| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
During the first two decades of the twentieth century, Sinology was known in Vietnam as "Hán h?c ??" (or occasionally as "Trung h?c ??"), and due to the country's long history of Confucian civil service examination, "Hán h?c"/"Trung h?c" was identified with Confucianism and Confucian learning. In order to avoid any grand narrative that overlooks the multifacetedness of reality, writing about the history of Vietnamese Sinology should start with "local narrative," trying to answer a series of "WH-questions" to form a small piece of the jigsaw puzzle. Following this direction, the present paper focuses on the promotion of Confucian ethics in early twentieth century Vietnam through the case of a bulletin called Du h?c báo ??? published under the sponsorship of the Nguy?n court in the protectorate Annam. In order to modernize their "half colonial, half feudal" kingdom technologically without touching the foundation of their political system, the Nguy?n court employed the bulletin as a forum to promote Confucian values interpreted accordingly to Western philosophy and ethics to keep their young elites away from socialist/communist influence during their overseas study.
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