The Trace of "Vietnamization" in the Confucianism under the Trần Dynasty

Abstract

Entering Vietnam nearly 2000 years ago but as the product of a forced cultural contact and exchange, the Confucianism did not originally have a high status in Vietnam society during the Chinese millennial colonization of Vietnam. In the sixteenth century, the cultural contact and exchange between Vietnam and China became voluntary and the Confucianism served as Lý dynasty's foundation to form and consolidate its absolute monarchy. This adoption was featured by the establishment of the Temple of Literature in Thang Long (present-day Hanoi) in 1070 to worship Confucius, the four best disciples and seventy-two Confucius' greatest students. Three hundred years afterward, under the Tran Dynasty (1225-1400), another historic event took place at the Temple of Literature when Chu Van An, Truong Han Sieu and Do Tu Binh - three Vietnamese famous literati were co-worshiped together with the Chinese Confucianists under. Similar to other factors in the cultural exchange and contact, the Confucianism always tends to be Vietnamized and become closer to the Vietnamese way of thinking and life. However, this article focuses on highlighting the mark of Vietnamization in the Confucianism under the Tran Dynasty by emphasizing on the event of three Vietnamese literati being worshiped at the Temple of Literature-the most important worshiping place of the Confucianism in Vietnam.

The mark of Vietnamization in Confucianism under the Tran Dynasty becomes even more evident in the correlation with the Ly Dynasty (1010-1225) and the Early Le Dynasty (1428-1789), which are considered the foundation for Confucianism's formation and development to the highest status in Vietnam. The Tran shared with the two dynasties (Ly and Le) many similarities under the impacts of Chinese cultures at the early stage of independence after a thousand years of Chinese domination. This explains the fact that only the Tran kings worshiped Vietnamese Confucianists and this clearly marks the Vietnamization of the Confucianism under the Tran Dynasty. Vietnam's Confucianism no longer absolutely followed China's Confucianism but featured the maturity of the Vietnamese culture.