In the far eastern tradition of writing chronicles chronology has always played one of the key roles being used as concealed instructions, a way to show, though not explicitly, the authors attitude towards certain events or people. In this respect Vietnam is not an exception. The strict chronological system in the Vietnamese chronicles was developed by Ngo-Shi-Lien the XV century. In the XVIII century Ngo-Tkhi-Shi made attempts to change some of its postulates, but in general the ideas of Ngo Shi-Lien dominate both in the traditional and contemporary chronology. This can be accounted for by the fact that they are based on radical patriotism, which is still in need up to the present moment. In the article the author, using particular examples, shows the peculiarities of the Vietnamese chronicles of different periods, as far as designing headings and stating time periods in the chronicles articles, determining the periods of ruling of certain emperors and describing the periods of change of government mottos and temple names of the Vietnamese emperors are concerned.