Literary Chinese (Vietnamese:Hán văn,văn ngôn;chữ Hán: 漢文, 文言)^[1][2] was the medium of all formalwriting in Vietnam for almost all of the country's history until the early 20th century, when it was replaced byvernacular writing in Vietnamese using the Latin-basedVietnamese alphabet. The language was the same as that used inChina, as well as inKorea andJapan, and used the same standardChinese characters. It was used for official business, historical annals, fiction, verse, scholarship, and even for declarations of Vietnamese determination to resist Chinese invaders.

Literary Chinese was a style of writing modelled on the classics of theWarring States period andHan dynasty, such as theMencius, theCommentary of Zuo andSima Qian'sHistorical Records. It remained largely static while the variousvarieties of Chinese evolved and diverged to the point of mutual unintelligibility.^[3] 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 ofLatin in Europe.^[4]

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, eachChinese character could be read aloud in a Vietnamese approximation of theMiddle Chinese pronunciation.^[5] For example, the term for Chinese characters,漢字 (Hànzì in Modern Standard Chinese) has a Sino-Vietnamese reading ofHán tự. With these pronunciations, Chinese words were imported wholesale into the Vietnamese language. The resultingSino-Vietnamese vocabulary makes up over half of the Vietnameselexicon.^[6]

The Vietnamese terms for writing in Chinese arechữ Hán ('Han characters') orchữ Nho ('Scholars' characters') in contrast tochữ Nôm ('Southern script'), a script for the Vietnamese language.^[7][8] 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 until the early 20th century.^[9]

The northern part of Vietnam (down to about the 17th parallel) was incorporated into theHan empire in 111 BC, beginning amillennium of Chinese rule, interrupted only by two short-lived revolts.^[10] At first, the empire sought to rule their new possession indirectly through theVietnamese nobility, but after an influx of refugees fleeing the takeover ofWang Mang (9–23 AD), policy shifted to assimilation, contributing to the revolt of theTrưng sisters (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.^[11] 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 useLiterary Chinese. At first, Buddhist monks dominated government and scholarship in the country.^[12] The next extant writings by Vietnamese authors are poems from the late 10th century, in Chinese, by the Buddhist monks Lạc Thuận andKhuông Việt.^[13]

After three short-lived dynasties, theLý dynasty (1009–1225) was established with the support of Buddhist clergy. When the first king moved the capital toHanoi in the following year, he issued the 110-characterEdict on the Transfer of the Capital.^[5] Confucian influence grew over the course of the dynasty, with a ConfucianTemple of Literature being erected in the capital in 1070.Civil service examinations on the Chinese model began in 1075, and in the following year, a college was established for training sons of the ruling elite in theConfucian classics.^[12]

When the ChineseSong empire invaded the country in 1076, the generalLý Thường Kiệt wrote a 4-line poem titledMountains and rivers of the Southern country. His poem was the first of a series of statements expressing Vietnamese determination to resist northern invaders, all written in Literary Chinese. Later examples include:^[14][15]

• aCall to the Officers of the Army, issued in 1285 when the country was facing aMongol invasion,
• Return to the Capital, a poem celebrating the expulsion of the Mongols in 1288, and
• theGreat Proclamation upon the Pacification of the Wu, celebrating the end of theMing occupation in 1428.

The influence of Confucian literati grew in the followingTrần dynasty (1225–1400) until they had a monopoly on public office.^[12] The first official history, theAnnals 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 that were written in Chinese, which include theAbbreviated Annals of Đại Việt (late 14th century) and theComplete Annals of Đại Việt (1479).^[16] Unofficial histories from this period include theSpirits of the Departed in the Viet Realm and theWondrous Tales of Lĩnh Nam, parts of which were also incorporated into theComplete Annals.^[17]

Literary Chinese remained the language of administration throughout the traditional period, except during two short-lived reformist regimes. WhenHồ Quý Ly 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 theNôm script, the state language, and translating the classics to make them available to all. Hồ's reforms were reversed afterMing 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.^[18] Similar reforms were attempted byNguyễn Huệ from 1788, but were again reversed at the beginning of the succeedingNguyễn dynasty (1802–1945).^[19]

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.^[20] The Vietnamese sent their best scholars as envoys to the Chinese capital, where they were to purchase the latest Chinese books, and enter poetry-writing competitions with Chinese and Korean scholars. The 18th-century triumph ofLê Quý Đôn in such a competition became a focus of national pride.^[21] Lê Quý Đôn is considered the last great author of Chinese literature in Vietnam. His prodigious output includeda history of Vietnam,collected essays on a wide variety of topics, anthologies of verse, and commentaries on the classics.^[22]

Vietnamese intellectuals continued to write in Chinese until the early decades of the 20th century. For example, the nationalistPhan Bội Châu (1867–1940) wrote hisHistory of the Loss of Vietnam (1905) and other tracts in Literary Chinese, and also used it tocommunicate when in Japan and China, as he spoke neither Japanese nor Chinese.^[4] Writers such as Phan Bội Châu,Phan Châu Trinh, and the principal of theTonkin Free School even used Chinese to write their attacks on education in Chinese and the examination system.^[23] On the other side, theFrench 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.^[24] The French abolished the examination system in 1913, and both Literary Chinese and chữ Nôm were swiftly replaced by the Latin-basedVietnamese alphabet in the early 20th century.^[25] In modern Vietnam, Chinese characters are seen only singly or in stock phrases written bycalligraphers.

• Classical Chinese
• History of literature in Vietnam
• Chinese-language literature of Vietnam

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• Articles containing Vietnamese-language text
• Articles containing Chinese-language text