Vietnam’s Confucianism within the Dynamics of Globalization

Abstract

The objective of this article is to further the study of Confucianism and its distinct expressions, focusing on Vietnam’s case, where it is proposed that Confucianism has followed an exceptional path from its origin, in China’s Shandong peninsula 2,600 years ago, up to its adoption by Vietnamese society. In the article, it is hypothesized, through a geopolitical analysis and particularly David Harvey’s uneven geographical developments, that Confucianism in practice, even if already implanted within certain structures of the Vietnamese society, has been displaced in the areas where globalization has impacted the most. Nevertheless, after having concluded the analysis, said hypothesis is discarded; although, given the rapid changes Vietnamese society is undergoing, future investigations may prove otherwise.