The Spread And Influence Of Confucianism Moral Thought In Vietnam

Two thousand years ago, Confucianism was founded by Confucius and thus it began, since then, its impact on Chinese society has increasingly become wide and deep. As china’s neighbor, Vietnam’s close relationship with china is evident in the intimate ties that exist in political, social and cultural norms amongst the two countries. From the Qin right down to the Han dynasty, Vietnam was part of the long Chinese feudal system, this period of time was referred to as the’north period’by Vietnamese historians. The acceptance of Chinese rule by Vietnam provided a very important channel for Confucianism to the shores of Vietnam. To date, it can be inferred that the spread and influence of Confucianism in Vietnam has being under way for the past two thousand years. Confucianism has a very rich content, Confucian moralthought benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, letters, diligence, thrift, honesty, positive doctrine of filial Road. Many experts and scholars believe that in Vietnam, Confucian moral thought is the most widely spread doctrine. The influence of Confucianism on the Vietnamese feudal system has been a long process. There seems to be a very distinct manner in whichConfucianism has come to influence the Vietnamese society in different time periods. In the past thousand years, its influence in the northern part of Vietnam has not being that deep and wide. At the time of independence (968BC-1858), Confucianism was adopted as the official ideology of the ruling class of Vietnamese feudal society, it had come to enhance the ruling class and thus formed the ruling class’ ideology, because of this, Confucianism spread at a very fast rate. However, the impact of Confucianism during the French period had taken a tumble but to assert that it wasn’t completely felt is wide off the mark.In1945, under the watchful eye of the communist party, Vietnam had taken a new position on the Asian social and political strata. It was an aim of the communist party that they should lead the way in building a new national revolutionary cause by way of promoting socialism. The need to comprehend socialism principles had created a storm of national debate as regards to the position and necessity of Confucianism inspired thought in the new Vietnam. Many Vietnamese scholars held the view that Confucianism had little or no political value and thus will only serve as a hindrance in the fulfillment of the new Vietnamese challenge. Ho Chi Minh had a greater understanding and knowledge of Confucianism and thus knew where its strengths and weaknesses were. In his course of leading Vietnam’s new revolutionary cause, he realized that the demands of those involved in the’Confucianism debate’couldn’t be easily ignored. Ho Chi Minh mentioned of the need to adopt a right attitude and approach in bringing to fruition the new moral demands that Vietnamese society demanded from its people. He asserted that and emphasized the importance of making use of the good that came with Confucianism while finding time and space to make right its shortcomings so as it could fit in the new Vietnam. Yet it seemed outdated and out of line with those times, Ho Chi Minh asserted that there was still more that Vietnam could learn from Confucianism. He used some of the heroic revolutionary ethics in explaining the importance of Confucianism and thus bringing to light to its significance to the Vietnamese society. In his books, he repeatedly mentioned Confucianism’s benevolence, Righteousness, wisdom, courage, loyalty, filial piety, diligence, thrift, honesty, positivity and other areas. He advocated for "benevolence, righteousness, wisdom, courage, honesty. The premise of the new national cause came to be based on "Diligence, frugality, honesty, positive". More often than not, Ho Chi Minh encouraged "Loyal to the country, filial piety to the people". Ho chi Minh gave Confucianism a new vigor and vitality that proved very valuable.In1975recorded a great victory:the re-unification of North and South Vietnam. In1986, Vietnam began to open its shores to the outside world. In modern day Vietnam, the government has adopted free market economic policies for the advancement of social policies. Despite the fact that Vietnam has recorded positive growth in its social and economic endeavors, the influence of Confucianism in modern day Vietnamese society can not be said to be lacking. This influence may both in a positive and negative manner. Confucian virtues of benevolence, righteousness, spirit, love, tolerance and filial still has positive effects in the development of Vietnam’s political, social, economic and cultural norms. Some of the negatives of Confucianism as seeing by the Vietnamese society have been discouraged and thus discarded.We have examined confucius’s moral thinking of traditional Vietnamese society and contemporary society. We studied the Confucian moral thought and its causes on the social impact of Vietnam. The main purpose is to bring the positive role of Confucian moral thought and at the same time restricting the negative impact of the Confucian moral thought. It will be of great benefit if the Vietnamese government did some of the following in their quest to attain the society that Vietnam truly needs:First, learn Ho Chi Minh’s moral thinking; Second, strengthen the moral construction of party members and cadres; Third market the economy to strengthen so as to strengthen and accelerate its growth; Fourth, to promote economic development and curb backward customs and habits; Fifth, strengthen legal education and learn the virtues of goodness; Sixth, the government should ensure that the results of research on governmental issues are efficiently used in creating social-economic policies for the good of the nation.