A statue of the Hung King in HCM city.

The  present-day nation of Vietnam is believed to have been established in 2897 BC by the first Hung King who named it Van Lang. A workshop in Hanoi on Tuesday reported that historical and cultural heritages created under the rule of the 18 Hung Kings formed an important part of Hanoi’s culture. 

“Hanoi was the cradle of folk culture in the Red River delta during the Hung King era with more than 500 relics and figures relating to the dynasty having been recovered in the area. It’s a cultural rarity for a country to have a national day dedicated to its founders. UNESCO has inscribed the worship of the Hung Kings and its related practice of Xoan singing on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity,” said Pham Van Dan, Director of the Hung King Cultural Research and Development Center.

The Hung King dynasty spanned more than 2,500 years.