Speaking of the imperial examination system, I believe we all know that the imperial examination system was a kind of official selection system in ancient China. It emerged from the sui dynasty and was not abolished until the end of the qing dynasty. In 1905, the qing dynasty decided to abolish the imperial examination system. But our neighbor Vietnam also adopted the imperial examination system, and it was abolished later. It was not until 1919 that Vietnam finally abolished the imperial examination system. So why did Vietnam abolish the imperial examination system 14 years later than we did? Vietnam has its own problems.
Vietnam was originally a part of the central plains dynasty until the five dynasties and ten kingdoms period, when it broke away from the southern han dynasty due to the prolonged infighting among the states. In ancient Chinese history, aristocracy has always been an audio and video, which made the emperor very upset. In the sui dynasty, the imperial examination system began to appear. Seriously, after the emergence of the imperial examination system, on the one hand, it used civilian officials to curb the power of the nobles, on the other hand, it also selected real talents for the court. It has to be said that the imperial examination system did play a great role, but also gradually improved. According to the British historian Joseph Needham, the imperial examination was the best system of selecting officials in ancient times.
However, after entering the Ming and qing dynasties, the imperial examination system began to become deformed, and the contents of the examination needed to be memorized by rote, without any knowledge and opinions. In the Ming and qing dynasties, many officials who came out of the imperial examination system did not have much practical working ability at all. The extensive and profound Chinese civilization has exerted great influence on its neighbors. For example, Vietnam, Korea, ryukyu and other countries were all vassal states of the central plains dynasty. These countries adopted a series of systems of the central plains dynasty, including the imperial examination system. Vietnam is no exception, Vietnam followed the imperial examination system, and with the central plains dynasty model.
After entering modern times, western powers launched a series of wars against the qing dynasty. Known as the world’s first qing dynasty began to gradually decline, simply unable to maintain their own suzerain-vassal system. Under such circumstances, western powers began to peep into the qing dynasty’s vassal states. In the 1880s, France began to get its hands on Vietnam. The qing dynasty used Vietnam as a strategic buffer zone to its southwest, and to preserve it, it went to war with France. But in the end, the qing had to give in and sign a new treaty with France, and Vietnam became a French colony. It must be said that a series of problems had appeared in the qing dynasty.
After the gengzi war, the leaders of the qing dynasty also realized that they must carry out reform. In 1905, the imperial examination system was officially abolished in the qing dynasty. Please note that the imperial examination system continued to be used in Vietnam at that time. During the French rule of Vietnam, discovering Vietnam’s cultural connection with the central plains dynasty, the French forced the Vietnamese emperor to abolish Chinese characters. A few years later, the imperial examination was abolished. Vietnam abolished the imperial examination system for two reasons. First, it was demanded by France, and second, it was really anachronistic. The abolition of the imperial examination system has been the general trend, but after the Chinese characters, there are a lot of trouble.
In Vietnam, which has long used Chinese characters, Spring Festival couplets have become a problem after the abolition of them. Nowadays, on the eve of the Spring Festival, there are many ghost writers on the streets of Vietnam. With the abolition of Chinese characters, books left over from ancient times have become almost heavenly, and only professionals can understand them. Finally, by the way, in fact, in the long history, Korea and Japan have used Chinese characters. After the Chinese characters in these two countries, there are also a lot of problems. For example, pronunciation problems, some pronunciation is not right. So, even now, Japan still has some characters.
