Stone steles in Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam include 82 steles which record the royal examinations of Le and Mac dynasties (1442-1779). All steles are put on stone tortoises’ back to represent everlasting national quintessence and reflect historical and cultural values of Viet Nam through 300 years.   In 1484, King Le Thanh Tong gave an order to erect the first 10 steles for the royal examinations held in 1442, 1448, 1463, 1466, 1469, 1472, 1475, 1478, 1481 and 1484 under Le So Dynasty. However, now only 7 steles remain. In next years, Le So Dynasty had 5 steles erected for the royal examinations held in 1487, 1496, 1502, 1511 and 1514. Under Mac Dynasty, only 2 steles were erected for the royal examinations held in 1518 (under Le So Dynasty) and 1529 because of civil war.   Under Le Trung Hung Dynasty, the royal examinations were restored and hold regularly. In 1653, Le Trung Hung Dynasty had the most number of steles erected in Temple of...

(TITC) - Imperial records are documents approved in red ink by kings. Nguyen Dynasty’s Imperial records are administrative records created during the transaction of state management activities of Nguyen Dynasty (1802 – 1945), the last feudal dynasty in Viet Nam, including records of grass-root and central administrative organizations submitted to the kings for approval, records created by the kings, diplomatic notes and literature works composed by royal family. The whole collection of Nguyen Dynasty’s Imperial records has 773 volumes, which is equivalent to about 85,000 documents of 11 Nguyen Dynasty’s kings (Gia Long, Minh Mang, Thieu Tri, Tu Duc, Kien Phuc, Ham Nghi, Dong Khanh, Thanh Thai, Duy Tan, Khai Dinh and Bao Dai). Imperial records of the Nguyen Dynasty are in various types of documents, including royal proclamation, edicts, decrees, petition, reports, replies, comment papers… which were created under strict regulations regarding their function and authority of...

(TITC) - Located on an altitude of 1,000m-1,600m, belonging to 4 districts of Quan Ba, Yen Minh, Meo Vac, Dong Van (Ha Giang Province), the 2,356km² - Dong Van Karst Plateau is one of Viet Nam's special limestone areas, housing prominent imprints that depict the development of the earth’s crust. Up to 80% of the karst formations of Dong Van Plateau are limestone formed by environment conditions and different development stages of nature.                           Geological value   A survey conducted by scientists from the Viet Nam Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources revealed the finding of 13 fossil - geological formations in Dong Van, including Chang Pung, Lut Xia, Si Ka, Bac Bun, Mia Le, Si Phai, Toc Tat, Lung Nam, Bac Son, Dong Dang, Song Hien, Hong Ngai, and Lan Pang. Of which, Chang Pung is the oldest one with date of 540 millions years.   In addition, 19 paleontology...