A SAGE Journal

2020年第3期

The Chinese script, Confucian script, and Nôm script: Some reflections on writing and politics in monarchical Vietnam

Tuấn-Cường Nguyễn 阮俊强,Anh-Chưởng Bùi 裴英掌

First Published:2020-11-26    Page Views:

【Abstract】“Confucian script” 儒字 (chữ Nho) has become a unique name used to refer to the “Chinese script” 漢字 (chữ Hán) in Vietnamese. The integration between Chinese script and Confucianism had progressed through monarchical centuries, motivated by Vietnam’s political tradition. Supported by rulers of the country, Chinese script overwhelmed the difference of languages, became the official writing system, and therefore held great influence on important activities of government such as administration, diplomacy, education, and employment. By looking carefully at how Vietnamese monarchs managed to manipulate the Chinese script, Nôm script, and Confucianism to serve their political purposes, we stress that it was Confucianism that served as the link tying the Chinese script with Vietnamese rulers. This link was so strong that the Chinese script remained the dominant form of writing even with the invention of the “Nôm script”喃字 (chữ Nôm), which was a vernacular system developed to write the Vietnamese language. Furthermore, because Confucianism itself was the spiritual core of the Chinese monarchical structure, Vietnamese rulers learned from the Chinese model by way of the Chinese script when building their own independent state. Confucianism was viewed as the core of Chinese culture.

【Keywords】Chinese script, Confucian script, monarchical Vietnam, Nôm script, politics
【About the Author】Tuấn-Cường Nguyễn 阮俊强 Institute of Sino-Nôm Studies, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam 越南汉喃研究院 Anh-Chưởng Bùi 裴英掌 VNU University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi, Vietnam 越南河内国家大学所属社会与人文科学大学

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