Literary Chinese
Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning
"literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning
"literar ...
(
Vietnamese
Vietnamese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia
** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam.
* Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam
** Overse ...
: 文言, 古文 or 漢文
) was the medium of all formal
writing in Vietnam for almost all of the history of the country up to the early 20th century, when it was replaced by
vernacular writing in Vietnamese using the Latin-based
Vietnamese alphabet
The Vietnamese alphabet ( vi, chữ Quốc ngữ, lit=script of the National language) is the modern Latin writing script or writing system for Vietnamese language, Vietnamese. It uses the Latin script based on Romance languages originally develo ...
.
The language was the same as that used in China, as well as in Korea and in Japan, and used the same standard
Chinese character
Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the Written Chinese, writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are k ...
s. It was used for official business, historical annals, fiction, verse, scholarship and even for declarations of Vietnamese determination to resist Chinese rule.
Literary Chinese
Literary Chinese was a style of writing modelled on the classics of
Warring States period
The Warring States period () was an era in History of China#Ancient China, ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded ...
and
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
, such as the ''
Mencius'', the ''
Commentary of Zuo'' and
Sima Qian
Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years b ...
's ''
Historical Records''.
It remained largely static while the various
varieties of Chinese
Chinese, also known as Sinitic, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of hundreds of local varieties, many of which are not mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the more mountainous southeast of main ...
evolved and diverged to the point of mutual unintelligibility.
The language was also used for formal writing in Vietnam, Korea and Japan, enabling scholars from these countries, as well as China, to communicate in writing, in a role similar to that of
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
in Europe.
Literary Chinese as written in Vietnam used the same characters and outward form as in China.
Although Literary Chinese was used only for written communication, each
Chinese character
Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the Written Chinese, writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are k ...
could be read aloud in a Vietnamese approximation of the
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the '' Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The ...
pronunciation.
For example, the term for Chinese characters, ( in Modern Standard Chinese) has a Sino-Vietnamese reading of .
With these pronunciations, Chinese words were imported wholesale into the Vietnamese language.
The resulting
Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary
Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary ( vi, từ Hán Việt, Chữ Hán: 詞漢越, literally ' Chinese-Vietnamese words') is a layer of some 3,000 monosyllabic morphemes of the Vietnamese language borrowed from Literary Chinese with consistent pronunciatio ...
makes up over half of the Vietnamese lexicon.
The Vietnamese terms for writing in Chinese are ('Chinese writing') or ('Confucian writing') in contrast to ('Southern writing'), a script for the Vietnamese language. The Nôm script, using a mixture of Chinese characters and locally created characters, became the vehicle for a flourishing vernacular literature, peaking in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. However Literary Chinese remained the medium of scholarship and administration for almost all of the period up to the early 20th century.
History
![Van Mieu Hanoi 4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Van_Mieu_Hanoi_4.jpg)
The northern part of Vietnam (down to about the 17th parallel) was incorporated into the
Han empire
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
in 111 BC, beginning a
millennium of Chinese rule, interrupted only by two short-lived revolts.
At first the empire sought to rule their new possession indirectly through the
Vietnamese nobility
During Vietnam's monarchial period, the Vietnamese nobility (tước) were classified into eleven classes, with names similar to their Chinese equivalent. These are listed here from the highest to the lowest, along with their equivalent Europea ...
, but after an influx of refugees fleeing the takeover of
Wang Mang
Wang Mang () (c. 45 – 6 October 23 CE), courtesy name Jujun (), was the founder and the only Emperor of China, emperor of the short-lived Chinese Xin dynasty. He was originally an official and consort kin of the Han dynasty and later ...
(9–23 AD), policy shifted to assimilation, contributing to the revolt of the
Trung sisters Trung may refer to:
* Hồ Văn Trung (giant), Vietnamese man who grew to 8 ft 5 in (2.57m)
* Derung people, also known as Trung people, an ethnic minority in southwest China
*Derung language, also known as the Trung language, a Sino-Tibetan lang ...
(39–43).
After the suppression of the revolt, Chinese authorities stepped up assimilation, destroying the estates of Vietnamese nobles, but also opening Chinese education to the Vietnamese.
A few rose through the civil service to senior positions in the province and elsewhere in the empire. As in any other part of the empire, the administrative language of Vietnam was Chinese.
After the country achieved independence in 938, it continued to use
Literary Chinese
Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning
"literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning
"literar ...
.
At first Buddhist monks dominated government and scholarship in the country.
The next extant writings by Vietnamese authors are poems from the late 10th century, in Chinese, by the Buddhist monks Lac Thuan and
Khuông Việt
Ngô Chân Lưu ( vi-hantu, 吳真流, 933–1011), title Khuông Việt (), was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and poet.
He wrote some of the earliest works by any Vietnamese writer, but wrote in Chinese, the language of the Vietnamese literati and ...
.
After three short-lived dynasties, the
Ly dynasty
LY or ly may refer to:
Government and politics
* Libya (ISO 3166-1 country code LY)
* Lý dynasty, a Vietnamese dynasty
* Labour Youth of Ireland
* Legislative Yuan, the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan)
Science and te ...
(1009–1225) was established with the support of Buddhist clergy.
When the first king moved the capital to
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
in the following year, he issued the 110-character ''
Edict on the Transfer of the Capital
Edict on the Transfer of the Capital (, vi, Thiên đô chiếu or Chiếu dời đô) is the edict written by the asking of emperor Lý Thái Tổ and was issued in the fall of 1010 to transfer the capital of Đại Cồ Việt from Hoa Lư t ...
''.
Confucian influence grew over the course of the dynasty, with a Confucian
Temple of Literature being erected in the capital in 1070.
Civil service examination
Civil service examinations are examinations implemented in various countries for recruitment and admission to the civil service. They are intended as a method to achieve an effective, rational public administration on a merit system for recruitin ...
s on the Chinese model began in 1075, and in the following year a college was established for training sons of the ruling elite in the
Confucian classics
Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confucian ...
.
When the Chinese
Song empire
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
invaded the country in 1076, the general
Lý Thường Kiệt
Lý Thường Kiệt (; 1019–1105), real name Ngô Tuấn (), was a Vietnamese general and admiral of the Lý dynasty. He served as an official through the reign of Lý Thái Tông, Lý Thánh Tông and Lý Nhân Tông and was a general durin ...
wrote a 4-line poem ''
Mountains and rivers of the Southern country
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...
''.
His poem was the first of a series of statements of Vietnamese determination to resist northern invaders, all written in Literary Chinese.
Later examples include
* a ''
Call to the Officers of the Army'', issued in 1285 when the country was facing a
Mongol invasion
The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire: the Mongol Empire (1206- 1368), which by 1300 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...
,
* ''
Return to the Capital'', a poem celebrating the expulsion of the Mongols in 1288,
* the ''
Great Proclamation upon the Pacification of the Wu
Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements
* Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size
* Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent
People
* List of people known as "the Great"
*Artel Great (born ...
'', celebrating the end of the
Ming occupation in 1428, and
* an ''
Address to the Army'' at the time of an attempted invasion by the
Qing empire
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
in 1789.
The influence of Confucian literati grew in the following
Tran dynasty
Tran may refer to:
Arts, media, and entertainment
* "Tran", a novel in the Janissaries series named for a fictional planet
* Dr. Tran, an animated miniseries
People
* Trần (陳), a Vietnamese surname
* Tran, member of the Nazi-era comedy duo ...
(1225–1400) until they had a monopoly on public office.
The first official history, the ''
Annals of Đại Việt'' (1272), was commissioned during this dynasty.
Although this work has been lost, it served as a model for later annals, and parts of it are preserved in later annals written in Chinese, the ''
Abbreviated Annals of Đại Việt'' (late 14th century) and the ''
Complete Annals of Đại Việt'' (1479).
Unofficial histories from this period include the ''
Spirits of the Departed in the Viet Realm'' and the ''
Wondrous Tales of Linh Nam'', parts of which were also incorporated into the ''Complete Annals''.
![Phan Boi Chau](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Phan_Boi_Chau.jpg)
Literary Chinese remained the language of administration throughout the traditional period, except during two short-lived reformist regimes.
When
Hồ Quý Ly
Hồ Quý Ly ( vi-hantu, 胡季犛, born 1336) ruled Đại Ngu (Vietnam) from 1400 to 1401 as the founding emperor of the short-lived Hồ dynasty. Quý Ly rose from a post as an official served the court of the ruling Trần dynasty and a milit ...
seized the throne in 1400, as well as pursuing a programme of land reform, he sought to break the power of the Confucian literati by making Vietnamese, written in the
Nôm script, the state language and translating the classics to make them available to all.
Hồ's reforms were reversed after
Ming China invaded the country.
None of the Nôm literature of the period has survived, through a combination of the Ming destruction of Vietnamese libraries and the continued prestige of Chinese works after the Ming were driven out.
Similar reforms were attempted by
Nguyễn Huệ
Emperor Quang Trung ( vi-hantu, 光中, 1753 – 16 September 1792) or Nguyễn Huệ ( vi-hantu, 阮惠), also known as Nguyễn Quang Bình ( vi-hantu, 阮光平), was the second emperor of the Tây Sơn dynasty, reigning from 1788 until 17 ...
from 1788, but were again reversed at the beginning of the succeeding
Nguyễn dynasty
The Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, vi, Nhà Nguyễn; chữ Hán: 阮朝, vi, Nguyễn triều) was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which ruled the unified Vietnamese state largely independently from 1802 to 1883. During its existence, ...
(1802–1945).
The shared written language made it possible for Vietnamese scholars to communicate with literate Chinese and Koreans, but only in writing; they required interpreters for verbal communication.
The Vietnamese sent their best scholars as envoys to the Chinese capital, where they were to purchase the latest Chinese books and to enter poetry-writing competitions with Chinese and Korean scholars.
The 18th-century triumph of
Lê Quý Đôn
Lê Quý Đôn (; 1726–1784) was an 18th-century Vietnamese poet, encyclopedist, and government official. His pseudonym was Quế - Đường. He was a native of Duyen Ha village in present-day Thái Bình Province. He is considered one of the ...
in such a competition became a focus of national pride.
Lê Quý Đôn is considered the last great author of Chinese literature in Vietnam.
His prodigious output included
a history of Vietnam,
collected essays on a wide variety of topics, anthologies of verse and commentaries on the classics.
![Chu1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Chu1.jpg)
Vietnamese intellectuals continued to write in Chinese up to the early decades of the 20th century.
For example, the nationalist
Phan Bội Châu
Phan Bội Châu (; 26 December 1867 – 29 October 1940), born Phan Văn San, courtesy name Hải Thụ (later changed to Sào Nam), was a pioneer of Vietnamese 20th century nationalism. In 1903, he formed a revolutionary organization called ' ...
(1867–1940) wrote his ''
History of the Loss of Vietnam
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
'' (1905) and other tracts in Literary Chinese, and also used it to communicate when in Japan and China, as he spoke neither Japanese nor Chinese.
Writers such as Phan Bội Châu,
Phan Châu Trinh
Phan Châu Trinh ( Chữ Hán: 潘周楨, 9 September 1872 – 24 March 1926), courtesy name Tử Cán (梓幹), pen name Tây Hồ (西湖) or Hi Mã (希馬), was an early 20th-century Vietnamese nationalist. He sought to end France's colonial ...
and the principal of the
Tonkin Free School
Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain ''Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includi ...
even used Chinese to write their attacks on education in Chinese and the examination system.
On the other side, the
French colonial authorities were also opposed to Chinese, both because it made administration more difficult for them and because of the nationalist literature being circulated in the language.
They abolished the examination system in 1913, and both Literary Chinese and Chữ nôm were swiftly replaced by the Latin-based
Vietnamese alphabet
The Vietnamese alphabet ( vi, chữ Quốc ngữ, lit=script of the National language) is the modern Latin writing script or writing system for Vietnamese language, Vietnamese. It uses the Latin script based on Romance languages originally develo ...
in the early 20th century.
In modern Vietnam, Chinese characters are seen only singly or in stock phrases written by calligraphers.
References
Cited books and articles
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{{Chinese language
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
History of Vietnam
Chinese-language literature of Vietnam