More than 1,000 martial arts instructors from over 40 countries and over 500 Vietnamese instructors and athletes will take part in the international martial arts festival in Binh Dinh Province from August 1-3, 2008.

This is the second international martial arts festival held in Binh Dinh but this will be the first time that the festival is mixed with the Tay Son-Binh Dinh Festival.

Binh Dinh is famous for its own martial art, called Vo Binh Dinh, which is based on the assumption that the opponent is probably taller and heavier. So the Vo Binh Dinh fighter is constantly on the move, making counter-strikes to attack arms or legs.

The three-day festival will take place in the Quy Nhon City, the Nhon Hoi Economic Zone, Quang Trung Museum, and neighboring areas.

The opening ceremony and the coronation ceremony of King Quang Trung will be organised at the Quang Trung Museum in Phu Phong Town, Tay Son District in the afternoon on August 1. A lantern festival will be held at Thi Nai Lagoon with a fireworks ceremony and lantern releasing. In the morning on August 2, international martial arts instructors will give special performances.

The celebrations will also include activities such as an exhibition to promote tourism, trade villages, and traditional food.

At a promotion meeting in HCMC, the organisers said that the festival will also include programmes to introduce Vietnamese classical drama, a kind of operatic theatre that to the untrained eye may resemble Chinese opera. The final Dao Tan classical drama competition will take place on August 2.

On the night of the gala there will be floral garlands and coloured lanterns, speeches and traditional music performed by artists from around the country, as well as from abroad.

However, the most important events at the Tay Son-Binh Dinh Festival will be traditional martial arts competitions with international and Vietnamese competitors, who will compete in various forms of martial arts and there will also be a special performance by Binh Dinh martial arts instructors.

The organising board has commandeered nearly 4,000 rooms, including 1,800 that meet international standards, for domestic and foreign tourists. The board has also upgraded facilities in the culture and information centre for the hundreds of domestic and foreign reporters covering the event.

Binh Dinh expects that the event will attract many martial art clubs in the province and hopes that the competitions between Binh Dinh's martial art instructors, other instructors from across the country and foreigners will help the province to introduce and preserve the beauty of Binh Dinh martial arts.

                                                                                               (Source: SGT)