Rule
Gia Long's rule was noted for its strict Confucian orthodoxy. Upon toppling the Tay Son, he repealed their reforms and reimposed a classical Confucian education and civil service system. He moved the capital from Hanoi in the north to Hue in central Vietnam to reflect the southward migration of the population over the preceding centuries. The emperor built new fortresses and a palace in his new capital. Using French expertise, Gia Long modernised Vietnam's defensive capabilities. In deference to the assistance of his French friends, he tolerated the activities of Catholic missionaries, something that was increasingly restricted by his successors. Under Gia Long’s rule, Vietnam strengthened its military dominance in Indochina, expelling Siam from Cambodia and turning it into a vassal. Despite this, he was relatively isolationist in outlook towards European powers.
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Famous quotes containing the word rule:
“When we can drain the Ocean into mill-ponds, and bottle up the Force of Gravity, to be sold by retail, in gas jars; then may we hope to comprehend the infinitudes of man’s soul under formulas of Profit and Loss; and rule over this too, as over a patent engine, by checks, and valves, and balances.”
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881)
“Let the amelioration in our laws of property proceed from the concession of the rich, not from the grasping of the poor. Let us understand that the equitable rule is, that no one should take more than his share, let him be ever so rich.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Now, since our condition accommodates things to itself, and transforms them according to itself, we no longer know things in their reality; for nothing comes to us that is not altered and falsified by our Senses. When the compass, the square, and the rule are untrue, all the calculations drawn from them, all the buildings erected by their measure, are of necessity also defective and out of plumb. The uncertainty of our senses renders uncertain everything that they produce.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)