Vietnam’s imperial examinations revisited at exhibition in Hue

The event is being jointly held by the Hue Monuments Conversation Centre and the National Archives Centre I to mark the centenary of the final imperial examination based on the teaching of Confucius.

The exhibition features various valuable documents and artefacts such as the questions from an examination in 1855, stone and bronze inkstones, silver brush holders, wooden desks, bronze seals of the National History Agency and containers of imperial conferment edicts.

The items on display help recreate a partial picture of education and examination under the Nguyen Dynasty, as well as noted Confucian scholars under such education system.

According to the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre, the first regional examination was held in 1807 under the reign of Emperor Gia Long.

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the Confucian education system in Vietnam was on the wane with the encroachment of Western education, which soon pervaded the whole society after the French established colonial rule in Vietnam.

After the last imperial examination took place in Hue in 1919, Emperor Khai Dinh issued a decree on a new education law, bringing an end to the Confucian education system that had lasted for centuries and replacing it with an Western education.

The exhibition will be open until March 23, 2020.