Stone stele records of imperial examinations of the Lê and Mạc dynasties
Encyclopedia
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
: Bia đá các khoa thi tiến sĩ triều Lê và Mạc) is a collection of 82 stone stelae
Stele
A stele , also stela , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living — inscribed, carved in relief , or painted onto the slab...
that contain the names and related information of doctoral laureates who passed the imperial examination
Imperial examination
The Imperial examination was an examination system in Imperial China designed to select the best administrative officials for the state's bureaucracy. This system had a huge influence on both society and culture in Imperial China and was directly responsible for the creation of a class of...
s during the reign of the Lê
Lê Dynasty
The Later Lê Dynasty , sometimes referred to as the Lê Dynasty was the longest-ruling dynasty of Vietnam, ruling the country from 1428 to 1788, with a brief interruption....
and Mạc dynasties from 1442 to 1779. Preserved in good condition in the Temple of Literature of Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, the collection became an inscription of the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
's Memory of the World Programme
Memory of the World Programme
UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme is an international initiative launched to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity against collective amnesia, neglect, the ravages of time and climatic conditions, and willful and deliberate destruction...
on March 9, 2010.
Description
The 82 stelae were made from stone in the form of tortoise-mounted tabletBixi (tortoise)
Bixi , also called guifu or baxia , is a stone tortoise, used as a pedestal for a stele or tablet. Tortoise-mounted stelae have been traditionally used in the funerary complexes of Chinese emperors and other dignitaries. Later, they have also been used to commemorate an important event, such as...
since tortoise was traditionally considered a symbol of longevity and everlastingness in Vietnamese culture. There are three principal types of stele corresponding with three different periods of the Lê and Mạc dynasties, besides each stele was decorated with diverse patterns from Taoist
Taoism
Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...
-influenced design to everyday images such as farmer or animals. According to the researcher Nguyễn Vinh Phúc, there is possibly an 83rd stele in the collection since people discovered a stone tortoise at the bottom of the lake in the Temple of Literature.
After each examination, a new stele was erected with detailed information about the process of the examination, number of participants and profiles of all laureates. Besides, engraved in each stele is a statement describing the meaning of education and talent for the country and reflecting the Confucian
Confucianism
Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...
philosophy and tradition of Vietnam. This public recognition of the achievements of the laureates was meant to encourage other students to serve the society in similar manner. One of the most cited statements is the engraving of the first stele which was redacted by Thân Nhân Trung in 1484 for the 1442 imperial examination during the reign of Lê Thái Tông
Lê Thái Tông
Lê Thái Tông was an emperor of Vietnam from 1438 till his early death four years later.- Biography :...
:
History
In total, there are 2,313 names of laureates that were carved in the stelae, they were recognized after passing imperial examinationImperial examination
The Imperial examination was an examination system in Imperial China designed to select the best administrative officials for the state's bureaucracy. This system had a huge influence on both society and culture in Imperial China and was directly responsible for the creation of a class of...
between 1484 to 1780 organized by the Lê, Mạc, Trịnh and Nguyễn dynasties. The first one was erected in 1484 during the reign of Lê Thánh Tông
Lê Thánh Tông
Lê Thánh Tông was emperor of Đại Việt from 1460 until his death. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest emperors of Vietnamese history and the Vietnamese "Hammurabi."-Early years:...
with the record of the 1442 imperial examination while the last stele was made in 1780 for the 1779 examination. Among the names engraved in the collection are many well-known figures in the history of Vietnam
History of Vietnam
The history of Vietnam covers a period of more than 2,700 years. By far Vietnam's most important historical international relationship has been with China. Vietnam's prehistory includes a legend about a kingdom known as Van Lang that included what is now China's Guangxi Autonomous Region and...
such as the historian Ngô Sĩ Liên
Ngô Sĩ Liên
Ngô Sĩ Liên was an historian of the Lê Dynasty. He is best known for being the principal compiler of the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, a comprehensive chronicle of the history of Vietnam and the oldest official historical record of a Vietnamese dynasty that remains today...
, the scholar Lê Quý Đôn or the diplomat Ngô Thì Nhậm. Some of those names during the period of Trịnh Lords were afterwards crossed out by orders of the Nguyễn emperors since the laureates had participated in activities considered against the Nguyễn Lords. Since the stelae were partly damaged during the war between the Tây Sơn Dynasty
Tây Son Dynasty
The name of Tây Sơn is used in many ways to refer to the period of peasant rebellions and decentralized dynasties established between the eras of the Later Lê and Nguyễn dynasties in the history of Vietnam between 1770 and 1802...
and the troops of Nguyễn Ánh, the emperor Nguyễn Quang Toản wanted to restore the collection but could not complete the work because of the collapse of the Tây Sơn Dynasty in 1802. After the establishment of the Nguyễn Dynasty, the emperor Gia Long
Gia Long
Emperor Gia Long , born Nguyễn Phúc Ánh , was an emperor of Vietnam...
decided to transfer the capital from Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
to Huế
Hue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...
, thus a new Temple of Literature was built in Huế where new stelae were placed. The total number of stelae in Huế is 32 with the last one dated in 1919.
The collection is appreciated as a national treasure of Vietnam because it provides not only information about the education during 300 years of dynastic Vietnam but also the details about the system of imperial examinations of the past dynasties.
Memory of the World
Initially, the Vietnamese nominations in 2007 and 2008 for the Memory of the World Programme were the Woodblocks of the Nguyễn DynastyWoodblocks of the Nguyễn Dynasty
Woodblocks of the Nguyễn Dynasty is a collection of 34,555 plates of woodblock made during the reign of the Nguyễn Dynasty in which engraved various contents from official literature, history to classic and historical books...
and a collection of old photographs of Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
. While the former was quickly registered by UNESCO in 2009, the latter was finally replaced by the collection of stone stelae of the Lê and Mạc dynasties which was considered more original and intact. This nomination was ultimately accepted by UNESCO at its meeting in Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
on March 9, 2010 and thus the collection of stele records became the second entry of Vietnam in the list of the Memory of the World.