This research examines the Ấu học ngũ ngôn thi (幼學五言詩: Pentasyllabic Poetry for Primary Learning) written in Sinographs and Nôm script in Vietnam as a case study of the textbooks in pre-20th century primary education. This paper claims, based on Chinese-origined East Asian Sinological primers of the Shentong Shi (神童詩: Progidy Poetry), the Xunmeng Youxue Shi (訓蒙幼學詩 Initial Teaching Poetry for Primary Learning) and the Zhuangyuan Shi (狀元詩: Poetry for the First-ranked Metropolitan Laureate), a certain Vietnamese scholar reconstructed and rewrote these textbooks to become a new textbook of Vietnam with several newly-composed poems. The new textbook was translated from Literary Sinitic into Vietnamese in both prose and poetry, to adapt to the educational context of two languages (Chinese and Vietnamese) and two scripts (Sinographs and Nôm script) in Vietnam. This reconstruction and translation, on one hand, made Vietnamese primary education integrate with the Sinosphere in East Asia, on the other hand defined Vietnamese own characteristics via the localization of this textbook’s formation, language, and script.

This research bases on primary sources written in Sinograph and Nôm (vernacular Vietnamese script) by scholars in premodern Vietnam, to make a pedagogical analysis on the role of the Sanzijing (三字經) in Literary Sinitic education in premodern Vietnam. Thus, this paper claims, the study of the civil service examination in premodern Vietnam should be covered from its starting point, the primary level, to fill the gap of a partial concern by modern scholars of the high level.