[jackbl]

Unseemly scenes as Tet visitors seek luck from Temple of Literature in Hanoi
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Adult and kids climbed over red strings to touch the stone steles in the Temple of Literature last Wednesday in the belief that it would ensure academic success and promote longevity.
“Mung 1 tet cha, mung 2 tet me, mung 3 tet thay”, goes a Vietnamese saying, meaning that on the first day of the Lunar New Year, one visits relatives on the father's side, the second day, the mother's side, and the third day, the teachers.

Accordingly, on Wednesday, thousands of people flocked to the famous Temple of Literature in Hanoi, known as Vietnam’s first university.

And as it has been happening every year of late, the visitors, helped by loose management of the relic site’s management board and local government, created unseemly scenes, violating regulations with impunity.

Motorbike parking fees to the temple, built in 1070, is VND20,000 (US$0.95) each, ten times the capital’s regulation fee of VND2,000. But thousands of people, not wanting to spend time lining up in front of the two ticket booths, chose to buy the tickets from several black market touts offering them for VND25,000-30,000.

Inside the temple are the famous 82 steles recording results of royal examinations held between 1442 and 1780 during the reign of the Le and Mac dynasties. Regulations clearly say these are not to be touched by the public; and boards and barriers are placed around them to prevent people from encroaching the area.

However, both adults and children ignored the boards and climbed over the barriers to touch the steles that are in the form of tortoise-mounted tablets. They believe that touching the tortoise, traditionally considered a symbol of longevity in Vietnamese culture, can provide good results in studies.

In addition, there was the odd presence of plates surrounding the steles to collect money. The crowd seldom placed their offerings on the plates or in the donation boxes nearby. Instead, they threw and tossed the money on the ground, and even into the Van pond inside the temple.

Several food stalls inside the temple generated a lot of trash, and with the cleaning staff absent during the day, it piled up to make an ugly sight.