The

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...

court

examination system A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent or standard manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a predetermined ...

in Vietnam (

Chữ Hán ( , ) are the Chinese characters that were used to write Literary Chinese in Vietnam, Literary Chinese (; ) and Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese. They were officially used in Vietnam after the Red River Delta region ...

: 科榜越南, ) was a system for entry into the civil service, which was modelled after the

Imperial examination The imperial examination was a civil service examination system in History of China#Imperial China, Imperial China administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the Civil service#China, state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureau ...

in China, based on knowledge of the classics and literary style from 1075 to 1919. __TOC__

History

The exams entered Vietnam during the long era of Chinese occupation and adopted by subsequent independent dynasties as a way of filling the civil service. They were instituted at court level by the

Lý dynasty The Lý dynasty (, , chữ Nôm: 茹李, chữ Hán: 朝李, Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: ''triều Lý''), officially Đại Cồ Việt (chữ Hán: 大瞿越) from 1009 to 1054 and Đại Việt (chữ Hán: 大越) from 1054 to 1225, was ...

's Emperor

Lý Nhân Tông Lý Nhân Tông (22 February 1066 – 15 January 1128), personal name Lý Càn Đức, temple name Nhân Tông was the fourth emperor of the Lý dynasty, ruling the empire of Đại Việt from 1072 until his death in 1128. Succeeding his fat ...

in 1075 and continued some 1000 years later toward the final years of the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (, chữ Nôm: 茹阮, chữ Hán: 朝阮) was the last List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until French protectorate in 1883 ...

's Emperor

Khải Định Khải Định (; chữ Hán: 啓定; born Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Đảo; 8 October 1885 – 6 November 1925) was the 12th emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty in Vietnam, reigning from 1916 to 1925. His name at birth was Prince Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Đ ...

. The examinations were suspended by the French in 1913 with the very last local exams occurring from 1915 to 1919, thus making Vietnam the last country to hold Confucian civil service examinations. The royal court exams were typically held every three years, though the award of first prizes was far less frequent. File:Tonkin Nam-Dinh Concours triennal défilé (...)Salles André btv1b53198692x 1.jpg, Results of the examination in Nam Định, 1897 File:ThiHuong1888.jpg, Invigilators seated on high chairs at a provincial exam in 1888 in northern Vietnam File:Student1.jpg, Tutor and students in Vietnam File:Scholar reading.jpg, An old confucianist scholar reading book in Hanoi, 1915.

Exam procedures

The examination system was divided into a regional and a national examination held at the royal capital. Provincial examinations led only to the degree of '' tú tài'' (秀才 junior bachelor) and '' cử nhân'' (舉人 senior bachelor). From 1829 a provincial mandarin could progress to ''phó bảng'' (副榜), the lowest level of national exam, under the scholars with the rank of '' tiến sĩ'' (進士 doctorate). File:Leu chong di thi.jpg, Candidates on the way to examination school (1897). File:Examinators in 18971.jpg, Examinators in Nam Định, 12/1897 File:Examinators in 1897.jpg, Examinators in Nam Định, 12/1897 File:Giam-khao1.jpg, Examiner from ministry of education in

Nam Định Nam Định () is the capital city of Nam Định province in the Red River Delta of the Northern Vietnam. History From August 18–20 of each year, there is a festival held in Nam Định called the Cố Trạch. This celebration honors Gener ...

(1897). File:Giam-khao-tran-si-trac.jpg, Examiner Trần Sĩ Trác (陳士琢,1897). File:Canh thi 1895.jpg, Exam supervising from the top (1897). File:Tan-khoa-du-tiec.jpg, Graduates receive Emperor's feast for passing the exams in

(1897). File:Graduates in Vietnam 1897.jpg, Graduates in front of temple inNam Định, 1897. File:Hoc-tro-ta-on.jpg, Graduates pay gratitude for their own teachers (1897). File:Ta-le.jpg, Graduates pay gratitude at the Confucian temple (1897). File:Thi-dau.jpg, New graduates receive the graduation uniforms from Emperor in

(1897). File:Bang-vang-ghi-ten.jpg, Candidates checking their names on result boards. File:Nghe-ket-qua1.jpg, French Indochina governor

Paul Doumer Joseph Athanase Doumer, commonly known as Paul Doumer (; 22 March 18577 May 1932), was a French politician who served as the President of France from June 1931 until his assassination in May 1932. He is described as "the Father of French Indochin ...

joins the honour ceremony of graduates. The examinations themselves were composed of three or four tests, followed by a ''phúc hạch'' (覆核) or control examination to confirm identity. Aside from accrediting rank and file scholars to the court and mandarin civil service positions gleaned from the successful regional candidates, the exams also appointed lead scholars for the court exam (Thi Đình) in the capital, the title of ''trạng nguyên''. This title was first awarded to

Lê Văn Thịnh Lê Văn Thịnh (Chữ Hán: 黎文盛, 1038 – 1096), courtesy name Mậu Phu (茂夫), was an official in the royal court of the Lý dynasty. Ranking first in the first imperial examination of the Lý dynasty, Lê Văn Thịnh was appointed tut ...

(d.1096). Subsequent exams starting in 1247 and onward were divided into three first class grades along the Chinese model with ''trạng nguyên'' as the first of three prizes. The first ''trạng nguyên'' under this system was

Nguyễn Hiền Nguyễn (阮) (sometimes abbreviated as Ng̃) is the most common surname of the Vietnamese people. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as ''Nguyen''. By some estimates 30 to 39 percent of Vietnamese peopl ...

. The full list of ''trạng nguyên'' therefore includes 55 scholars if beginning from Lê Văn Thịnh, but only 49 if commencing from Nguyễn Hiền (awarded 1247, in the reign of

Trần Thái Tông Trần Thái Tông (17 July 1218 – 5 May 1277), Vietnamese name, personal name Trần Cảnh or Trần Nhật Cảnh, temple name Thái Tông, was the first emperor of the Trần dynasty, reigned Đại Việt for 33 years (1226–58), being R ...

The three titles were as follows : * '' Trạng nguyên'' (狀元) – first place, reserved for the best scholar * ''Bảng nhãn'' (榜眼) – second place * ''Thám hoa'' (探花) – third place * ''Tiến sĩ'' (進士) – all the other successful applicants The list of ''trạng nguyên'' includes several notable figures in Vietnam's history, such as

Mạc Đĩnh Chi Mạc Đĩnh Chi (; 1272–1346) was a renowned Vietnamese Confucian scholar who was the highest-scoring graduate in the palace examinations at the age of only twenty-four. He served three Trần dynasty emperors—first Trần Anh Tông until ...

(awarded 1304, in the reign of

Trần Anh Tông Trần Anh Tông ( vi-hantu, 陳英宗, 17 September 1276 – 12 December 1320), personal name Trần Thuyên (陳烇), courtesy name Nhật Sủy (日煃) or Nhật Sáng (日㷃/日𤊞), was the fourth emperor of the Trần dynasty, reigning ov ...

) and

Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm (chữ Hán: 阮秉謙; 1491–1585) was a Vietnamese administrator, confucianist, poet, prophet and later a saint of the Cao Dai religion and of the new religious movement known as School of Teaching Goodness. Biog ...

(awarded 1535, in the reign of

Mạc Thái Tông Mạc Thái Tông (, ? – 25 January 1540), known also by his given name Mạc Đăng Doanh (), was the second emperor of the Mạc dynasty of Vietnam from 1530 to 1540. His father, Mạc Thái Tổ, was still alive during the first year of his r ...

). The last ''trạng nguyên'' was awarded to Trịnh Tuệ in 1736 during the reign of

Lê Ý Tông Lê Ý Tông (黎懿宗 29 March 1719 – 10 August 1759) was the third-last emperor of the Vietnamese Lê dynasty, reigning only nominally under the power of Trịnh Giang of the Trịnh lords. He reigned from 1735 to 1740 and was succeeded by Lê ...

.Walter H. Slote, George A. De Vos Confucianism & the Family 998 – Page 97 "1428–33) and his collaborators, especially Nguyen Trai (1380–1442) — who was himself a Confucianist — accepted ... of Trang Nguyen (Zhuang Yuan, or first laureate of the national examination with the highest recognition in every copy)."

References

{{reflist Confucianism in Vietnam Imperial examination