Vietnamese calligraphy (

Vietnamese alphabet The Vietnamese alphabet (, ) is the modern writing script for the Vietnamese language. It uses the Latin script based on Romance languages like French language, French, originally developed by Francisco de Pina (1585–1625), a missionary from P ...

: , ) relates to the

calligraphic Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an exp ...

traditions of

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. It includes calligraphic works using a variety of scripts, including historical

chữ Hán ( , ) are the Chinese characters that were used to write Literary Chinese in Vietnam, Literary Chinese (; ) and Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese. They were officially used in Vietnam after the Red River Delta region ...

(

Chinese characters Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...

chữ Nôm Chữ Nôm (, ) is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses Chinese characters to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, with other words represented by new characters ...

(Vietnamese-derived characters), and the Latin-based

. Historically, calligraphers used the former two scripts. However, due to the adoption of the Latin-based chữ

, modern Vietnamese calligraphy also uses

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

alongside . Traditional Vietnamese calligraphy is strongly affected by that of China.

Chữ Hán ( , ) are the Chinese characters that were used to write Literary Chinese in Vietnam, Literary Chinese (; ) and Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese. They were officially used in Vietnam after the Red River Delta region ...

was often used as a

literary language Literary language is the Register (sociolinguistics), register of a language used when writing in a formal, academic writing, academic, or particularly polite tone; when speaking or writing in such a tone, it can also be known as formal language. ...

in ancient Vietnam, and as a result, Vietnamese calligraphy also used to follow

Chinese calligraphy Chinese calligraphy is the writing of Chinese characters as an art form, combining purely Visual arts, visual art and interpretation of the literary meaning. This type of expression has been widely practiced in China and has been generally held ...

’s standard and used

in many of its writings. For example, during the

Lý dynasty The Lý dynasty (, , chữ Nôm: 茹李, chữ Hán: 朝李, Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: ''triều Lý''), officially Đại Cồ Việt (chữ Hán: 大瞿越) from 1009 to 1054 and Đại Việt (chữ Hán: 大越) from 1054 to 1225, was ...

, its style was similar to China’s

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

(618-907). During the

Trần dynasty The Trần dynasty (Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: Nhà Trần, chữ Nôm: 茹陳; Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: triều Trần, chữ Hán: ikt:朝ikt:陳, 朝wikt:陳, 陳), officially Đại Việt (Chữ Hán: 大越), was a List ...

, it was influenced strongly by China’s

Song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

(960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties. Nonetheless, over time, Vietnam developed its own styles of calligraphy historically for writing both

and

Chữ Nôm Chữ Nôm (, ) is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses Chinese characters to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, with other words represented by new characters ...

. In the later

Lê dynasty The Lê dynasty, also known in historiography as the Later Lê dynasty (, chữ Hán: 朝後黎, chữ Nôm: 茹後黎), officially Đại Việt (; Chữ Hán: 大越), was the longest-ruling List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, h ...

, Vietnam developed a unique style of calligraphy called (, ) by () in his book ('Written on Rainy Days', ). It was first used in bureaucracy only but later became popular for all writing purposes. It was also called

Lệnh thư Lệnh thư (; 'edict script') is a writing style for Chinese characters (chữ Hán) and chữ Nôm in Vietnamese calligraphy. It was first developed during the Revival Lê dynasty. It was mainly at first used for official edict by the emperor ...

(, ) in ('Vietnamese History and Compendium', ) because of its initial bureaucratic characteristic. Handwritten Vietnamese Alphabet

In modern times, calligraphy has been done frequently in the Latin-based

, as

and

have largely fallen out of use. calligraphy gained popularity during the

New Poetry ''The New Poetry'' is a poetry anthology edited by Al Alvarez, published in 1962 and in a revised edition in 1966. It was greeted at the time as a significant review of the post-war scene in English poetry. The introduction, written by Alvarez, ...

and Free Poetry Movements, due to the increasing popularity of using the Vietnamese vernacular, as well as influence from French literature. Modern Vietnamese calligraphy is influenced by modern Latin

cursive Cursive (also known as joined-up writing) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionality and m ...

but is written using the calligraphy brush, rather than quill or reed pens as is done in Western calligraphy. Vietnamese calligraphy can be used to write poems, festive banners, signage, and so on.

Vietnamese calligraphy artwork

File:Tết Hà Nội 2009.jpg, People writing calligraphy on

Tết Nguyên Đán Tết (, ), short for (; ), is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. Tết celebrates the arrival of spring based on the Vietnamese calendar and usually falls on January or February in the Gregorian calendar. is not to be con ...

in Hanoi. File:Chu1.jpg, A stall selling

calligraphy. File:Van Mieu han tu 5412926827 072c42c3a1 t.jpg, A calligrapher writing , which means 'to ponder' or 'figure out'. File:Thư pháp chữ Nhẫn- Thư pháp Xuân Thành.jpg, The word . File:Belief & Ideal - a.tif, The word . File:Boat People (Thuyen Nhan).jpg, alt="Boat People" The picture of the people on the boat spell out: "Thuyền nhân", literally meaning 'Boat People'., "

Boat People Vietnamese boat people () were refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its highest in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but continued well into the earl ...

": The picture of the people on the boat spell out , literally meaning 'Boat People'. File:Thư pháp chữ TÂM- XuanThanh calligrapher.jpg, The word , which can mean 'soul', 'heart', or 'mind'. File:Van Mieu han tu 5412918909 d5a211c1f0 t.jpg, written on a scroll. File:Vietchu.jpg, A Vietnamese calligrapher writing

and

. File:Van Mieu han tu 5412916981 273dedbe99.jpg, A Vietnamese calligrapher writing () in preparation for at the

Temple of Literature, Hanoi Văn Miếu (, chữ Hán: 文廟), literally translated as Temple of Literature (although a more accurate name should be Temple of Confucius, as ''Văn'' refers to Confucius), is a temple dedicated to Confucius in Hanoi, northern Vietnam. The tem ...

. File:Personalised calligraphic message from the Temple of Literature, 2017 (A).jpg, Vietnamese calligraphy from the Temple of Literature. File:Vechu.png, Vietnamese in the Dynasty practicing calligraphy.

References

{{Authority control Culture of Vietnam Vietnamese inventions Vietnamese calligraphy

Vietnamese calligraphy artwork

See also

References