The matrimony of a descendant of the God for the cultivation of rice Thanh Nong with the pixie of the woods in the mountains of Viet-Nam an eldest son Loc Thuc was born. Loc Thuc marries the daughter of the dragon that rules over the sea. Out of this matrimony Lac Long Quan is born who later will be king of the country. Under his sovereignty the country is facing a golden era with luck, fortune and peace. The king celebrates a marriage with the Goddess of the mountains Au Co. Au Co lays eggs that bring one hundred sons to life.

The one half returns with their mother into the mountains, where they found the first Vietnamese kingdom Van Lang. The firstborn son will be king of this new empire, his name was Hung Vuong. Hung Vuong is seen as the founder of the Hong Bang-dynasty which lasted for 18 generations. Their rule is lasting until 258 B.C. The exact date of its beginning remains unknown. For the first time as the year of its beginning 2,879 B.C. was mentioned in the book Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu that was issued in 1,479 AD. Another source out of the year 1,377 AD is the Viet Su Loc, which mentions the period from 696-682 B.C. as the time of its foundation. In Vietnamese historiography King Vuong is seen as the one who summarized Asian medecine, philosophy and culture under the term Vo. For this reason he is attributed to the foundation of Viet Vo Dao. The Chinese Empire under the Han-dynasty was expanding to all directions, also to the south and touched the areas of settlement of the Viet-, Thai- and Meo-Nations. Due to the early Chinese historiography first reliable information about the people in this region are known. The people of the Kinh were living in the lowlands in the north of Viet Nam. . The neighbouring empire of Van Lang, Au Viet, was renamed as Au Lac after having been conquered. The capital in this time was the city Co Loa, which is not far away frm the city of Ha Noi of today. In the year 218 B.C. an army of the Chinese Ch'in-dynasty is invading the Au Lac-country from the north The struggle for liberty lasted for ten years and ended with a defeat of the intruders. However the freedom didn't last for long because shortly afterwards the empire Au Lac will be integrated in the neighbouring Chinese province of Nan Yueh. The conquered country was named by the Chinese as Nam Viet, the country of the Viet, that's to say the people in the country of the Viet-birds. This south-Chinese province finally gained independence from the Chinese Empire under the Trieu-dynasty (207-111 B.C.) and was able to maintain the tradition and culture of the Kinh

The independence of the province endedin the year 111 B.C. when the country was conquered by troups of the eastern Han-Dynasty. The status as a protectorate under the name Giao Chi lasted until 930 A.D. The period of the protectorate wasn't always peaceful. Resistance movements arose steadily and there were inumerous rebellions, which sometimes even led to interim governments, i.e. 40-43 by the two sisters Trung, 248 by Trieu Thi Trinh Nuong, 544-604 by the early Ly-Dynasty, 722 by Zhuc Loan (Hac De) and his son, 766-802 by Phung Hung and Phung An, 905-930 by Khuc Thua Du, his son and his grandson and 931-938 by Duong Dien Nghe. The martial arts of Viet Nam were always closely related to the warfare of the country. Many theories dealing with

techniques close to the body -Di doan thang truong-
the easing as answer to power -Di nhu thang cuòng-
the principle of surprise
the secrets of camouflage
the evasion without resistance - Phan tan biên pháp

Around the year 930 A.D. the period of the protectorate came to an end. During the battle near the river Bach Dang nearby the town of today Hai Phong Ngo Quyen beat the Chinese fleet. As a result of this defeat from 939 A.D. Vietnamese dynasties arose. The then-kingdom Dai Co Viet(later Dai Viet) expanded southward in the direction to Trung Bo, what is comparable to the middle part of Vietnam of today.

The training of the martial arts was primarily practiced within the family. The term Vo (see above) gradually lost its character as a secret art and great parts of the population got access to it. This opening happened in three periods:

Under the Ly-Dynasty (1010-1225)
under the Tran-Dynasty (transition period from 1211 on, 1225-1394)
under the rule of king Quang Trung (1788-1792)

These periods of rule are also characterized in the history of the country as the Golden age. The literature came to a first climax. In the education system of Viet Nam the martial arts were taught. Their value for society was considered so important that even a royal academy for martial arts (Giang Vo Duong) was founded. During the Tran-Dynasty mounted Mongolian hordes under Kublai Khan (1257-1288) invaded the country, although he wasn't interested in the country Dai Viet but in the richer kingdom Champa in the south. The plans of the Mongols however were repeatedly successfully frustrated by the commander Tran Hung Dao while binding the attacking troups in partisan warfare that forced them finally to give up their initial goals and retreated.

In the period from 1406-1427 the country Dai Viet was again occupied by the northern Chinese neighbours under the rule of the Ming-Dynasty. There were several uprisings that all ended with a defeat and brought even more oppression and the intention of the invaders to take away the cultural and ethnic independence. Le Loi succeeded however to free his country with his resistance movement Lam Son. After the Chinese occupation Le Loi founded as king Le Thai To the later dynasty of the Le (1428-1789). Nevertheless in the year 1471 the kingdom of Champa was conquered, this time however by the northern neighbour Dai Viet. The power in south-east ASia is from now on divided into five groups, the Dai Viet, the Chinese in the north, the Khmer in the south and the Thai and Lao in the West.

The outer balance of power was stable, the internal relationships however were shattered due to power struggles. Those struggles began with the taking over of the power by the Mac-family (1527-1677) and the new effort to seize the power by the Le-Dynasty in the year 1533 in the south of the country and in 1592 also in the north. But in fact the power in the country was divided between the Nguyen-Family in the south and the Trinh-Family in the north, however none of them succeeded in grasping the power all over the country. This opposition of two blocks of power led to the development of three Vo-styles:

Vo Bac Ninh in the north (Bac Bo)
Vo Quang Binh and Vo Binh Dinh in the middle (Trung Bo)
and Vo Lam in the conquered south including the delta of the Mekong-river (Nam Bo). In the south a considerable influence from Chinese people who fled the invading Mongolian troups in China could be noticed. Here the Chines als o found several commercial centers , i.e. in Cholon, today a quarter of the city of Sai Gon.

Social unrest, at first in the northern parts of the country, later also in the south finally led to the Tay-Son-rebellion (1771-1788) under the Nguyen (Vo Binh Dinh)-brothers. In the south Nguyen Nhac is ruling and in the central parts Nguyen Lu. The military strategist Nguyen Hue came to the aid of the sovereigns of the north against the Chinese liberation army. After his victory he crowned himself as king Quang Trung (1788-1792). With his coronation a second golden era of the Vo began. Nguyen Anh who surrendered during the Tay-Son-rebellion succeeded from 1788 on in gaining ground in the south. With the support of the French he even reached the city of Ha Noi in 1802.

Viet Nam for the first time is a unified state. The French who were called for help, however didn't leave the country. On the contrary, from 1858 on their influence in Viet Nam grew stronger and stronger which led to the fact that Viet Nam was a French colony for 58 years, from 1887-1945. The last emperor of Viet Nam, a son of the Nguyen-Dynasty abdicated in 1945. The occupation of the country had also an essential influence on the Vo. Since 1883 practicing Vo was completely forbidden, which let to its training in private. Due to this isolated secret practicing of Vo different styles were developing.

In the year 1938 Nguyen Loc founded the Vovinam-school. By doing this the population gradually got access to the art of Vo. Further foundings of schools were done. In the south of the country in the beginning of the sixties an umbrella organization (Tong Hoi Vo Hoc Viet Nam) was founded that had the task to make known the different styles of Vo. Under the Japanese occupation during World War II (1940-1944) the vietnamese martial arts got in contact with Japanese ones and the level system used in Japan. Some schools simply gave up their own system in favour of the Japanes grades shown by the different colors of the belts. The blue color was generally used for pupils' grades, golden or yellow and red were identical with the Dang-grades. A proliferation of the Vo outside of the country happened mainly in France. A worldwide proliferation of the Vo was done by Vietnamese refugees during the Japanese occupation, during the Vietnam-war 1964-1975 and the so called boat-people until 1982. With the end of the war in 1975 and the hasty retreat of the US military out of South-Vietnam this martial art was forbidden all over the country by the communist leaders. Vo was considered to be blimpish. Only since 1988 it became possible to practice the traditional Vo publicly and without fearing punishment.

It is nearly impossible to give an overview over the multitude of Vietnamese martial arts. Martial arts are not documented in writing but will be handed over from teacher to pupil. Also the introduction of the Latin script (chu quoc ngu) in the year 1919 didn't bring the Vo-masters to keep records. The periods of occupation and prohibitions of exercise of Vo lesd to the emerging of different styles. The appreciation of Vo was different from one period to the other. During the golden periods of Vo the graduates of the Giang Vo Duong-schools were charged to take measures in favour of the education of the population as well as to organize the defence of the towns.

In the country Viet Nam not only the martial arts of the Kinh were developing but also those of the influential Chinese immigrant groups. The Chinese arts were as a general rule handed over from Chinese teacher to Chinese pupil. An exchange between these different martial arts were rare.