TTLA: Thi Huong in Nguyen Dynasty (Through the Huong examination schools in Hanoi, Nam Dinh and Ha Nam)

1. Full name of the researcher:Do Thi Huong Thao

2. Gender: Female

3. Date of birth: November 15, 1975

4. Place of birth: Hanoi

5. Decision on recognition of PhD student No. 4152/QD-SDH dated July 15, 2008 of the Director of Hanoi National University.

6. Changes in training process: No

7. Thesis topic name:Thi Huong of Nguyen Dynasty(Through the provincial examination schools in Hanoi, Nam Dinh and Ha Nam)

8. Major: Ancient and Medieval Vietnamese History 9. Code: 62 22 54 01

10. Scientific advisor: Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Ngoc

11. SummaryNew results of the thesis:

The thesis has made new contributions to the understanding of education and mandarin examinations in the Nguyen Dynasty in general and the Huong examinations in the Nguyen Dynasty in particular as follows:

- In the first half of the 19th century, the Nguyen kings made many efforts to perfect the examination system, including the Huong exam, on the basis of "reinforcing" the model that existed from the Le dynasty and building new elements unique to the Nguyen dynasty.

- The Huong examination activities of the Hanoi and Nam Dinh schools, after merging into the Ha Nam school, sketched a picture of the Huong examinations of the Northern Delta in particular and the Nguyen Dynasty in general. In places where the Nguyen Dynasty maintained its control, the Huong examinations were still maintained even when there were incidents due to the pressure of Westerners to open up. The selection of officials in the administrative apparatus to participate in the examination activities at the examination schools demonstrated the relationship between the examinations and politics. Research results show that the average age of the Bachelors in the North was around 30 years old. After passing the exam, Bachelors in the Nguyen Dynasty were appointed to positions at the prefecture and district levels. It is worth noting that basically all the northern mountainous provinces (except Hung Hoa) had no one who passed the Bachelor's exam.

- The Nguyen Dynasty based on the requirements of the Vietnamese society in the 19th century set out educational policies with the Huong examinations and to some extent, these policies of the Nguyen Dynasty were effective. In addition to the purpose of selecting personnel, through the Huong examinations, the Nguyen Dynasty changed the cultural correlation between regions through education and examinations: the number of Bachelors with origins in the Central region increased significantly, Confucianism gradually established a foothold and made its mark on the new land of the South. The increase in the number of people passing the exams in the Central and Southern regions made the difference in the proportion of mandarins between people from the North, Central and South in the government apparatus quite significant.

- Since the second half of the 19th century, the traditional Vietnamese education system has been drastically changed under the impact of the French colonial invasion. In order to minimize the influence of Chinese culture in Vietnam as well as create conditions for colonial exploitation, the French gradually eliminated the Chinese education system, and introduced French and the national language as supplementary examination content in the traditional provincial examination.

- Basically, the Vietnamese imperial examinations have many similarities with the Chinese imperial examinations. However, from the perspective of cultural contact and exchange, the Nguyen Dynasty made adjustments, changes, or in other words, created unique features for the Vietnamese imperial examinations based on similarities with Chinese education. The Vietnamese imperial examinations differ from the Chinese in terms of scale, number of examinations, the naming of successful candidates, and the appointment of successful candidates.

12. Practical applicability: based on the awareness of the Nguyen Dynasty's education policies, it is possible to draw lessons and make adjustments when implementing contemporary education policies.

13. Further research directions: education and examinations in modern Vietnam.

14. Published works related to the thesis:

+ Do Thi Huong Thao, Vu Thi Minh Thang (2006), "On the supplementary exam in the traditional Huong exam",Magazine Historical Research(9), pp.30-35.

+ Do Thi Huong Thao, Vu Thi Minh Thang (2008), “The last regional examination school in the North - Nam Dinh regional examination school”, Journal of Historical Research(4), pp.11-19.

+ Do Thi Huong Thao, Vu Thi Minh Thang (2008), “The last regional examination school in the North - Nam Dinh regional examination school”, Journal of Historical Research(5), pp.48-59.

+ Do Thi Huong Thao, Vu Thi Minh Thang (2010), “The value of archival documents: Through case study “The case of the Nam Dinh provincial exam”, Proceedings of the scientific conference“Exploiting and promoting the value of archival documents in social science and humanities research”, Publishing House of Hanoi National University, H., pp.202-212.

+ Do Thi Huong Thao (2011), “The appearance of the last Huong examination school in the North - Nam Dinh Huong examination school", One stage Historical Research Road (2006 – 2011),World Publishing House, H., pp.551-570.

+ Do Thi Huong Thao (2012), "Education policy in the Nguyen Dynasty: Approaching from the title of Phó bảng",Journal of Historical Research(7), pp.17-29.

+ Nguyen Quang Ngoc, Do Thi Huong Thao (2012), “Cao Xuan Duc and his contributions through two books Dang Khoa Luc”,Scientific seminar "Cultural celebrity of Dong Cac Grand Scholar Cao Xuan Duc", Vinh city, Nghe An.

+ Do Thi Huong Thao (2012), “Changes of the Thang Long – Hanoi examination school under the impact of the French invasion of Vietnam”,Journal of Science (VNU)(4), vol. 28, pp. 244-253.

+ Do Thi Huong Thao (2013), "Education promotion policy of Nguyen Dynasty in Southern Vietnam",Journal of Historical Research(3), pp.20-26.

INFORMATION ON DOCTORAL THESIS

1. Full name:Do Thi Huong Thao 2. Sex: Female

3. Date of birth: November 15, 1975 4. Place of birth: Hanoi

5. Admission decision number: 4152/QD-SDH Dated: July, 15^th, 2008 by President of the Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

6. Changes in academic process: No

7. Official thesis title:Local Examination (Thi Huong) of the Nguyen dynasty (based on Hanoi, Nam Dinh and Ha Nam Examination Compounds)

8. Major: Vietnamese Ancient times and Medieval History 9. Code: 62 22 54 01

10. Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Ngoc

11. Summary ofthe new findings of the thesis:

The Thesis gets some new findings in the way to understand about local examination in particular and education and examintion in the Nguyen dynasty general:

- In the first 19^thcentury, the Nguyen Kings had paid many efforts to push up the local examination based on the way of "consolidation" model of the Le dynasty and designed many regulations which were different from that of the Le dynasty.

- Local examination activities of the Hanoi and Nam Dinh described compounds picture of local examination of the North delta in particular and of Vietnam under the Nguyen dynasty in general. In places where the Nguyen dynasty maintained their power, the system of examination was maintained. The appointment madarins in the apparatus taking part in examination compound reflects the relationship between politics with education. Research results informs that the average age of candidates of the North candidates was 30 years old. After passing examinations, recommenced men were appointed to many positions in the court apparatus in districts, provinces. Most of candidates in the mountainous provinces in the North did not pass the local examination.

- Based on requirements of social situation of Vietnam in the 19th^thcentury, the Nguyen dynasty had given many policies with local examintion and had become effective in reality. Based on local examination, the Nguyen dynasty had created a rich source of madarins supply. After 70 years of implementing educational policies such as putting quota, allowing candidates from the South to take exam in the North compounds…, the Nguyen dynasty had changed the correlation quantity of passing candidates among regions. On one hand, the number of passing candidates and persons who became madarins in the apparatus coming from the Central and the South of Vietnam had risen. Recommend men in the North were force to decrease both in the number of passing candidates as well as becoming madarins. On the other hand, the Nguyen dynasty succeeded in bringing Confucian into the South of Vietnam.

- From the second half of 19^thcentury, the French authorities abolished eventually the Confucian education in Vietnam and added French and Quoc ngu into the content of local examination. Although the content of local examination had changed, the number of candidates in the North did not reduce. This phenomenon reflects the tradition of “studying to become madarin” in Vietnamese society was still a strong trend in Vietnam up to the early 20^thcentury.

- In general, Vietnamese traditional education had shared many similarities with the Chinese one. However, in terms of acculturation, the Nguyen dynasty had attempted to change those borrowing elements so that they could adjust to the new context. In local examination aspect, the examination compounds of Vietnam were smaller in scale and simpler in structure than Chinese compounds. The content of local examinations in Vietnam were different from Chinese ones in the number of examinations. While Chinese educational policy makers maintain 3 tests, the Nguyen Kings adjusted the number of examination 3 or 4 tests in order to meet the requirement of recruiting talents.

12. Practical applicability: based on knowledge about education the Nguyen dynasty, we can apply our knowledge when we give policies for the development of education today.

13. Further research direction: Vietnamese education in pre-modern and modern time

14. Thesis – related publications:

+ Do Thi Huong Thao, Vu Thi Minh Thang (2006), “On the Additional Exam in the Traditional Huong Exam (Prefectural Exam)”,Journal of Historical Studies(9), pp.30-35.

+ Do Thi Huong Thao, Vu Thi Minh Thang (2008), “Latest Local Civil Confucian Examination in Tonkin – The Nam Dinh Case (first part)”,Journal of Historical Studies(4), pp.11-19.

+ Do Thi Huong Thao, Vu Thi Minh Thang (2008), “Latest Local Civil Confucian Examination in Tonkin – The Nam Dinh Case (second part)”,Journal of Historical Studies(5), pp.48-59.

+ Do Thi Huong Thao, Vu Thi Minh Thang (2010), “Values ​​of archived documents: seen from a case study of “Nam Dinh Local Examination Compound”, Scientific Sypomsium Proceedings“Using and Promoting Values ​​of Archive Documents in Social Sciences and Humanities Research”, Vietnam National University Publishing House, Hanoi, pp.202-212.

+ Do Thi Huong Thao (2011), “Aspects of the Latest Local Civil Confucian Examination in Tonkin - Nam Dinh Local Examination Compound”,print:A period of historical research (2006 – 2011),Thegioi Publishing House, Hanoi, pp.551-570.

+ Do Thi Huong Thao (2012), “The Educational Policies of the Nguyen Dynasty: A Seen from a Confucian Title of Junior Doctors”,Journal of Historical Studies(7), pp.17-29.

+ Nguyen Quang Ngoc, Do Thi Huong Thao (2012), “Cao Xuan Duc and his distribution seen from 2 books of Dang khoa luc”, Scientific Sypomsium Proceedings“A Cultural Famous Man - Cao Xuan Duc”organized in Vinh, Nghe An.

+ Do Thi Huong Thao (2012), “The Changes of the Thang Long – Hanoi: Examination Compound under the Impacts of French Invasions into Vietnam”,Journal of Science(4), Vol. 28, pp.244-253.

+ Do Thi Huong Thao (2013), “Policies of Confucianism Educational Encouragement of the Nguyen Dynasty to the South in Vietnam”,Journal of Historical Studies(3), pp.20-26.