The Retreat and Revival of Confucian Schools in the Overwhelming Context French-Vietnamese Schools in Tonkin in the Early Twentieth Century until 1945

Abstract

Confucian schools existed for thousands of years under the Vietnamese feudal regime. However, the French colonialists intended to abolish and replace Confucian schools with those teaching French and National languages to meet their urgent needs for invasion and rule. Therefore, the Confucian schools in Tonkin from 1906 to 1945 experienced many ups and downs, abolition and revival under the French educational guidelines and policies. The article clarifies two contents: (i) Confucian schools in Tonkin since the French colonial government implemented the first educational reform in 1906 until 1919 when King Khai Dinh approved the abolition of all Confucian schools; (ii) the retreat and revival of the Confucian schools in the context of the French-Vietnamese schools being made the one and only education from 1919 to 1945.