File:Questions by the Khải Định Emperor regarding civilisation at the final civil service exam held in 1919.jpg

English: Questions by the Khải Định Emperor regarding civilisation at the final civil service exam held in 1919. These questions explore civilisation and new "modern" ideas adopted from contact with the West and Western philosophy.

制策曰，環球列國動曰文明。文明二字出自何書。關於人倫國政世道民風旨盡包矣。求諸亞東，中之唐虞以及清滿，我之丁朝迄于後黎，揖遜戰爭興衰分合一一可考。語其變遷沿革，莫非氣數使然。究中治亂紛紛世代不一文明乎。有謂帝國專制籠罩其民，果磪輪否。然則亞東幾千年之帝國政策意者文明誤點歟。

(“The various countries around the globe are always talking about civilization. What book does this term, “civilization,” come from? Its meaning covers everything from [the proper] human relations, to national administration, to the morals of an age, to people’s customs. “In looking at the Orient, in China [from the age of] Tang [Yao] and Yu [Shun] up to [the time of] the Manchu Qing, and from our Đinh Dynasty up to the Later Lê, every abdication, war, rise and fall, division and unification can be investigated. With regards to changes and developments over time, all of this is nothing more than the work of destiny. “[However,] in examining the controlling of disorder in China over so many ages, is that not a single civilization? When people say that imperial absolutism casts a shadow over the people, is that just a false claim? And does this mean that thousands of years of imperial policies in the Orient were out of time with civilization?”)