Temple of Literature

In the autumn of 1070, people raised a shrine south of the royal capital. The capital was Thăng Long, the city now called Hanoi, and the land to its south was still dotted with fields. The shrine honored a man who had died more than 1,500 years earlier. His name was Confucius. The emperor who ordered it built was Lý Thánh Tông. Six years later, right beside that shrine, Emperor Lý Nhân Tông founded a school. At first it was only for the children of the emperor and of high-ranking officials. Today that school is known as Quốc Tử Giám, the Imperial Academy. It was the first school of higher learning of the Vietnamese monarchy.

Nearly 1,000 years later, the shrine and the school are still there, right in the heart of Hanoi.

This is no ordinary historic site. The whole complex covers about 50,000 square meters, framed by four streets in the center of the city. It has two parts. Văn Miếu, the Temple of Literature, honors Confucius and the Confucian masters of earlier times. The Imperial Academy was the school. For more than 700 years, three dynasties used this place. First came the Lý and the Trần. Then came the Lê. All three trained talent here, and from the Lê era on, doctoral laureates also had their names carved in stone right here. These were scholars who passed the royal examinations, held to select talented and virtuous people to serve the state. Under the Nguyễn, Vietnam's last royal dynasty, the capital moved to Hue. The academy in Thăng Long lost its role as the national school, but the Temple of Literature in Hanoi was still cared for.

The way in is the Temple of Literature Gate, a triple gateway on the south side, facing Quốc Tử Giám Street. Beyond it lie five courtyards, one after another, along an axis that runs north and south. Five courtyards, five different stories.

The first courtyard leads to the Đại Trung Gate. Two smaller gates stand on either side of it. One is named Thành Đức. The other is named Đạt Tài. People usually read the four characters in those two names as suggesting "achieve virtue, attain talent," the spirit of Confucian learning. A learner must have both virtue and talent. One without the other is not enough.

In the second courtyard stands a square pavilion with two tiers and eight roofs. This is Khuê Văn Các. The pavilion has a story of its own. It was built in 1805, under the Nguyễn dynasty. The order came from Nguyễn Văn Thành, the governor of the Northern Citadel region. The circle on its upper tier represents the Khuê star, which in Confucian thought governs literature. Today Khuê Văn Các is the official symbol of the city of Hanoi. And here is a nice detail. The polymer 100,000 dong note carries this very pavilion on its back. It is the note found in so many wallets. Next time such a note passes through your hands, take a close look.

Past Khuê Văn Các lies the third courtyard. This is the heart of the whole site.

Here is a square pond with a lovely name, Thiên Quang Tỉnh. It means "the well that mirrors the light of heaven." By a popular reading, the square pond stands for the earth, in harmony with the circle on Khuê Văn Các, which stands for the sky. Square and circle. Earth and sky. It is one interpretation, and each visitor can decide how far to believe it.

But what makes people stop short lies on both sides of the pond. There are two rows of stone steles, 41 on each side. That makes 82 in all. Each stele rests on the back of a stone turtle. The turtles lie still, heads slightly raised, carrying history on their backs.

These 82 steles are not decoration. They are original records. Each one is carved with the names, hometowns and examination years of those who passed the court's great examinations and became doctoral laureates. In Vietnamese, such a laureate is called a tiến sĩ. Altogether, the steles list the names of more than 1,300 laureates. They were chosen in 82 examinations. The first was held in 1442, under the Lê dynasty, and the last in 1779. That is 337 years of Vietnamese examinations, carved in stone and set out in the courtyard.

The first steles went up in 1484, in the reign of Emperor Lê Thánh Tông. There were 10 in that first group. After that, later reigns kept adding more.

Each of these steles is a message to later generations. The monarchy was saying that whoever studied well and passed would have their name carved in stone for a thousand years. Those who did not study, however rich or highborn, would not get a single line. It was a way of using stone to encourage learning.

And the world took notice. On March 9, 2010, UNESCO added the doctoral steles to its regional register of documentary heritage for Asia and the Pacific. A year later, in 2011, UNESCO raised them to its world register, the Memory of the World. In 2015, the Prime Minister of Vietnam recognized the 82 steles as a National Treasure.

Beyond the steles, the Đại Thành Gate leads into the fourth courtyard. This is the main area of veneration. Ahead stand the great hall of ceremonies and the Đại Thành hall. Inside the Đại Thành hall, Confucius is venerated at the center. On either side are four sages honored alongside him. They are Yan Hui, Zengzi, Zisi and Mencius. These four names are bound up with the whole Confucian tradition, across more than 2,000 years. The two side buildings, the left and right wings, also honor 72 disciples of Confucius. People call them the 72 Sages.

The fifth and last courtyard holds the Thái Học House and the Khải Thánh area, where the parents of Confucius were honored. The Thái Học House was rebuilt from 1998 to 2000. The work coincided with the city's 990th anniversary. Inside are displays on the examination tradition and on those who led the Imperial Academy. In a sense, they were the headmasters of the old school. The most famous of them is the teacher Chu Văn An, of the Trần dynasty. He was born in 1292 and died in 1370. To this day, his image and spirit are tied to a Vietnamese saying: honor the teacher, respect the moral way.

So the walk has passed through all five courtyards. It began with the Lý dynasty and went down through the Trần. Then it passed the Lê and the Nguyễn, and came back to the present day.

Before you leave, look back once more at Khuê Văn Các. That small pavilion, standing still in its courtyard, has watched more than 200 years of change in Hanoi. And the 82 stone turtles, heads raised under their steles, have silently carried a whole nation's love of learning for more than five centuries.

The Temple of Literature bears out a very Vietnamese belief: learning can change a life. Those who learn well have their names carved in stone. And stone will still be here long after we are gone.