage of the wind and avoid extinguishing the fire.

The competition begins precisely at dawn. Hundreds of boats are tied up along the pond bank since as many as 200 young women may participate.

After a salvo of drumbeats, competitors step into their boats, bringing along cooking tripods, rice pots, some damp straw and fuel. They row to the centre of the pond, make a fire and wash the rice.

A second salvo of drumbeats sounds, punctuated by three final beats, the competition starts. The cooking may be done in one pot after another or by using all pots al the same time. The tiny, light boat sways with the competitor's every movement, keeping the craft stable while cooking is like performing a circus act. The competitor who finishes first wins, but quality also counts. People from many villages watch from the pond bank, mothers who have trained their girls for months impatiently wait for the results of their efforts. Other women take advantage of the occasion to look for prospective daughters-in-law who are both good cooks and can also face difficulties with calmness.

Contests for boys and girls villagers in Chuong Village of Ha Tay Province organise similar competitions separately for boys and girls. Female participants must cook rice on the ground while simultaneously carrying a six-to seven-month-old baby from another family on her hip. She must console the infant when he or she cries. At the same time, she must prevent a toad from jumping out of a chalk circle drawn around her. The competition is all the more difficult because the spectators, especially children, take every opportunity to tease the baby.

The contest for boys is no less rigorous. Each boy must stand ready with all the necessary items (rice, water, matches and firewood) on a light boat moored the pond bank. At a given signal he paddles with his hands to the opposite bank, where a row of pots is placed on tripods. He must stay in his unmoored boat while cooking the rice on the bank. The least loss of balance tosses him over into the water.

In Tich Son Village of Vinh Phuc Province, a cooking competition takes place on the morning of the fourth day after Tet. The finished rice must meet particular criteria of taste and consistency. Contestants use two pots. First they boil the rice in a copper pot over the fire. Once the water boils, they pour both the rice and water into an earthen pot and cook the rice over charcoal until done.

Battle of the Chickens (choi ga)

Cock fighting, a long-standing form of popular entertainment, is organised during traditional festivals throughout Vietnam.

Raising roosters for cockfighting requires heavy investments in time and labour. Professional trainers choose young chickens carefully, individually preparing their food and drink, bathing them, separating them from hens, and training them in fighting positions. A fighting cock must be so acquainted with its owner that it will allow only the owner to hold him. Fighting cocks, which come from three main species, are colloquially called "sacred chickens" or "combat roosters". Black roosters with a red comb and a long neck are full of stamina and will fight to the bitter end. White roosters with ivory-coloured feet and round yellow eyes are hot-tempered and perform "lightning battles". Also popular are "five-coloured cocks" coated with black, yellow, brown, red and blackish blue feathers. They fight with flexibility and often run away if they lose.

The owners prepare a 1.5m-wide ring walled by a 20cm-high bamboo screen. Spectators stand outside the screen. Only the owners of the fighting cocks are allowed to enter the area to care for their animals. A rooster loses if it leaves the ring twice and does not return.

Before a cockfight begins, owners agree on the terms among themselves. They compare the size, weight and combat achievements of their roosters. If one rooster has longer spurs, its rival is allowed to wear artificial spurs. After the discussion and agreement, the owners bring their birds into the ring. The cocks are kept in two separate halves of the ring until a signal is given to start the fight. Cocks usually attempt some trial feints to gauge their competitor's reactions before giving mortal thrashings: a double kick against the rival's body, a cut to the neck using spurs, or pecking out the rival's eyes.

The fight continues until one bird is defeated. Contestants time the rounds by burning an incense slick or draining water can with a hole in it.

Vietnamese cockfights have two forms of compensation. In one version, the loser pays an agreed-upon sum lo the winner; in the other, the loser forfeits both money and the defeated bird.

The game of squares (O an quan)

Either boys or girls, usually age’s seven to ten, play the two-person game of O an quan (literally "Mandarin's Box"). They draw a rectangle on the ground and divide it into ten small squares called "rice fields" or "fish ponds.

"They also draw two additional semi-circular boxes at the two ends of the rectangle, which are called"mandarin's boxes," hence the game's name. Each person has 25 small pebbles and a bigger stone.

Each player places the stone in one of the mandarin's boxes and five small pebbles in each of the other squares (see diagram above). Then the game begins. The first player takes up the contents of one square on his or her side of the board (but not a mandarin's box) and distributes the pebbles one by one, starting with the next square in either direction. (Since each square contains five pebbles at the beginning, the first move will distribute five pebbles to the left or right).

After the last pebble is distributed, the player takes the contents of the following square and repeats the distribution process. But if the following square is one of the mandarin's boxes, the turn ends and passes to the other player.

If the last pebble falls into a square that precedes one empty square, the player wins all the contents of the square following the empty square and removes these pebbles from the board. If this square is followed by another empty square, the player wins the contents of the square after that, and so on. However, if there are two or more empty squares in a row, the player loses his or her turn.

Once a player has taken pebbles from the board, the turn is handed to the other player. If all five squares on one player's side of the board are emptied at any time, that player must place one pebble he or she has aside back in each of the five squares so that the game can resume.

The game continues until the two mandarins' boxes have both been taken. At the end of the game, the player with more pebbles wins, with each of the large stones counting as ten points. If each player retrieves an equal number of points, then the game is a tie. O an quan remains deservedly popular among older children since it requires good counting skills and forethought in order to win.