Throughout history, debates, assessment and handling of Confucianism have constantly taken place both in Vietnam and overseas. The paper analyzes four aspects as follows: (i) different approaches to Confucianism, (ii) Confucianism - a dualistic doctrine, (iii) a Confucian scholar - a dual personality, and (iv) Vietnamese Confucianism then and now
from which some conclusions are drawn. (Received 27 July 2020
published 5 July 2021)