REPORT OF THE FIRST TRAINING

Name : Do Lam Hoai An-Sa G : 2

1. Information of Temple Of Literature :

General information

: Temple was built in 1070 by King Ly Thanh Tong, which was used to

worship founders, righteous of Confucianism and Confucius. It is representative of Confucian ways of thought and behavior, and is a historical and cultural relic. There are carvings of Confucius, his four best students and 72 other scholars who were considered to be model Confucians. Ceremonies were dedicated to them once every season of the year. _Confucius ( 551-479 BC) He was a great Chinese teacher,editor,politician,philosopher . He always emphasized on personal and governmental morality,correctness of social relationship,justice and sincerity. Confucius is seen as one of the greatest teacher and the founder of Confucianism. _Confuciasm is a theory created and developed by Confucius, which is a system of model
region,philosophy,morality for the progress of society.Its tenor is to create hierarchy,class position in society and teach people behave morally.

_Confucianism was important in Feudalism because of the need to build a stable, strong and hierarchical nation, king was considered to be Heavens Son and he had all the power. He had to use Confucianism to control dynasty,military forces,followers and citizens. Moreover, Confucianism was important in teaching people to behave well in social relationship such as : father-son, king-followe,husband-wifeetc. Moreover,Confucianism met the demand of culture,education,region,politics of VietNam that time.
_1076, King Ly Nhan Tong built Imperal Academy, the first national university of Viet Nam, Established within the temple to educate Vietnam' nobles, royalty and other members of the elite. _Why the king named it Temple of Literature ? : Because in ancient time, when all people follow Confucianism,it was everything they had to study such as : philosophy,literature,poem,historySome scientific subjects like Math,Physics were not mentioned. _ why there are too many Chinese characters in this temple :In the Time of Feudalism, we had to choose Chinese Characters as kind of decoration because of more than 1000 years of China domination. They affected us on region,culture and writing a lot. Present written language th was invented in 16 century,when there were a couple of Catholic missionaries came toViet Nam. They had to think of an easy way to transformthe Catholic theory and introduced it to Vietnamese. Under the French domination, this writing system was developed and spread all over Vietnam.

2/ From the entrance Gate

_General information about the entrance gate :The first entrance gate has 4 pillars. There are 2 taller pillars with the statues of Young lions . People belive that they can see whos bad, whos

good. Other smaller pillars are the statues of phoenixes. This gate is the place where all king and his followers took off from the horses and walked into the Temple. 4 sides of Temple are streets and next Entrance Gate is opposite to Quoc Tu Giam Street. The architect of this entrance is two-floor gate with 3 different gates. First, at the top of this gate is 3 Chinese words Van Mieu Gate. Near the apex is a couple of Dragon carved carefully since Le dynasty. There is one biggest gate in the middle, which is for only the king to walk through, other 2 smaller gates on both sides are for his followers and military and literature mandarins. From the Inside,the gate has another couple of Dragons since Nguyen Dynasty. Moreover, at the top of this gate,there are statues of 5 people. They are Confucius and his four best students. There are a lot of Chinese characters decorated on the gate which show the importance of literature and manner people should have. _The gate first was just for kings and high position followers to go inside for ceremony with high respect to Confucius. Panoramic diagram of the temple : how many sections ? why are there more than one section? Meaning of number 5 in Confucianism? _The temple architect is divided into 5 different sections,surrounded by brick wall that help you cool down your soul and experience strange feelings while walking deep inside the temple. _On the other hand, number 5 is a sacred number according to Confucianism It stands for three meanings : + 5 virtues a gentleman must have : Humanity, civility, rightenous,knowledge and loyalty +5 basic elements that create the world : metal,wood,water,fire,earth. +5 basic social relationship : king-servant,father-son,brothers,friends,husband-wife.

3. The middle Gate

: _Meaning of 2 carps and one jar : it stands for the difficulties that students have to overcome if they want to be mandarins. According to an old story, a carp wants to be a dragon, it has to swim upstream, which is nearly impossible to get success. Its also similar to students who succeeded in passing through the examinations while this little jar stands for the holy knowledge. _Meaning of the name of 2 smaller gates and how were they run in ancient time ?

The two side gates names are Virtue (Thnh c) and Talent (t Ti). Since the ancient time, theyve been considered to be most important qualities of successful students in our education system
_ How was it run in ancient time: In the ancient time, this temple was the most sacred one in

Hanoi and was opened just twice per year, in the spring and the autumn festival. Only the king and his followers could walk into the temple and they make some ceremonies dedicated to Confucius. The King would take the entrance path while all mandarins and soldiers would take the smaller ones on the left and the right side. + By the end of 17th century, the capital was moved to Hue by Nguyen dynasty the last dynasty of Vietnamese feudalism. The king also removed a lot of royal palaces in Hanoi and transferred to Hue. Finally, they decided to destroyed the imperial wall citadel and used these bricks to built a wall surrounded this temple, turned it into the last reminder of former royal families in Hanoi.

4. Khue Van Cac ( pavilion of constellation of literature)

_When and why was it built?

it was built in 1805 by a military mandarin who stayed in Nothern Citedal, Nguyen Van Thanh. He was a very talented and intelligent man. By the time improving the temple,he built Khue Van Cac as a place of Genius of knowledge and ceremonies. _ The names meaning? How does it represent for Ying-Yang concept?
Khue Van Cac means Constellation of stars,where all universal knowledge gathers and shines . IT

doesnt belong to original architect of the Temple.The four circle window symbols of Pavilion stand for Sun, Square Van Lake inside stands for Earth. This creates the perfection of sky and ground, where people get holy knowledge to embellish their character. _The relationship between this pavilion and 2 smaller gates at previous section ? Right is Suc Van ( brief Literature). Left is Bi Van ( Intelligent literature) .In order for the student to pass through the gate to the next level of knowledge, the virtue and talent of the first stage must be joined to excellence in literary expression. So that is the meaning of two small gates.

5.Examination in the past .

why the exam was important to all students in old days? -+That was the only way for people who wanted to have higher class in society. And it was also the way to help them escape poverty, bring honor to his family. How was the exam held ? +- The first, the second, the third courtyard are also refer to three different examinations that students had to take to become a scholar mandarin. +- The first step was the Regional examination which held every 3 years in several main towns and the successful candidates will receive the title bachelors degree. - The second step: those who passed the 1st step then came to Hanoi to sit for the second exam called National exam which happened in the next 3-4 years. It was four-part examination. A candidate had to pass each part in sequence in order to qualify to sit for the following part. They had to show their profound knowledge of Confucian books, to write a royal essay, to compose poem in Chinese character and to comment on how to solve problem facing the country. Those who complete all four were conferred the title of doctor and invited to the Royal palace for the Palace examination. - The third step: called Palace examination, all new doctors had to answer questions that were given directly from the king. The king then ranked the doctors in three groups and the top three successful candidates of the highest-ranking group. - The new mandarin then were given a banquet at the palace, award new clothes and a lot of money and sent home to their village in triumphal procession. Later on, they would come back the capital and worked for the royal course as a mandarin.

6. The Stelea Gate

When did the first stele was built? By whom and why did he build it ? -+These stelae had been built since the 15th century. +That time, we had a very outstanding king and under his leading the Vietnamese royal system rich its peak of development (king Le Thanh Tong). +The king paid a lot of attention to promote the countrys education. And according to his opinions, it took so much time and energy for studying and for those who succeeded in both 3 exams money and higher social position may not enough. He agreed that talent is the life source of a nation, the powerful life source strengthens a country, a declining life source weakens it. The kings idea was to built stelae on which curved the name of all successful students so that their name would last forever in the countrys history. Its the biggest pride for all of them and their family, and then when their offspring visit this temple, whenever they see their ancestral names, they would be encouraged on studying. The general content of stele ? Each stele represents a single examination year. General speaking, their contents are: 1st part contains some nice words toward the king and his royal court who held this exam. 2nd part tell you about this exam: when and where it happened, how difficult it was, the name of all examiners and of this stele composer. 3rd part records the name and native villages of those awarded doctor degree that year following the ranking position. How many stele totally? How many of them left? Why are they different from each other? There were about 150 stelae in this temple but during the harm of war time, lots of them was destroyed, so today, therere only 82 steles left. - The reason of difference is they were carved in different period: the earliest steles dating to the 15th century: smaller stele with very simple decoration. the 16th century steles are a little bit bigger and were carved a little bit more delicately. the 17th-18th century the biggest steles, beautiful designed why are they placed on the backs of tortoises ? -+In our spiritual life, turtle is one of four sacred animals (dragon, phoenix, unicorn and tortoise). -+It symbolizes the combination of universe, with the tortoise shell representing the sky and its belly, the earth. Tortoise is also stand for the longevity. The king put steles on the tortoises back and wish the national passion for learning and talent can last forever. Why are the turles heads so smooth ? Because according to our belief, before any exam,if you touch the head,this will help you pass the exam to university. So that is the reason that each year, thounsands of students come to the Temple to touch the Head of tortoise and make them so smooth.

7. The main House Its purpose ? -+This is the Great House of Ceremonies: in the old days, the king and his followers
would make his offering to Confucius. -+It is also the place where the new doctors kneel to pay their respects.

About the crane standing on the turtle : according to an old story, it is about a friendship of
these 2 animals. During flood time, crane always flied and it could not find a place to lay, so turtle used its shell for crane to stand on. And during drought time, crane took turtle to other lakes, rivers so that it could survive. Moreover, turtle is belived a holy long-lasting animal, it stands horizonally as ground. Crane is related to a lot of fairy tales and it stands vertically as sky. So this is a perfect combination of sky-ground in Ying-Yang concept. Whose statues are placed in these houses : statue of Confucius and his four best students: Nhan t, Trang t, T T v Mnh T Brief information about Confucius : Confucius ( 551-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor,politician,philosopher. He always emphasized on personal and governmental morality,correctness of social relationship,justice and sincerityHis father died soon so he was raised by his mother in poverty. Confucius respected highly rituals. After a long time of hard working,studying, he became knowledgeable and erudite . In trouble times of dynasty, he didnt want to work for the king and decided to become a teacher. His fame of talent spread quickly all over Asia and thousands of students came to study. At 54, because his moral policy gave a lot of profit for citizens, dynasty refused to use it as the way of domination. He died at 73,every students were sad and regret,they made his funeral for 3 years. Confuciuss moral philosophy became model for thousand years, thousands of generations. He is considered as the greatest teacher and highly respected for his intelligence, effort and value of his teaching method. The influence of Confucianism in Viet Nam and its decline : +Advantages : IT was the model of behaving, controlling in society. People obeyed law of behaving, social relationship, rituals and hierarchy of society. This gave peace and stability for nation. Every people were highly educated with morality +Disadvantages Some Kings and mandarins utilized it to dominate,oppress citizens. Because of the rituals in Confucianism, none dared to reform to against dynasty. Lives of citizens became hard,difficult and Confucianism sometimes kept the development of society because of oldfashioned thinking. +Since we had our own independence, although we tried our best to keep our authentic culture and lifestyle, the Vietnamese kings did accept a lot of progressive theory from China, they practiced Confucianism to establish the new and young royal course in Vietnam. -+Confucianism reached it peak at the 15th century, under the Le dynasty. Education was promoted

much more than ever and there were also bigger gaps between people of social positions, and between man and woman in the society as well.

Its decline :
Since 19th century, Confucianism lost its influence in Vietnamese culture and became badly behind Western schools, particularly in technology and the natural sciences. So, at the beginning of the 20th century, Vietnam stopped all Confucian examination but the traditional respect for learning remained

8 . Quoc Tu Giam : who built the school ? for whom ?

- This school was built in 1076 by Ly Nhan Tong. - It was firstly opened for crown prince then sons of the mandarin chosen by the king. Sometimes later the school was opened for good male students of the country who had bachelor's degree from one of the provincial school. How did it become for all talented students? -+Those who succeeded in the 1st step - Regional exam would prepare for the National exam and Palace exam. Normally, they came to the capital to stay and study with the better teacher to prepare for these examinations. -+Most of them joined in this school and spent 2-3 years preparing for the exams. Some of them learnt with other famous teachers around the capital and went to this school to attend some public lectures which held twice per month How did they move from their hometown to this shool ? - After successful in the Regional exam, students would move to the capital.. They had to walk most of the time, carried with them food enough for long journey, a tent, a bamboo bed and writing materials. Along the way, the students had to face the risk of robbery, tiger attacks and many other risks. - If they survived the trip, most candidates chose to stay for some years to study at this National University. Its damage during the war time and the restoration project - During the war time, the school was destroyed totally. - In the year 1996, Vietnamese government had a big project to rebuilt this area. It was rebuilt by all ancient techniques of many craftsmen. Actually the craftsmen could not restore the University to its original design. They just tried their best to build in an architectural style what fits with the Temple of Literature. This project finished in the year 2000.

9. Inside the main House :

Chu VAN An : who is he? Why was he famous? Why was he worshiped in the temple? - He lived in the 13th century and became the most famous Confucian teacher in our history. - After earning a doctoral title, he refused to become a mandarin but setting up his own school at his native village and attracted many students.The king invited him back to the capital and appointed him vice director of the National University. - He was not happy in the capital because of its corruption. He persuaded the king to behead 7 corrupt mandarins but the king didnt agree, so he quickly submitted his resignation and retired. - He back to his native school and again became a famous teachers, a lot of his disciples later worked in the royal court and had the top position. - When he died, the king sent mandarins to attend the funeral and granted him a high royal title and had him honored as a sage in the Temple of Literature thanks to his talent and morality. The old model : not very decorative but large, peaceful and sacred. The temple were still opened twice per year in special occasions and students had to take the side doors. - At the height of development, the University became a large institution, comprising 300 classoms, a large lecture room, and a printing house. It also included a dorm for students from provinces, a lake and several hectares of farmland in the front. The temple management assigned a nearby village to farm the land to raise money for rituals. - In 1996, when restored this area, they found a lot of vestige related to the daily life of students when they stayed and studid here. The new model? Why do we now call this temple one kind of culture centre? - The Temple and the School area are turned into a cultural centre of Hanoi. As a symbol of Vietnamese education, therere a lot of graduating party held in this area as a special honour for students. - Theres also a lot of festivities happened here especially during the Lunar New Year festival: the bonsai market, exchanging Chinese characters and other traditional games like the cock fighting, or human chess

10.Three kings who are worshiped in Temple of Literature:

King Ly Thanh Tong, Ly Nhan Tong and Le Thanh Tong - (1070), during the reign of King Ly Thanh Tong, the Temple of Literature was built _ 1076 AD under the King Ly Nhan Tong. He opened this education centre to the public for all smart students of the whole country and became the first university in Vietnam. _In 1484, King Le Thanh Tong decreed the names of all those who have attained the doctoral ranks in the national examination be inscribed on stone stelae carried on the backs of giant tortoises.

II . Personal feeling
1. After the very first training, I found it so awesome. That was the first time I had to spend a lot of effort and time to research about a very familiar place but I didnt have any deep information. During the time of difficult research, I found a lot of interesting information that I have never known before. Moreover, now I feel so proud that I have significant knowledge about Temple of Literature, which I can show confidently to my friends, both Vietnamese and Foreigners. IN the last Sunday, I was so impressed with Son- Dim. He was very erudite and knowledgeable, with the profound information he provided, I believe this guy will be a talented and interesting travel mate. 2. Finally, I want to admit some of my contributions to Sub :D.. I admire our Sub a lot because of her treasure of knowledge and enthusiastic. During the training, I always listened to her when she summed up information, tried to keep up with the note taking and donated ideas to all group.In addition, I finished the work that my Sub had provided and tried to present well at the training course to save time and energy of everyone. They are all what I think I have contributed, thank you for reading my report :P