What are the three decorative styles of the steles at the Temple of Literature in Ha Noi?

The three styles of decoration adorning the tops of the steles reflect the periods in which they were carved. In traditional Confucianism and Taoism, the dragon and moon represent the balance between the yin and yang of the universe and the balance between heaven and earth. Clouds often symbolise knowledge, while the phoenix represents the intellect.

The earliest steles, dating to the fifteenth century, contain a central small circular moon surrounded by a simple cloud and spray of flowers. Sixteenth-century steles contain a more stylised pattern, with a larger central moon out of which emanate clouds that look like flames of fire. A thin, delicately carved flower relief adorns the tops of these steles.

The seventeenth-and-eighteenth century steles contain more elaborately designed dragon and moon motifs. Two fiercely depicted dragons ready to pounce on their prey flank the moon. The dragons' tails merge with the clouds in some instances; in others, the whole body appears. Some steles also contain various stylisations of phoenixes and flowers amidst the clouds or above them in smaller ribbon friezes.

What are the differences between the Temple of Literature in Ha Noi and its Beijing counterpart?

China's first temple dedicated to Confucius was built in the Master's native village of Qufu, Shandong in 478 B.C., two years after he died. UNESCO recognised the temple and surrounding area as a World Cultural Heritage Site.

China temple dedicated to Confucius

While the plan of the Temple of Literature in Ha Noi is similar to that of the Confucian Temple in Qufu, the former has several unique features. The architecture of the Ha Noi Temple is distinctly Vietnamese in character. As its name indicates, the Temple of Literature honours other scholars in addition to Confucius. The Temple also houses steles of tiến sĩ or doctoral laureates. In China, similar doctoral steles are housed at the Temple to Confucius in Beijing, which was built in 1302, almost 130 years after the Temple of Literature in Ha Noi.

The Temple of Literature in Hanoi

The Beijing temple contains 198 doctoral steles, similar in nature to those in Ha Noi. The steles were erected between 1313 and 1904, recording the identities of 51,624 laureates. Two of the names on the steles, interestingly enough, are Vietnamese: Le Dung from Thanh Oai District in Ha Tay Province and Nguyen Can from Quynh Phu District in Thai Binh Province. It is not clear why these two men travelled to China for their examinations in 1452, since Vietnamese examinations were a regularly organised at the time. Le Dung became a senior mandarin in the Ministry of Civil Engineering; Nguyen Can's subsequent career is unknown.

Is there a Temple of Literature in Hue?

Yes, there is.

Many people know about the Temple of Literature in Ha Noi, but few are aware that Hue has its own Temple of Literature. Visitors to Hue often miss the Temple, believing they have seen everything at the royal tombs, the Dai Noi Imperial Citadel, and Thien Mu Pagoda. To miss Hue's Temple of Literature in favour of more famous, accessible, and well-preserved sites is a mistake.

Hue is known as the City of Poets. Nothing catches this essence better than a visit to Van Thanh. Tucked into the lush hills and fronted by the eternal Perfume River, the temple complex appears to be inexorably pulled back to its natural state. Nearly 200 years of typhoons, tropical heat, war, and misuse have failed to erase the scholar's search for understanding and the artist's search for beauty. The decay that first strikes the visitor is merely the varnish of wisdom that time has applied to humanity's creative energy.

Hue's Temple of Literature

Van Thanh, is situated on the Huong (Perfume) River, just 500 metres from Thien Mu Pagoda. Emperor Gia Long (1802-1819) must have greatly appreciated the importance of having a Confucian temple in Hue since he built the Temple of Literature in 1805, only three years after he started building the Imperial Citadel of Hue. Successive Nguyen Dynasty kings spent time and money renovating the Temple and building more structures in the compound. The Temple now has over fifty large and small architectural and sculptural remnants located within its two concentric surrounding walls. The inner wall (96x79 metres) has a three-story gate facing south. The main chapel (32x25 meters) dedicated to Confucius is the largest building in the Temple grounds.

In 1947 retreating French troops used the Temple as barracks. Since then structures inside the Temple have been further damaged. Fortunately the stone steles recording the names of successful candidates between King Minh Mang's and King Khai Dinh's reigns have survived; however, some have fallen, and many inscriptions are weathered to illegibility. The steles, carried on the backs of stone tortoises, stand in two lines, each consisting of sixteen steles. Some doctoral laureates whose names are recorded on the steles have played significant roles in Viet Nam's history, including Nguyen Thuong Hien, Ngo Duc Ke, and Huynh Thuc Khang.

Because of its importance, the Centre for the Preservation of Hue's Vestiges has restored and renovated some works in the Temple. The most noteworthy effort has been the restoration of listing and fallen steles and the construction of two shelters for the thirty-two steles. Many things remain to be done to refurbish the Temple. Many other items in the Temple have yet to be restored, and translations of the Chinese-language texts on the steles would assist in making this monument to Viet Nam's culture more accessible to visitors.

Why was each stele built on the back of a tortoise?

How pitiful the plight of tortoises!

Up at the communal house, they pack cranes, Down at the pagoda, they shoulder steles.

This folk ballad illustrates the popularity of tortoises in Vietnamese life. In almost every village communal house (đình), a proud crane stands on the back of a tortoise on either side of the central altar. Steles, or stone tablets found in temples and at historic sites, are rarely placed directly on the ground but instead are built on the backs of tortoises. Eighty-two tortoises in Ha Noi's Temple of Literature (Van Mieu) have been patiently carrying steles of doctoral laureates for centuries.

In East Asian cosmology, the tortoise symbolizes the universe, with the tortoise shell representing the sky and its belly, the earth. The tortoise also has a very special place in Vietnamese history. According to legend, a divine tortoise helped King An Duong Vuong (258-179 B.C.) build the spiral-shaped citadel of Co Loa in Dong Anh (north of Ha Noi). The tortoise also gave the King a magic crossbow that could shoot a hundred arrows at a time. Centuries later, another sacred turtle lent King Le Loi (1385-1433) a magic sword to fight the Ming Chinese invaders.

Since tortoises and giant water turtles are considered to be holy beings, whenever a turtle surfaces in Ha Noi's central Hoan Kiem Lake, people interpret the event as a good omen. No one dares to harm turtles in the lake for fear of bad luck; many people pray to them instead.

Where did the majority of children receive education in ancient times?

Discussions of Viet Nam's educational system in imperial times often focus on Quoc Tu Giam, the National University in Thang Long (Ha Noi), or on the system of state-run provincial schools. But in fact, that formal educational system absorbed only a tiny fraction of learners, most of them from upper-class backgrounds. Spontaneous, informal village schools catered to the learning needs of the greater population. These schools had two types of teachers: those who held academic titles but liked a hermit's life and those with talent who had failed the public examinations.

The Temple of Literature

Village schools took different forms. A teacher with a large house used it as both residence and school. However, a poorer teacher might stay at a wealthy man's house and teach his landlord's children and others as well. Peasants treated teachers with respect, as these Vietnamese sayings reflect: "One word is a teacher; half a word is a teacher" and "Without a teacher, you will be nobody."

Parents and the teacher handled the student's enrollment. Parents would ask a teacher to accept a son when the boy was six or seven years old. The teacher then asked his landlord's permission to accept children from outside the landlord's family. Usually the landlord agreed since this honoured his family. The parents contributed a chicken, a plate of sticky rice, and a jar of rice wine to the ceremony to initiate the boy into the class. During the meal, the teacher, landlord, and the parents discussed the boy's character and future prospects.

The first few months of classes contained lessons on morality. Boys learned to behave politely towards their elders and did odd jobs such as sweeping the yard and classroom or rubbing ink for the teacher. The teacher beat boys who made mistakes. After the lessons on morality, the teacher began teaching the boys how to read and write Han (Chinese) script.

The teacher sat on a flower-patterned mat with a stationery box, pen brushes, an ink-rubbing plate, and a tobacco pipe nearby. The pupils faced the teacher, sitting on smaller mats, with the youngest boys in the front. Local schools had age differences ranging from small children to married men preparing for the regional examination. Teachers worked with each age group in turn. If the class was large, the teacher appointed two school monitors to help him, one dealing with internal administration and one with external affairs.

Students arrived at six in the morning to submit their homework to the teacher, then returned home for breakfast. At nine, students came back to school and stayed until three in the afternoon. They followed this schedule every day without weekends off but did have three long holidays to help their parents farm: the fifth lunar month, the tenth lunar month, and two months around the Lunar New Year (Tet).

Parents paid teachers once or twice a year; in addition, each year the landlord bought the teacher two pairs of trousers, two gowns, and three short-sleeved shirts. Sometimes, parents offered the teacher money to buy gifts before he went home on holiday. An adult student might even accompany the teacher back to his home village. During the reign of King Minh Mang (1820-1840), the Royal Court instructed provinces to use part of the revenue from public fields to support village teachers whenever crops failed or the people were poor.

Students collected "fellow-follower money "for a teacher whose close family member had died. The internal school monitor prepared a list of assigned contributions based on the family circumstances of all current and former students; he gave the list to the external monitor for the collection. Public opinion tolerated tax evasion but condemned evasion of moral duty to contribute "fellow-follower money" for one's teacher.

Village schools followed the Government curriculum, using Confucian classics in Chinese script and books of verses prepared by Vietnamese authors to help students memorise Han script. Village schools also prepared students for public examinations at regional and central levels. The best schools attracted students from outside the village.

After the last national examinations in 1919, schools teaching in Han script gradually disappeared from village life. Traditional learning methods also faded. Even though fountain pens and latter ballpoints replaced brushes and ink slabs, a respect for learning remains part of Viet Nam's foundation.

Who was Viet Nam's most famous Confucian teacher?

Chu Van An, born in 1292 in Thanh Liet near Ha Noi, is the most famous Confucian teacher to have lived in Viet Nam. After earning a doctoral title, Chu Van An refused to become a mandarin; instead he set up a school in his native village and attracted many students. Hearing of his talent, King Tran Minh Tong invited him back to the capital and appointed him vice director of the National University (Quoc Tu Giam). Chu Van An accepted the post, not daring to decline the king's request.

However, Chu Van An was not happy in the capital because of its corruption. He often went back to his village for a quiet walk. During the reign of Tran Du Tong (1341-1369), Chu Van An petitioned the king to behead seven corrupt mandarins. The king did not agree, so Chu Van An submitted his resignation and retired to Phuong Hoang Mountain, in Chi Linh District, Hai Duong Province. When the next king, Tran Nghe Tong, acceded to the throne, he invited Chu Van An to his coronation. The famous scholar came to congratulate the new king, but then returned to his retreat. Upon Chu Van An's death in 1370, Tran Nghe Tong sent mandarins to attend the funeral. He granted Chu Van An a high royal title and had him honoured as a sage in the Temple of Literature.

In present-day Ha Noi, one of the most elegant boulevards in the Embassy Quarter and one of the most prestigious national-level secondary schools are named for Chu Van An.

Did any women ever pass the royal exams?

Yes. Nguyen Thi Due

The nearly -thousand-year history of Confucian education in Viet Nam discriminated against women. The system forbade woman from taking part in the royal exams, even at the provincial level, and from holding a Baccalaureate or Bachelor's Degree. One woman, however, did achieve the title of Doctor under the Mac Dynasty (1527-1592). Nguyen Thi Due, a native of Chi Linh District in Hai Duong Province disguised herself as a boy to go to school and take part in the exams. She succeeded in the provincial examination and became a Bachelor and later achieving the title of Doctor.

Nguyen Thi Due's temple

In 1592, the Mac Dynasty was defeated and had to leave the capital of Thang Long for Cao Bang, a mountainous northern province. The so-called "Restored Le Dynasty", which lasted until 1789, nominally ascended to the throne even though all effective power remained with the Trinh Lords. To win over the hearts of his subjects and to show his esteem for education, Lord Trinh Tac dispatched an envoy to Chi Linh to invite Doctor Nguyen Thi Due to teach children of noble families in Thang Long. After her death, Lord Trinh Tac ordered a statue of Nguyen Thi Due erected in her home village, built a stupa beside her tomb on Tri Ngu Mountain, and raised her to the position of a Goddess.

Recently, the Vietnamese Government has certified Doctor Due's home as a famous historical site to honour the courageous Vietnamese woman who became the first female doctoral laureate in the nation's history.