Nguyen Thanh Chung has enthusiastically developed Lac Viet Vo Dao with 64 martial arts schools and nearly 10,000 followers. Students of the Lac Viet Vo Dao range in ages from 5-year-olds to 90-year-olds who have a need for physical exercise to improve their strength.

Nguyen Thanh Chung's wish is to "develop and spread the traditional martial arts internationally so that others can learn about the Vietnamese martial arts." In 2005, he was invited by the International Training Center of the International Labor Organization (ITCILO) in Turin, Italy, to attend a seminar and introduce the Vietnamese traditional martial arts in Europe. The seminar received high praise from international friends. Many Italian masters started teaching the Lac Viet Vo Dao martial arts  while Nguyen Thanh Chung also learned some Italian martial arts techniques, opening up a cultural exchange of martial arts between the two countries.

Master Nguyen Thanh Chung was awarded a certificate of merit by the Vietnam Union of Associations and the Lac Viet Vo Dao program is included in the list of national martial arts that need to be preserved and developed. Master Nguyen Thanh Chung in a position which shows an animal movement.  Performing with halberds. Master Nguyen Thanh Chung performs at Quan Thanh temple.

Nguyen Thanh Chung has been awarded an international martial arts degree and is a representative martial artist of Vietnam participating in the International Martial Arts Association in Turin, Italy.

Following this success, many Japanese masters came to Vietnam to see the Lac Viet Vo Dao program and were impressed by the beautiful martial arts imbued with the Vietnamese cultural identity.

Over the past 20 years, Nguyen Thanh Chung and his followers and associates have cooperated with the People's Security Academy and the People's Police Academy to teach students specific techniques for crime prevention using a gentle and skillful position. These are martial arts exercises to equip the police with additional skills to do their jobs.

Master Nguyen Thanh Chung with a young practitioner.  A Qigong practice - breaking bricks on a practitioner.  Master Nguyen Thanh Chung gives souvenir flags to martial arts schools at Lac Viet Vo Dao's performance festival. Master Nguyen Thanh Chung and instructors of Lac Viet Vo Dao martial arts schools

Master Nguyen Thanh Chung was awarded a certificate of merit by the Vietnam Union of Associations and the Lac Viet Vo Dao program is included in the list of national martial arts that need to be preserved and developed.

Nguyen Thanh Chung also takes the spirit of “study, study more, study forever” as a guideline in his career. In his youth, he attended two universities, the National Economics University and the Hanoi Law University. When his martial arts career was at its peak, he did not stop studying but also learned about oriental medicine. He said that it is necessary to have a clear understanding of the human body and motor techniques combined with correct breathing. It will be effective for chronic diseases such as bronchial asthma or stomachaches.

As a martial arts instructor and a traditional oriental medicine doctor, he has cured many children with myopia, the elderly with osteoarthritis and many others with chronic diseases using acupressure and acupuncture techniques. Nguyen Thanh Chung said that he combined the martial arts and medicine to help students and people around him get better, thereby doing many useful things for community.
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Story: Bich Van -  Photos: Viet Cuong & Files