Quan điểm của gia long và minh mạng về xây dựng, quản lý đội ngũ quan lại (1802 – 1841) tt tiếng anh

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

HO NGOC DANG

THE VIEWPOINTS OF GIA LONG AND MINH MANG
ON BUILDING, MANAGING THE MANDARINS (18021841)

Major: Philosophy
Code: 9229001
A SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATION OF PHILOSOPHY

Scientific advisors: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tai Dong

HA NOI - 2020


The dissertation is completed in:
Faculty of Philosophy - Graduate Academy of Social Sciences

Scientific advisors: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tai Dong

Examiner 1: .....................................................................

Examiner 2: .....................................................................

Examiner 3: ......................................................................

The dissertation will be defended before the Dissertation Committee
of Graduate Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam Academy of
Social Sciences

At ……………, date…….month……..year 2020

The dissertation is available at:
- Viet Nam National Library
- Library of the Academy of Social Sciences


INTRODUCTION
1. The need of the study
The practice of thousand – year- history has apparently proved that
the buidling and managing the mandarins in the former feudal regimes or
the current staff is one of the key requirements which decide the survival of
any dynasty or political regime.
In 1802, Nguyen Anh, after defeating Tay Son in the war for nearly
20 years, took the basic steps to establish Nguyen dynasty and in 1806, he
officially chose the name Gia Long for his reign years. Since then, Vietnam
had united in large territory, which posed a great challenge for Nguyen
dynasty about how to build and consolidate the state administrative
apparatus from the govermental level to local one; how human resources
took charge of operating that apparatus to maintain the domination of
dynasties and and how to help people live in peace. It was imperative that
Gia Long had to fulfill the requirements of building a strong administrative
apparatus with talented, virtue and faithful mandarins to join hand with the
emperor to take charge of their resposibilities.
Being a battle-hardened King, in the process of governing the
country, Gia Long King demonstrated a considerable acumen while
building the administrative apparatus and the mandarins to meet practical
requirements.
Following the success of his father's reign, Minh Mang took power
over the country in the context that also set for him the urgent demands to

further strengthen the absolutel monarchy. These were the reasons leading
to administrative reform in the whole country in the year from 1831 to
1832, to streamline the state apparatus and correspondingly, building
mandarins to meet the requirements of the administrative institutions and
contemporary military.
To the requirement of social existence, specifically, the political
existence of the country under the reign of Gia Long and Minh Mang King
(1802-1841), the viewpoints of building and managing the mandarins were

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formed basing on the realities of the political life of the country. This both
met the immediate requirements of consolidating the absolute monarchy,
building the empire power, defend the territory, took care of people’s lives
and looked ahead in the long term when there would be futuristic political
and social incidents to maintain the dignity of the dynasty.
With the aim of "having new understanding while revising what he
has learned", we affirm that the study of the viewpoints of buidling and
managing the mandarins under Gia Long and Minh Mang’s reigns will give
us valuable lessons in personnel work in our country today. With the above
urgent issues, we decided to choose the topic "The viewpoints of Gia Long
and Minh Mang on building and managing the mandarins (1802 - 1841)"
for our philosophy thesis title.
2. Objectives and duties of the dissertation
2.1. Objectives
The thesis contributes to clarifying the viewpoints of Gia Long and
Minh Mang on building and managing the mandarins, thereby pointing out
the values, limitations and drawing historical lessons in the field of
personnel in our country today.

2.2. Duties
To fullfil the above objectives, the thesis needs to solve the following tasks:

Firstly, the dissertation analyzes and clarifies the conditions,
objective premises and subjective factors for the formation of viewpoints of
Gia Long and Minh Mang on building and managing the mandarins.
Secondly, analyzing and presenting the basic contents in the
viewpoints of Gia Long and Minh Mang on building and managing the
mandarins (1802-1841).
Third, drawing the meaningful and history lessons from their
viewpoints for the field of personnel in our country today.

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3. Subjects and scope of the thesis
3.1. Subjects
The research subject of the thesis is the viewpoints of Gia Long and
Minh Mang on building and managing the mandarins in the period of 1802-1841.

3.2. Scope of the study
The scope of research of the topic is all the conditions, objective
premises and subjective factors in the formation of the viewpoints of Gia
Long and Minh Mang King on building and managing the mandarins as
well as the real methods of implementing these viewpoints in the history of
Nguyen Dynasty (1802 - 1841). Basing on that, the thesis initially gives an
objective assessment of the meaningful and history lessons of these
viewpoints for the current personnel work in our country.
4. Theoretical basis and research methods of the thesis
4.1. Theoretical basis

The thesis is based on the theoretical basis of Marxist-Leninist
philosophy, Ho Chi Minh's thought and the viewpoints of the Communist
Party of Vietnam on the field of political philosophy (state management,
ethics and public culture, etc.).
4.2. Research methods of the thesis
The thesis applies the methodology of Marxist-Leninist philosophy,
using analytical - synthesizing method, comparing - contrasting,
systematizing, generalizing, combining logic with history, etc., at the same
time, emphasizing on interdisciplinary approach, mainly social sciences and
humanities such as: Politics, History, Law, Sociology, vv
5. New contributions of the thesis
Clarifying the viewpoints of Gia Long and Minh Mang on building
and managing the mandarins in Nguyen Dynasty (1802 – 1841), thereby
pointing out the values, limitations and drawing historical lessons in the
field of personnel in our country today.
6. Theoretical and practical significance of the thesis
6.1. Theoretical significance

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By analyzing and clarifying the concept, origin and some basic
contents in the viewpoints of Gia Long and Minh Mang on building and
managing the mandarins in Nguyen Dynasty (1802 – 1841), the thesis
pointed out some theoretical contributions of these viewpoints on the way
of governing the country of the two first emperors.
6.2. Practical significance
The thesis clarifies the role of the viewpoints on building and
managing mandarins of Gia Long and Minh Mang, so the research results
of the thesis can be used as reference for those interested in doing research

on Nguyen Dynasty in general, the issue of Nguyen Dynasty mandarins
and personnel work in our country, in particular.
7. The structure of the thesis
The thesis consists of 4 chapters and 12 caputs
Chapter 1
LITERATURE REVIEWS
By studying the viewpoints of Gia Long and Minh Mang King (18021841) on building and managing the mandarins, we see the need to focus on
referring to published researches on the conditions, objective premises and
subjective factors for the formation and implementation of the viewpoints
of the first two kings on building and managing mandarins; basic contents
and ways to implement these viewpoints in contemporary Vietnamese
political and social life; its significance and history lessons in the
perspective of Gia Long and Minh Mang on building and managing the
mandarins in the field of personnel in our country today
1.1. Research papers on objective conditions and premises and
subjective factors for the formation of viewpoints of Gia Long and
Minh Mang King (1802-1841) on building and managing the
mandarins
Tran Trong Kim from 1919 to 1921 released Vietnamese history. In
this book, the author presents a brief description of Vietnamese feudal

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dynasties, including the Nguyen Dynasty. General History of Vietnam,
volume 1, edited by Truong Huu Quynh, mentions the reality of Vietnam in
the first half of the nineteenth century including political, economic, social
and cultural issues. The reality of agricultural land and the life of peasants
under the Nguyen dynasty edited by Truong Huu Quynh - Do Bang, the
authors including Vu Minh Giang, Vu Van Quan and Nguyen Quang Trung

Tien mentioned that the basic issues of economy in Nguyen Dynasty is land
owning. Historical Issues and Nguyen Dynasty literature, edited by Tran
Huu Duy, Nguyen Phong Nam, is a collection of 26 research papers on
Nguyen Dynasty with different even contradictory views and interpretations
on issues such as: Nguyen Dynasty and Vietnam society in the XIX century
by Nguyen Phan Quang; About the "practical" ideology and "dogma" one
of Nguyen dynasty by Buu Nam; Minh Mang with his two major political
ideas: strengthening the national unity and people stabilization by Nguyen
Minh Tuong; Some issues on research methods of Nguyen dynasty by
Truong Huu Quynh, etc., are useful reference in the process of
implementing our thesis.
Some issues on mandarins of Nguyen Dynasty by Phan Dai Doan,
Nguyen Minh Tuong, Hoang Phuong, Le Thanh Lan, Nguyen Ngoc Quynh,
mentioned the issue of officals as one of the most important contents of
feudal dynasties in building and strengthening the dynasty, v.
History of Vietnamese ideology, volume 2 by Le Si Thang initially
analyzes the above implications and identifies that the conservative and
reactionary ideology of the Nguyen dynasty is, in fact, due to Confucianism
appreciation. Proceedings of Scientific Conference: Nguyen Lord and
Nguyen dynasty in Vietnamese history from the sixteenth century to the
nineteenth century, World Publishing House, Hanoi, in 2008 had quite a
large capacity discussing many problems about Nguyen Lords and Nguyen
dynasty, first because of the demand for scientific, objective nature of
history. The history of Nguyen dynasty - a new approach has expressed
different opinions about the public evaluation of this dynasty objectively, in

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order to help the researching and teaching of Nguyen dynasty history in a

more appropriate way.
There have been a number of studies of the Nguyen dynasty,
especially the administrative apparatus and the mandarins including the
works proposed by the editor, Do Bang: "Structure of the Nguyen Dynasty
state apparatus (1802-1884)”, Research on economy and organization of
Nguyen dynasty state apparatus: current issues. Nguyen Minh Tuong wrote
Structure of the State monarchy of Vietnam (from 939 to 1884), etc. These
projects have focused on analyzing the the administrative organization of
central and local government, military organization, law enactment and law
enforcement, etc.
Among the works discussing the subjective capacity of Gia Long and
Minh Menh, it is essential to mention Foreign Affairs between Vietnam and
Western countries under Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1858) by Tran Nam Tien.
Administrative and military institutions in Nguyen dynasty (1802-1885)
edited by Huynh Cong Ba, Viet Nam brief history by Tran Trong Kim, etc.
These works mentioned the subjective capacity of the two first Nguyen
Kings, gave fairly accurate remarks about their achievements as well as
their limitations in governing the country.
1.2. The works relate to the study of the basic contents of the
viewpoints of Gia Long and Minh Mang on buidling and managing the
mandarins in the period of 1802-1841 and the implementation of these
viewpoints at that time
One of the fairly complete research works on the administrative
apparatus of Vietnamese monarches is the Doctoral Dissertation thesis of
Nguyen Si Hai (1962, Saigon), with the title Central government
organization in the early period of Nguyen dynasty: 1802-1847. This is a
fairly elaborate research work and many contributions to the study of the
administrative apparatus of Nguyen dynasty in general, in the period of
1802-1841, in particular. In 1996, Nguyen Minh Tuong published the book
"Administrative reform under Minh Mang Dynasty ". In this work, the

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author studied the institutions of mandarins from governmental to local
level of Minh Mang. Research on economy and organization of Nguyen
dynasty state apparatus: current issues by Do Bang also studied the system
of officials in Nguyen Dynasty; procedures of recruiting, honoring and
organizing doctoral examinations to select talents to help the country.
Huynh Cong Ba in Administration and Military Institution in Nguyen
Dynasty (1802-1885) analyzed the problems related to the operating
mechanism of the administrative apparatus and the mandarins of Nguyen
dynasty. Some issues related to mandarins in Nguyen dynasty, compiled by
Phan Dai Doan, Nguyen Minh Tuong and other authors, studied the
institutions of Nguyen Dynasty for officials. Bui Huy Khien in the article
Selection, inspection and supervision of the mandarins of Minh Mang
Dynasty, in the State and Law magazine, gave an overview of the selection
process, using mandarins and organization and operation of the inspection
and supervision apparatus. The Proceedings of the Conference of 700 years
of Thuan Hoa - Phu Xuan - Thua Thien Hue also raised many
methodological issues of the Nguyen Dynasty.
In 2012, on the Anti-Corruption Newsletter No. 49 & 50, Tran Hong
Nhung wrote the article "Some solution to corruption prevention in Nguyen
Dynasty"; The article "Inspection, supervision and examination of
feudalism mandarins in our country" by Thai Hoang and Bui Quy Lo,
published in the Journal of Historical Research, No. 6 (283) in 1995
generalized the system of inspection and supervision of Vietnamese
monarchs. The book named “Training and using the mandarins of Nguyen
dynasty” by Le Thi Thanh Hoa fully mentioned how to train and recruit
mandarins under Gia Long and Minh Mang’s reigns.

In the article "Remuneration of Vietnamese feudal state for the
students of Imperial Academy from the 11th century to the first half of the
nineteenth century" by Trinh Thi Ha, published in the Journal of Vietnam
social science, No. 02 (75) in 2014. In 2012, in the proceedings of
Scientific Conference of the 100-year Dong Kinh, the current teaching and

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education reform of Vietnam, Vu Van Quan with the article "A Brief
overview of the education and examnination system in Vietnam during
Nguyen Dynasty", evaluated the achievements made by Nguyen dynasty –
considered the staff with Confucian knowledge as a core resource for
mandarins of state apparatus.
1.3. The studies mention the value, limitations and historical
lessons from the viewpoints of Gia Long and Minh Mang on building
and managing the mandarins (1802-1841) in the field of personnel in
our country nowsaday.
In association with this topic, there have been some good works such
as the organization of state apparatus in Nguyen Dynasty in the period of
1802-1884, edited by Do Bang, or Administrative and Military Institutions
under the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1885) by Huynh Cong Ba.
On the websites of the Communist Party of Vietnam, it is possible to
find the Party's Documents on: the current personnel work in our country,
the prevention and corruption fighting, the tasks and rights of inspection
and supervision agencies of the Party, etc. In addition, there are electronic
newspapers of other political and legal scientific agencies, in which many
authors also focus on issues of current staff affairs such as: "Preventing and
fighting corruption in the past and present"by Pham Thi Hue; Bui Huy
Khien wrote Experience of anti-corruption of Vietnamese feudal dynasties

through the
study of
"rule of avoidance
" law on
www.tapchicongsan.org.vn, Tran Anh Tuan in the article "About policy of
finding, remunerating and rewarding talented people", Party Construction
Magazine No. 8/2011, and a number of other articles have been used as
referenced in the thesis.
In short, research on organizational structure, method of building and
managing mandarins under the monarchy of Vietnam, in general and
Nguyen dynasty, in particular is a topic that has been interested in research.
The research results of previous scholars are valuable resources and
experience to help us implement this thesis.

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1.4. An overview of the reality of research topics and some issues
raised from the overview of scientific works related to the topic that
needs further studying in the thesis.
1.4.1. An overview of achievements and limitations in the research
mentioned above
By referring the above studies, we found that the authors mainly
focused on one or several certain areas, such as: setting up a power
centralization absolute monarchy, along with it was administrative and
military institutions relating to the responsibilities and rights of the
mandarins of Nguyen dynasty so that such system could operate effectively;
the education system, examing, recruiting and reappointing mandarins, was
of great importance in Nguyen dynasty, making this rational and effective
as well as meeting quality requirements of the feudal state apparatus.

Salary, bonus and punishment regimes were also concerned by the
court because it was directly related to the safety of the Nguyen court;
viewpoints of Gia Long and Minh Mang on building and managing the
mandarins helped Nguyen Dynasty to take transition step from the
"decentralization" to "centralization" and especially in the field of
administrative reform, made the state apparatus more streamlined,
controlled and supervised more effectively.
1.4.2. Issues need to focus on the thesis
With the aim of "having new understanding while revising what he
has learned", finding out that the reasonable contents that can be used as
reference for current personnle work of our country, the author finds it
necessary to focus on studying some following key issues from the
philosophical approach: Firstly, studying the foundations of the viewpoints
of Gia Long and Minh Mang on building and managing the mandarins,
Secondly, analyzing some basic contents in the viewpoints of Gia Long and
Minh Mang, from which their main characteristics are drawn. Thirdly,
initially assessing and clarifying values and limitations in the views of Gia
Long and Minh Mang on buidling and the mandarins, based on that, draws

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its history lessons for the training and use of mandarins and civil servants in
our country today.
Conclusion chapter 1
The study on Nguyen Dynasty, especially, the aspect of governing country
ideology of the first kings like Gia Long and Minh Mang still had many problems
that need to use new philosophical approaches to have satisfactory explaination.
Those are the issues discussed and solved in this thesis.

Chapter 2
THE FOUNDATIONS OF FORMING THE VIEWPOINTS OF
GIA LONG AND MINH MANG KING ON BUILDING AND
MANAGING THE MANDARINS
2.1. Definition of mandarins and mandarins in Nguyen Dynasty
under Gia Long and Minh Mang’s reigns (1802 – 1841)
2.1.1. Definition of “mandarin”
By studying documents to clearly define the concept of "mandarin",
we come to the following generalization: "mandarin" is a ChineseVietnamese phrase, used as an administrative term under Gia Long and
Minh Mang mornach (1802 - 1841) refer to those working in the state
apparatus, responsible for enforcing imperial orders and complying with
mandarin institutions under the control of the court.
2.1.2. Mandarins in Nguyen Dynasty under Gia Long and Minh
Mang’s reigns
Firstly, in terms of recruiting and conferment rules, in parallel with
the establishment of dynasties is the selection and using of mandarins,
secondly, duties and rights of mandarins; Third, assessing, rewarding,
punishing and pensions of mandarins.
The three basic contents mentioned above in the viewpoints of Gia
Long and Minh Mang on recruiting and using, duties and rights as well as
the policy of rewarding and punishing mandarins are determined as the

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main contents of the thesis which will be analyzed and presented more
clearly in the following chapters of the thesis.
2.2. Conditions and objective premises for the formation of
viewpoints of Gia Long and Minh Mang on building and managing
mandarins

2.2.1. Historical, economic context, political-social and cultural
situation under Gia Long and Minh Mang’s reigns (1802-1841)
After winning and possessing authority from Tay Son brothers
(1802), Nguyen Anh founded Nguyen Dynasty and came to crown, chose
Gia Long as name of reign’s year in 1806. The establishment and
maintenance of the “power decentralization” for nearly three decades under
Gia Long and early Minh Mang’s reign helped these two kings meet the
objective requirements of history and desire to have time to reconcile other
urgent problems. In the next period (1820-1841), Minh Mang brought about
a major reform to consolidate the whole administrative apparatus from the
govermental to local level in order to unify and centralize power.
2.2.2. Political-social and cultural situation
Firstly, in terms of economic field, the war lasted from the sixteenth
century to the end of the eighteenth century, leaving both North Viet Nam
and South Viet Nam with heavy consequences, especially in terms of
economy.
Secondly, in the field of politics and society, in early 1804 our
country changed its name into Vietnam. By Minh Mang’s reign, in 1838,
our country rechanged its name to Dai Nam. In terms of the government
organization, after becoming the king, Gia Long "examined the system of
old administrative units, appointed mandarins in charge". In 1831-1832,
Minh Mang conducted "the local administrative reform, eliminating the
prefectures, changing the towns into provinces. At that time, the whole
country had 30 provinces and one Thua Thien Palace ".
Third, in the aspect of culture, in the early nineteenth century in
Vietnam there were the presence of three major religions in the world and

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other religions. Due to previous income constraint, Gia Long King didn’t
give too cold shoulder to the priests and Christian organizations. However,
by Minh Mang's time, the relationship with the West, in general and
Christianity, in particular, had changed. In the aspect of education, both Gia
Long and Minh Mang emphasized and maintained the regime of learning
and examining basing on the Confucian spirit to train and select talents.
In summary, for nearly four decades under the reign of the two first
Nguyen kings (Gia Long and Minh Mang), the context of the world and the
country fluctuate a lot which was not only beneficial to build an empire,
powerful country but also had potential threats to the safety of dynasties and
the country.
2.2.3. The basic premise for the formation of viewpoints of Gia
Long and Minh Mang on building and managing mandarins
Studying the viewpointss of Gia Long and Minh Mang on building
and managing mandarins, we find it necessary to clarify the objective
premises and the following subjective factors:
First, it is the experience of building and managing mandarins in
Vietnamese feudal regime before Nguyen Dynasty.
Second, the ideological premises from Eastern political and social
theories in history.
Third, the premise originates from the needs of the country in terms
of domestic and foreign affairs. In the aspect of domestic: building,
strengthening royal regimes, ensuring social order and economic
management; in the aspect of foreign affairs: state relations and protection
of territorial integrity.
2.3. Subjective factors in the formation of viewpoints of Gia Long
and Minh Mang on building and managing mandarins
2.3.1. Gia Long's role in the establishment of the bureaucracy of
mandarins in Nguyen dynasty
Regarding the role of Gia Long in establishing Nguyen dynasty,

besides the problems of inheriting the viewpoint, the method of organizing

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the state apparatus according to the Chinese model and previous dynasties
of our country, it was Minh Mang, the successor to Gia Long who
completed the feudal state apparatus.
2.3.2. The role of Minh Mang in inheritance and development of
viewpoints on building and managing mandarins of Gia Long
Being a king who deeply understood the theory of politic Confucian society, Minh Mang focused on two basic ideological contents of
consolidating the national unity and people stabilization. Thanks to
expoiting policy in the northern coastal area by Nguyen Cong Tru (17781858) and the court, Nguyen dynasty was able to kill two birds with one
stone: the policy of stabilizing and educating people.
Conclusion chapter 2
Studying the foundations of Gia Long and Minh Mang's viewpoints
on building and managing mandarins, some following remarks could be
drawn out:
Firstly, the viewpoints of the two Kings were built on the basis of the
reality of the country, from the experiences of the previous monarchy of
Vietnam. Basically, it was the viewpoints and structure of Le Thanh Tong
King in the early Le So Dynasty and the state, law model of Qing Dynasty.
Second, the viewpoints of Gia Long and Minh Mang were formed on
the basis of taking Confucianism as an orthodox ideology in combination
with traditional values of the nation.
Third, the viewpoint of building and managing the mandarins reflects
the subjective competence of the two first kings of Nguyen Dynasty in
grasping the reality of contemporary country. That view includes some
basic contents and is implemented in the operation of administrative and
military apparatus from governmental to local levels.

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Chapter 3
MAJOR CONTENTS IN THE VIEWPOINTS OF GIA LONG AND MINH

MANG ON BUILDING AND MANAGING THE MANDARINS (1802-

1841) AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THESE VIEWPOINTS
CONTEMPORARILY
3.1. The main contents in the viewpoint of Gia Long King on
building and managing the mandarins
In the process of building a way to rule the country, organize the
administrative apparatus and institutionalize responsibilities and rights as
well as the method of governing, Gia Long King inherited the experience
of previous Vietnamese monarchs along with personal competence; his
viewpoints on buiding and managing mandarins in the period 1802-1819
contained some following main contents:
Firstly, his view on talent, in fact, Gia Long King was interested in
building mandarin from the years when he didn’t become a king. According
to him, "The most important task when governing the country is to find
talents to satisfy the desire of everyone". After becoming a king, he "paid
great attention to talents, considered fostering them as urgent tasks. Anyone
who had an application form to study would be exempted from military
duty, being encouraged to study hard for the examination”.
Secondly, the viewpoint of recommending talented people,
recommending talent people for mandarins is an important thing, couldn’t
be careless but to rely on moral and talent criteria.
Thirdly, the viewpoints on considering education and examination as

the basis for building the mandarins, Gia Long said: "The alma mater is
related to the sage, the state mandarin mostly graduates from there ... I
follow my ancestral emperor, ask people to built place to study, recruit more
learners, support them a little money, build a good teaching programs to
make sure that all learners are excellent and can be useful in the future. ”

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Fourthly, the viewpoint on managing the mandarins,
management of mandarins, according to Gia Long, the
coordination from other ministries, namely the Ministry of
Ministry of Justice. Therefore, it was not a coincidence that
of the Six Ministries, ministry of mandarins was ranked first.

regarding the
court needed
Rites and the
among names

3.2. The main contents in the viewpoint of Minh Mang on
building and managing the mandarins.
Minh Mang's point of view on building and managing the mandarins
contains both bold and basic ideas of administrative reform to build the
system of power centralization absolute monarchy more and more powerful.
As a result, a series of measures for recruiting and using talents, especially
the management of mandarins became more and more strict. Specifically:
Firstly, the concept of talent. Minh Mang thought that cultural knowledge
and artistic talent though small, could also help the country, and considered "the
knowlegable and good learner with wide underdstanding of classic reference" as

the the thoroughly knowledgeable ones in “Tu Thu” of Confucianism.

Secondly, in terms of recommending talented people, during his
reign, Minh Mang emphasized: "The talented men are the mainstays of
the nation". Moral and talent is two qualities of mandarins, in some cases,
directly replacing the king as a "parents of the people”
Thirdly, considering education and examination as the basis for building
mandarins. Following the ancestral emperor’s viewpoint on education and
examination, during his reign, Minh Mang built a disciplined regime with
variety of levels to select good enough talents to help the king.
Fourthly, in terms of managing the mandarins, all the evidence in the
documents of Minh Mang's viewpoints on the use of people showed that he
advocated administrative reform, from the state structure apparatus to the
mandarins, managing them by using law, and just punishment or rewarding
according to their work efficiency.

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3.3. The implementation of the viewpoints of Gia Long and Minh
Mang King on building and managing the mandarins (1802-1841)

3.3.1. Identifying the main methods in building mandarins
For Gia Long King, in the early years of being a king, due to
objective factors, the contemporary mandarins were mainly selected from
those who had great contribution in the war against Tay Son. The reality
required to have a trained and knowledgeable team of mandarins to help the
king manage administrative, economy and social affairs ... better and better
for the purpose of building a system of power centralization absolute
monarchy. That was education, examinations, recommendation and

election, hereditary.
Firstly, in the aspect of education – examination, under the monarchy
of Vietnam, in general and Gia Long, in particular, education - examination
was still the most important and popular method in recruiting mandarins.
No sooner had Mang taken power in first year of his succession, he declared
that: "the most valuable thing that a good king should do is fostering
talents ... our country is politically and culturally knowlegeable, the
Confucianist movement thrives ". Thanks to that, Minh Mang recruited
those who have real talence to meet the requirements of strengthening the
tyrannical monarchy.
Secondly, the method of recommendation and election.
Recommendation was one of the most common ways that Vietnamese
monarches applied to recruit talents. This was an immediate solution to
help the imperial court not to miss any talents, create favourable conditions
for talents to contribute their talents and virtue "to king, to help the
country". Along with the recommendation, Gia Long King also applied the
methods of appoint descendants of people with merit, and election.
Thirdly, the method of " hereditary", is a method that the court let
merit mandarins’ children, grandchildren, great - grandchildren be added to
apprenticeship or to study at Quoc Tu Giam for entrance exams or
recruiting exams.

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3.3.2. Implementing key methods in managing mandarins
Recruiting or building the state apparatus with well qualified, virtue
mandarins was always an important issue for the authorities. After being a
king, one of the difficulties posed to Minh Mang King was that his
mandarin team had almost never had any training or examinations. In such

situation, Minh Mang issued institutions on building and managing
mandarins. Specifically:
Firstly, building and completing the institutions to manage mandarins;
Secondly, developing mechanism to manage and supervise mandarins;

Along with the legal system, Minh Mang King also developed
mechanisms to manage and supervise mandarins in the country. In 1832,
Emperor Minh Mang established the Institute of Đô Sát, in which there
were Six Faculties and Supervisors faculty. In 1832, Minh Mang king
established Tam Phap ty - the supreme court of Nguyen dynasty. Duing its
existence, Tam Phap ty and Dang Van drum helped the imperial court to
vindicate many cases, gave justice and fairness to the people. Minh Mang
also established an inspection mechanism, applied rule of avoidance like in
Le dynasty. Rule of avoidance means avoiding to prevent their gang up
from committing corruption money from the court and harassing the people.
Thirdly, taking virtue and punishment as a means of managing
mandarins
For 20 years of reign, anyone, whether a mandarin with great merit or
a royal people, if they committed corruption, pursed their self-interest of the
state or harassed the people, they would be punished properly by Minh
Mang. It can be seen that these measures were applied as follows: First,
ensuring fairness without any compliance; or bias. Secondly, severely
punishing those who "hold the balance". Thirdly, severely punishing those
who take advantage of their rights to gain benefit and not "serve the
people"; Fourthly, heavy fines for deterrence and leniency for
"progressive".
Lastly, applying appropriate salary and remuneration regimes.

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Conclusion chapter 3
Due to objective requirements and the subjective desire, in nearly
four decades of reign, the two first kings of Nguyen Dynasty built a system
of viewpoints in managing and building mandarin in accordance with the
reality of the country at that time. In the process of building a team of
mandarins, the court always paid attention to all plans to seek talents for the
country, considering it a prerequisite for the state apparatus to operate
effectively, to make the country peaceful and stable. In managing
mandarins, Gia Long and Minh Mang king did not bias anyone, even
though they were from a royal family. Although their way of governing the
country was based on the political - Confucian ethics, the law still was a
balance of justice to help the court have strict and fair punishment or
rewarding.
Chapter 4
VALUE AND LIMITATIONS IN THE VIEWPOINTS OF GIA LONG
AND MINH MANG ON BUIDING AND MANAGING THE
MANDARINS (1802-1841) AND ITS MEANINGFUL LESSON
4.1. Some values and limitations in the viewpoints of Gia Long and
Minh Mang on building and managing the mandarins (1802 - 1841)

4.1.1. Some basic values
Viewpoints and methods of building and managing the mandarins are
not all the elements that constitute the way of governing the country, but, it
can be said, the mandarins, the object of social relations arising in the
process of management activities, were subject to administrative law, an
imperative method, expressed in the relationship between "commander" and
"submissive". By analyzing, presenting the main contents in viewpoints and
method of building and managing the mandarins of Nguyen Dynasty under
King Gia Long and Minh Mang’s reign, some historical significance for

contemporary Vietnamese feudal society can be drawn out as follows:

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First, set up a model of power centralization absolute monarchy
Second, the viewpoint on recruiting and appointing mandarins.
Third, the viewpoint on the use and management of mandarins.
Fourthly, rewarding and punishing mandarins must be based on the law. In
short, some basic values in the viewpoints of Gia Long and Minh Mang on
building and managing the mandarins presented above can be
briefly summarized as follows:
Firstly, at the beginning of establishing the dynasty, Gia Long
decided to choose a model of power centralization absolute monarchy.
Therefore, in addition to inheriting the experience of ruling the country
from previous feudal dynasties, Nguyen Anh demonstrated his personal
ability to "add" and "subtract" the elements constituting Hoang Viet’s rules
as a country ruling tool.
Secondly, in parallel with the policy of centralizing power, Gia Long
always paid attention to the issue of sovereignty of national integrity and
the way of ruling the country, not allowing foreign countries to interfere in
their internal affairs.
Thirdly, the reign of Minh Mang was a period of consolidating and
improving the state organizational structure on the foundation established
by Gia Long. Minh Mang’s viewpoint on building and managing team of
mandarins paralleled with great challenges in the process of implementing
administrative reforms.
4.1.2. Some major limitations
King Gia Long established the royal court and was completed by Minh
Mang king. However, at the beginning of the nineteenth century the world

witnessed a lot of changes and fluctuation, so besides the above values, the
inadequacy in terms of building and managing mandarins was inevitable. :
Firstly, in order to protect and strengthen the absolute monarchy and
interests of the Royal Family, Gia Long and Minh Mang King still applied
the traditional heredity and election to those who had merit with the court
and descendants of royal family as well.

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Secondly, high appreciation of Confucian ideology for the purpose of
absolute power centralization of the Emperor significantly limited the active
and creative role of the mandarins.
Thirdly, the fact that Nguyen Dynasty allowed a mandarin at the
same time to take over many different positions would inevitably lead to a
situation of "both as football player and as refere", limiting the
independence and effectiveness in the operation of justice office.
Fourthly, the Nguyen Dynasty gave prominence to education – examination
according to Confucian ideology and "closed" ideology of the East, so
unostentatiously it "refused" Western civilization and technical science.

4.2. The history lesson from the viewpoints of Gia Long and
Minh Mang on building and managing the mandarin team (1802-1841)
for the field of personnel in our country today
4.2.1. Thoroughly grasp the guidelines of the Party and the State
on personnel work
Besides the Documents of the National Congresses of the Party,
recently, in Resolution No. 26-NQ / TW on May 19, 2018, the Seventh
Conference of the Party Central Committee (XII) on building the staff at all
levels, especially at strategic level with well –qualified and prestigious staff,

stated the Party's viewpoint: "Officials are key factors that decide the
success or failure of the revolution; Personnel work is a "key" part of Party
building and political system. Building the staff and particularly, strategic
officers is the most important task of the Party and must be carried out
regularly, cautiously, scientifically, closely and effectively. Investment in
the buidling of staff is an investment for long-term sustainable
development”. From the above point of view, the Party pointed out the
regulations, principles and ways of implementing personel work such as the
responsibility of setting the example of leading officials at all levels and
authorities of inspection and supervision agencies etc.

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4.2.2. Giving prominence to the use of "talents" and staff planning
Deeply penetrating the Party's viewpoint on of personnel work
specifically, the concept of talent with standards of professional and ethical
competence, considering the standard as the key and between virtue and
talent, considering virtue as root, we can affirm one thing: among the
criteria to select talents for staff planning, moral quality is in the first place.
4.2.3. Renovating the recruitment of civil servants and appointing
managers
Firstly, making public, transparent and strengthening supervision of
recruitment and appointment.
Secondly, applying the method of recruitment exam taken from
practical knowledge
Thirdly, applying the method of examination for recruiting leaders
and managers.
Fourthly, there should be a commitment to outcome made by the staff
who is recruited or appointed to be leaders and managers.

4.2.4. Periodically supervising and evaluating the capacity and
quality of our country's staff
Evaluating the capacity and quality of officials with the aim of
encouraging those who work well, alert or dismiss those who do not fulfill
their tasks is a necessary task. The vote of confidence is also one of the
forms of periodic assessment.
4.2.5. Refering to the policy of "rule of avoidance" in staff rotation
Resolution No. 26-NQ / TW dated on May 19, 2018, the seventh
Conference of the Party Central Committee (XII) that we cited above
mentions the staff rotation as followings: "The policy of rotation together
with appointing a number of leaders who are not local people achieved
initial results". Thus, although the document does not use the same term, the
nature of the policy mentioned above is coinciding with the policy "rule of
avoidance" in history that Nguyen Dynasty was very interested.

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4.2.6. Using the law as a "measure" of managing civil servants
In Regulation No. 01-Qdi / TW dated 10/5/2018 on the
responsibilities and rights of the inspection committee in prevention and
anti-corruption work, in Article 2: Implementation principle states that:
"Party members in any positions having signs of corruption must be
investigated for clarification and stricly handled according to the Party's
regulations and the laws of the State, without any "forbidden zone".
From the experience of Nguyen Dynasty, especially under Minh Mang, it
is shown that law is a decisive factor in governing the country and managing
construction, it is even more important for managing the mandarins.

4.2.7. Regime reform and remuneration policies to motivate civil

servants
The fourth breakthrough mentioned in the Resolution stated that:
"Reforming salary and housing policies to motivate officials to strive, throw
themselves wholeheartedly into work; have a policy mechanism to create
fair and wholesome competition and attract and appreciate talents”. This is
also a matter of great concern for Gia Long and Minh Mang, and they also
have rather appropriate point of view.
Conclusion chapter 4
Although there are still certain historical limitations, the two kings'
lesson of building and managing the mandarins provides us with valuable
experiences and valuable lessons in current personnel work.
As the current situation of the personel work in our country still has
many issues related to the reference of experience of training, recruiting
people with enough talents and qualities such as: especially " faithfulness
to the King ", "Patriotism" and "serving people" to build true civil servants
- "servant of the people ", patriotism and loyalty to the Party are necessary.

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CONCLUSIONS
Through studying the viewpoints of Gia Long and Minh Mang on
building and managing the mandarinss, the author draw the following
conclusions:
Firstly, the basis for forming the viewoints of Gia Long and Minh
Mang on building and managing the mandarins, in the first place, is the
components of social existence including economic, political - social and
cultural conditions of the country in the early nineteenth century that are
decisive for that view. In addition to the above conditions and objective
premises, we must also mention subjective factors, namely the mental

power and willpower of the two kings of Nguyen Dynasty during the
process of establishing and building the dynasty.
Secondly, Gia Long and Minh Mang's viewpoint on building and
managing the mandarins are shown primarily in the appreciation of talents,
calling for talents throughout the country to participate in the management
work in the whole country, especially emphasizing the method of
recommendation and election, and then focusing on the field of educating
and training mandarins.
Thirdly, according to the viewpoint af Gia Long and Minh Mang, the
use of mandarins must first be based on the law, in which reward and
punishment should be justified and fair and aimed at deterring; then there
should be the announcement of institutions of responsibility and rights of
mandarins, bonuses and fines in public administrations and the military.
Fourthly, although the viewpoint of the two kings in Nguyen Dynasty
were formed due to the need to rule the country, basing on Confucian
ideology whose foundations are virtues together with law, drawing from the
experience of governing the country of previous feudal dynasties, however,
in the process of building and managing mandarins, Gia Long and Minh
Mang still could not avoid certain limitations.
Fifthly, the values and limitations in the viewpoint of building and
managing the mandarins during Gia Long and Minh Mang’s reign have

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