For Vietnam's Stone Turtles, Good Luck During Exams
If you've heard that Vietnam's college entrance exams are notoriously rough, consider their effect on a collection of ancient stone tortoises at Hanoi's famed Temple of Literature.
Every summer before the exams, tens of thousands of students descend on the temple, site of Vietnam's first university, to rub the heads of the sculptures for good luck. But the ritual is wearing away the stone and damaging the tortoises, some of which date to 1484.
"Please don't touch the heads," call out student volunteers patrolling the temple. But armed only with megaphones, they concede their task is largely hopeless.
"There are just too many people and everyone wants to touch them," sighs one volunteer, Bui Xuan Quynh.
Read entire article at Chronicle of Higher Ed
Every summer before the exams, tens of thousands of students descend on the temple, site of Vietnam's first university, to rub the heads of the sculptures for good luck. But the ritual is wearing away the stone and damaging the tortoises, some of which date to 1484.
"Please don't touch the heads," call out student volunteers patrolling the temple. But armed only with megaphones, they concede their task is largely hopeless.
"There are just too many people and everyone wants to touch them," sighs one volunteer, Bui Xuan Quynh.