Talk:Temple of Literature, Hanoi

Project Assessment
This article looks as if it consists of three separate attempts to describe the same thing. These sections should be merged, or renamed to better match the subtopics they cover. "More about..." is not a useful header topic, though "History", "Grounds" (a description of the area or the buildings involved), and "Current use" are some hypothetical header titles which could be useful. LordAmeth 21:51, 3 May 2007 (UTC)


 * I've cleaned it up a little. The whole second section seems to have been copied from somewhere, and the third probably, too. I've deleted the third as it doesn't actually add any information at all. It's a pity people can't do a bit of creative writing, instead of just copying entire texts from somewhere and tacking them on without regard to the rest of the article.


 * Bathrobe 10:36, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

Temple of Confucian Learning?
Someone from IP addresses 118.71.37.85 and 118.71.34.88 (possibly the same person) has changed "Temple of Literature" to "Temple of Confucian Learning". Could the person making the changes back up this English translation of the name? It is not found anywhere on the Internet, unlike "Temple of Literature". Moreover, it is not a literal translation of the name "Van Mieu". Unless the name "Temple of Confucian Learning" has actually been adopted by Van Mieu itself, there do not seem to be any grounds for changing the English-language name. If "Temple of Confucian Learning" has been officially adopted, "Temple of Literature" should be shown as an alternative, literal, or former name and should not be deleted. This is especially the case as Van Mieu (文廟) is translated as "Temple of Literature" or "Temple of Culture" in many other contexts.

Bathrobe (talk) 04:20, 3 March 2008 (UTC)


 * "Temple of Literature" is a very odd translation, but it seems to be in general usage. The meaning of "Van" is more close to "Civil" as opposed to "Military".118.71.49.118 (talk) 10:02, 1 March 2010 (UTC)

Temple of Culture would be more appropriate, Temple of Literature is too literal. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 222.252.6.25 (talk) 08:25, 2 February 2017 (UTC)

Image needs replacement
Hello all...

An image used in the article, specifically Image:Khuê Văn Các.jpg, has a little bit of a licensing issue. The image was uploaded back when the rules around image uploading were less restrictive. It is presumed that the uploader was willing to license the picture under the GFDL license but was not clear in that regard. As such, the image, while not at risk of deletion, is likely not clearly licensed to allow for free use in any future use of this article. If anyone has an image that can replace this, or can go take one and upload it, it would be best.

You have your mission, take your camera and start clicking.--Jordan 1972 (talk) 01:32, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

Move proposal
Move to Văn Miếu or Van Mieu, redirect the ill-translated name "Temple of Literature" to Temple of Confucius.134.76.63.237 (talk) 23:41, 9 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Somebody went ahead and did that. But let's see some sources. Reverted. In ictu oculi (talk) 16:33, 6 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Van Mieu does not mean Temple of Literature. This is a false cognate. Please revert move. Sgnpkd (talk) 18:08, 8 July 2020 (UTC)

Temple of Literature is a common name for this temple in English, but incorrect.
Temple of Literature is a mistranslation. 文廟 Văn miếu is short for 文宣王廟 Văn tuyên vương miếu (Temple of Prince Wénxuān). Prince Wénxuān is the posthumous name of Confucius, given to him by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. And if you visit the temple, you'll see it actually does not worship any literature, but Confucius, Duke of Zhou and other important figures in Confucianism. --KomradeRice (talk) 19:55, 14 July 2021 (UTC)