Name of ethnic group: Xtieng (Xa Dieng). Population: 66,788 people (Year 1999). Locality: The Xtieng live in four northern districts of Binh Phuoc Province and in Dong Nai and Tay Ninh provinces.  Customs and habits The Xtieng live a sedentary lifestyle. Each family builds its own house. Each village is led by an elderly man who must be experienced in the affairs of the community, dynamic, and trusted by the villagers. The Xtieng can marry outside their lineage. After the wedding, the bride comes to live in her husband's house. The Xtieng believe in animism and the mystical powers of thunder, lightning bolts, the heavens, and the earth. The Xtieng calculate their age according to the number of harvests that they have gathered. Culture The Xtieng language belongs to the Mon-Khmer Group. The Xtieng enjoy music and popular musical instruments, such as the six-patterned gong set. These gongs are made of bamboo panpipes. Costumes Xtieng women wear skirts and the men wear...

At the beginning of the Bronze Age, the Viet tribe groups had settled down in the North and in the north of Central Viet Nam. There were about 15 groups of Lac Viet tribesmen living mainly in the northern highland and delta and a dozen Au Viet groups of tribesmen living in Viet Bac, the northern region of old Viet Nam.  ♦ Van Lang (2876 BC – 258 BC)  At that time, the two ethnic tribes of the Lac Viet and Au Viet lived together in many areas with other inhabitants. Due to the increasing need to control floods, fight against invaders, and exchange culture and economy, these tribes living near each other tended to gather together and integrate into a larger mixed group. Among these Lac Viet tribes was the Van Lang, which was the most powerful tribe. The leader of this tribe joined all the Lac Viet tribes together to found Van Lang Nation, addressing himself as King Hung. The next generations followed in their father’s footsteps and kept this appellation. Based on...

Metal Age (about 4,000 years ago): Vietnam existed three major cultural centers: Phung Nguyen - Dong Son (The North), Long Thanh - Sa Huynh (The Centre) and Cau Sat, Doc Chua - Dong Nai (The South) from Bronze Age to Iron Age. These three major cultural centers had close and long mutual relationship, contributed to specific traditional culture of Viet Nam. It's unity in abundance.  ♦ Van Lang Nation During the Dong Son period, only one state had formed. The unified culture prevailing in this region stretched from the Sino-Vietnamese border to the northern banks of the Gianh River. The nation of the ancient Viet people existed as the Van Lang Nation, which was ruled by the Kings Hung. Hung Vuong Museum (Phu Tho Province)  ♦ Au Lac Nation A few centuries later, An Duong Vuong founded the Au Lac Nation in the third century BC. Records of this nation can be found in the annals written by the Chinese historian, Xi Ma...