Attraction in my hometown: Temple of Literature

Hi all,

I was asked to present a place in my hometown for visitors to see. Below is the answer I've prepared. Could you please have a look at it and give comments? Thank you very much

"My hometown is Hanoi - the capital of Vietnam. So it is rich in culture with many historical monuments. And the Temple of Literature is among the must-see places in my hometown. The Temple lies inside the center of the city so you can get there easily. And it is too important in our culture and history that the street where it is located are given the name of the temple: the street of Temple of Literature.

The Temple was founded in 1070 by the King Ly Thanh Tong. It was a complex dedicated to worshipping the most respectful Vietnamese educator and ancient philosophers like Confucius – a Chinese educator whose teachings influenced deeply the civilization of East Asian life and thought. By the time it was also served as the Imperial Academy which is known as the first university of Vietnam. At the beginning, the entrance was only granted to people of noble birth. However, a couple decade after, students from all over the nation were allowed to study there. It had become the place of honour for the finest scholars, the elite of Vietnam. Their name, place of birth, and achievement were even recorded for eternity in stelea placed on the back of a stone tortoise

The reason why I choose this monument is that visiting here, you can still feel the persistent emphasis placed on education in our culture. The government still organises the ceremony of acknowledging the best graduates of each university with the participation of high-level authorities inside this complex. And so often, before the most important test of any student’s life, the test for university entry, people come to the Temple to pray and try to touch the head of the stone tortoise as they believe this brings the success in education. Besides, the Temple is a rare exmaple of well preserved tradional Vietnamese architecrure. The visitors can, therefore, enjoy the typical architectural features of ancient Vietnam, discover our history through stelea and experience our culture of veneration at the same time"