Cao Ba Quat

Who was Cao Ba Quat?

Cao Bá Quát was a Vietnamese poet and revolutionary who led a peasant uprising against Emperor Tự Đức. He was either executed or killed in battle. Many of his poems were destroyed, but about 1400 survive. His poems treat Buddhism sceptically.

Cao Ba Quat, a nineteenth-century literatus, was born in the year 1809 in Phu Thi Village That time period belonged to the Nguyen Dynasty under the regime of King Minh Menh, Thieu Tri, and Tu Duc. At a young age, Cao Bao Quat exhibited intelligence that exceeded his age group; by the age of five, he was able to read the Tam Tu Kinh. Cao Tuu Chieu, his father, was a Confucian and teacher

It had been part of his family tradition to enroll in the competition-examination to gain a position in the mandarin. In 1831, Cao Ba Quat entered the Thi Huong examinations, which was held in Hanoi. Initially he was ranked second among the prosperous candidates, but after his exam was reviewed by the Court, it was declared that he had failed due to violating examination rules. There was a mandatory stylistic and parameters that were to be followed by the candidates and it has been speculated that Cao Ba Quat was unable to follow the four forms of writing known as Chan, Thao, Trien, Le.