According to Pham Xuan Tai, Deputy Director of Hanoi's Department of Culture and Sports, the festival aims to honor Vietnam's long-standing martial tradition while preserving and promoting the values of traditional Vietnamese martial arts in contemporary society.

He said selecting the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long- a UNESCO World Heritage Site - as the festival's centerpiece reflects Hanoi's strategy of combining heritage conservation with international cultural exchange.

The city also hopes to establish the event as an annual regional martial arts festival.

The opening ceremony is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on August 7 and is expected to attract between 10,000 and 15,000 spectators in person, along with more than 100,000 online viewers.

Organizers anticipate participation from 1,500 to 2,000 martial arts masters, practitioners, coaches, athletes, and performers.

To showcase the diversity of Vietnamese martial arts traditions, delegations from Ho Chi Minh City and Gia Lai Province - which has strong historical links to the Binh Dinh school of traditional Vietnamese martial arts - will join international groups from Europe, Africa, China, South Korea, and other countries for performances and demonstrations.

Festival director Hoang Cong Cuong said the event would be the first to tell the story of Vietnam's 4,000-year history through martial arts combined with theatrical performance.

"The festival's most sacred moment will be a ceremonial flame taken from Kinh Thien Palace within the Imperial Citadel to ignite the festival torch, symbolizing Vietnam's enduring martial spirit," he said.

"Audiences will experience much more than martial arts demonstrations. They will be immersed in a cultural performance that combines music, fan dances, bamboo dances, calligraphy-inspired choreography, and martial arts to recreate the heroic spirit of Vietnam's ancestors through a cinematic artistic presentation."

Dai Nam