2. INTRODUCTION
 The major influences on Vietnamese political culture
were of Chinese origin.
 Vietnam's political institutions were forged by 1,000
years of Chinese rule (111 B.C. to A.D. 939).
 The ancient Chinese system, based on Confucianism.
 Political institutions patterned after the Chinese
model were imposed, and Confucianism became the
official ideology.

3. The Chinese civil service
examination system
 The Confucian court examination system in
Vietnam (622-1913) was a system for entry
into the civil service modelled on the
Imperial examination in China.
 They were instituted at court level by the Lý
Dynasty's Emperor Lý Nhân Tông in 1075
and continued some 1000 years later toward
the final years of the Nguyễn Dynasty's
Emperor Khải Định.

4.  The examination system was divided into a
regional and a national examination held at
the royal capital
 The examinations themselves were
composed of three or four tests, followed by
a phúc hạch or control examination to
confirm ide

5. Social Structure
 During the period of Chinese rule and for centuries
after, Vietnamese social structure was patterned after
the system prevalent in China
 For centuries Vietnamese society was knit together by
Confucian norms based on five relationships:
1. the subordination of subject to ruler
2. son to father
3. wife to husband
4. younger brother to elder brother
5. the mutual respect between friends.

6.  The traditional society was stratified on the basis of
education and occupation into 5 groups:
1. The emperor
2. scholar-officials or mandarins
3. Farmers
4. Artisans
5. merchants.