| Van
Mieu (Temple of Literature) (c. 11th century) other
sites in Hanoi |
Hanoi, Vietnam |
Click on an image to enlarge
Right: Plan of Van Mieu. Click on a red
arrow for a larger view. Plan adapted
from L. Bezacier's Relevés de Monuments Anciens Du Nord Viet-Nam,
1958.
Van Mieu, which roughly translates as Temple of Literature, was founded in 1072 during the Ly Dynasty. Shortly thereafter in 1076 a university called Quoc Tu Giam was built alongside the complex. Honoring Confucius and 72 disciples, it served as a civil service college to staff the bureaucracy of the Ly state. Roughly at the beginning of the Tran dynasty (1225-1400) in a period corresponding to the Mongol invasions, the examination system of the university was changed and its gates opened to commoners for the first time.
The Chinese ruled Vietnam for a short period between 1407 and 1427. After this brief interregnum, the Vietnamese leader Le Loi rose to prominence. He endowed the univesity with a new library and lecture halls, and added a poetry composition section to the examinations. Also at this time the practice of carving the names of successful examinees on stone stele was instituted. The stones tell us that between 1443 and 1778 over a hundred examinations were held with about 20 successful candidates emerging from each exam.
The school flourished into the early 20th century, but the end of the civil service examinations by 1919 signaled the end of its 800 year service. The site lay largely abandoned when the French colonizers arrived, and they referred to it as the Pagoda of Crows since a flock of crows nested in old mango trees located on the site.
Nowadays the area is preserved and used as a park.
Bibliography:
Most
images copyright 2003 Patrick Ziltener, sociologist, Max Planck Institute
for the Study of Societies, Cologne/Germany, and University of Zurich,
Switzerland; pziltener@hotmail.com
Additional
images copyright 2003 Prof. Yunsheng Huang of the University of Virginia.
Cohen,
Barbara. The Vietnam Guidebook
New
York: Harper and Row Publishers, Inc. 1990.
Bezacier, L. Relevés
de Monuments Anciens Du Nord Viet-Nam
Paris: Ecole Francaise D'extreme
Orient. 1958.