Knowledge › Eastern › Philosophy of scienceShang oracle bone divination (c. 13th to 11th century BCE) burned turtle shells and ox bones, read the cracks, then carved the question onto the bone.
Updated 28 Sept 2026
Knowledge › Eastern › Philosophy of scienceDay divination traces back to rishu day books excavated from Warring States, Qin and Han tombs, already systematized by the 3rd century BCE.
Updated 27 Sept 2026
Knowledge › Western › PsychologyContagious magic rests on two laws: contact transfers properties, and similarity means shared essence. Rozin's 1986 experiments show they still shape us.
Updated 27 Sept 2026
Knowledge › Vietnam › Folk beliefPhilip Taylor links the Sam Mountain pilgrimage boom to the Doi Moi market economy, where traders borrow fortune from Ba Chua Xu as sacred capital.
Updated 27 Sept 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Vietnam › Vietnamese commemorative daysApril 30, 1975 marks the moment liberation tanks crashed through the gates of Independence Palace, ending 30 years of war and 21 years of division.
Updated 10 Sept 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Vietnam › Folk beliefTừ Đạo Hạnh, Nguyễn Minh Không and Dương Không Lộ in Lĩnh Nam chích quái are tales of wonder about three monks of the Lý era, told as tales.
Updated 12 Oct 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Vietnam › BuddhismThe three Chan lineages of the Lý era: Tì Ni Đa Lưu Chi, Vô Ngôn Thông and Thảo Đường. Their origins, transmission and how scholars read them.
Updated 12 Oct 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Vietnam › Historical figuresThe Do Temple Festival in Bac Ninh honors 8 Ly Dynasty kings each year on the 15th day of the third lunar month with palanquin processions.
Updated 26 Jun 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Vietnam › Historical figuresLý Bí (Lý Bôn) rose against the Liang, drove out the governor and took the throne in 544, founding Vạn Xuân and opening the Early Lý period.
Updated 12 Oct 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Vietnam › BuddhismVạn Hạnh was a monk of the Lý era, linked to the story of Lý Công Uẩn. His verse Thị đệ tử speaks of impermanence, life and death, rise and decline.
Updated 12 Oct 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Vietnam › BuddhismBuddhist meditation covers both meditative concentration and the Zen school, arriving in Vietnam from the early Common Era and thriving under the Lý and Trần.
Updated 11 Oct 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Vietnam › BuddhismCáo tật thị chúng by Chan master Mãn Giác is a famous Lý-era verse: fading spring and a plum branch in the courtyard speak of impermanence.
Updated 12 Oct 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Eastern › Feng shuiFeng shui split into two main schools over a thousand years: Jiangxi reads terrain forms, while Fujian li qi calculates with a compass.
Updated 25 Sept 2026Traditional systems
Knowledge › Vietnam › BuddhismThiền uyển tập anh records lives and verses of Vietnamese Chan masters of the Lý and Trần eras; scholars now read it as a deliberate arrangement.
Updated 12 Oct 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Eastern › Feng shuiYang Junsong, also called Yang Jiupin, is a Tang era feng shui figure tied to the Jiangxi school and the Loan Dau school.
Updated 25 Sept 2026Traditional systems
Knowledge › Vietnam › Historical figuresĐinh Bộ Lĩnh put down the twelve warlords, reunified the country and founded Đại Cồ Việt in 968, after more than twenty years of division.
Updated 12 Oct 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Vietnam › Folk beliefThang Long Tu Tran is four temples guarding the old capital: Bach Ma in the east, Voi Phuc in the west, Kim Lien in the south, Quan Thanh in the north.
Updated 22 Sept 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Eastern › Vietnamese astrologyThe Tử Vi Đẩu Số Toàn Thư circulated in the Ming era, its preface crediting La Hồng Tiên with compiling it from works attributed to Hi Di Trần Đoàn.
Updated 25 Sept 2026Traditional systems
Knowledge › Vietnam › RegionsHanoi character in daily life shows in forms of address, inviting, hosting guests, and a reserve newcomers often misread as coldness.
Updated 22 Sept 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Eastern › Feng shuiIn 968 Đinh Bộ Lĩnh made Hoa Lư the capital of Đại Cồ Việt: limestone peaks formed a natural wall and the Hoàng Long River a water route.
Updated 26 Sept 2026Traditional systems
Knowledge › Vietnam › Vietnamese commemorative daysOn September 2, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence at Ba Dinh Square, founding the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
Updated 2 Jul 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Vietnam › Traditional festivalsOrigins, rituals and cultural values of the Hung Kings Temple Festival in Phu Tho, held on the 10th day of the third lunar month to honor the Hung Kings.
Updated 23 Jul 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Eastern › Vietnamese astrologyTwelve secondary stars placed by birth year branch, the Thai Tue ring appears in every Tu Vi chart. The Thien Luong school reads character from it.
Updated 25 Sept 2026Traditional systems
Knowledge › Vietnam › Tet and seasonal ritesA guide to the Thang Long Tu Tran spring pilgrimage: the order of the four temples, what to pray at each, and mistakes first-timers often make.
Updated 22 Sept 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Eastern › I ChingHexagram 37, Phong Hoa Gia Nhan, addresses household order, each person's role, and influence spreading from within outward.
Updated 25 Sept 2026Traditional systems
Knowledge › Eastern › I ChingA Kinh Dịch hexagram stacks several layers of text: name, hexagram text, six line texts, then the Thoán, Great Image, Small Image, and Văn Ngôn.
Updated 25 Sept 2026Traditional systems
Knowledge › Eastern › Philosophy of scienceFu Xi, King Wen, the Duke of Zhou and Confucius are all credited with the I Ching, but excavated manuscripts point to a late Western Zhou compilation.
Updated 27 Sept 2026
Knowledge › Vietnam › Folk beliefHoan Kiem Lake is not one of Thang Long's four guardian temples, yet the returned sword legend sits at the old capital's spiritual center.
Updated 22 Sept 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Vietnam › Historical figuresOld histories tell how Triệu Quang Phục withdrew to the Dạ Trạch marsh, raided the Liang army by night and later took the title Triệu Việt Vương.
Updated 12 Oct 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Vietnam › Folk beliefBach Ma Temple in Hanoi guards the East of Thang Long's Four Guardian Temples and worships Long Do, the city's tutelary god.
Updated 22 Sept 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Vietnam › Traditional festivalsOng Hoang Muoi Temple Festival in Nghe An holds its main ceremony on the 10th day of the tenth lunar month, tied to Mother Goddess worship.
Updated 25 Sept 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Eastern › I ChingHexagram Heaven and Earth Pi (No. 12) puts Qian above Kun, so the two qi never meet and stagnation follows, the exact opposite of Tai.
Updated 25 Sept 2026Traditional systems
Knowledge › Vietnam › Ancestor worshipThe Hung Kings Worship, a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage, reflects Vietnam's tradition of remembering the source when drinking water.
Updated 26 Jun 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Vietnam › Traditional craftsTra Dong bronze casting village in Thanh Hoa, over 1,000 years old, keeps hereditary secrets of clay mold making and alloy blending.
Updated 23 Aug 2026Culture and belief
Knowledge › Vietnam › RegionsTet cakes differ across Vietnam's three regions: the North has banh chung and banh phu the, the Center has banh to and banh in, the South has banh tet.
Updated 19 Sept 2026Culture and belief
CelebritiesFounding king of the Lý dynasty, the person who decided to move the capital from Hoa Lư to Thăng Long in 1010
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