Ancient Vietnamese scholars’ views on Chinese characters

Introduction

In the process of transnational exchange and dissemination, Chinese characters, as the primary cultural trend of the solid cultural region, were continuously spread, introduced and because ancient Vietnam lagged behind China both culturally and economically, the influence from highly civilized China to low-civilized Vietnam through various means. From the establishment of the Dinh dynasty to the end of the last imperial examination of the Nguyen dynasty in 1919, Chinese characters were the official script of Vietnam and were used to record its language. Chinese culture, systems and Confucianism, and Taoist literature also followed the footsteps of Chinese characters in Vietnam. Education in Chinese characters became necessary in ancient Vietnam to read, understand, learn and use the contents of these documents. Ancient Vietnamese scholars created many unique Vietnamese dictionaries of Chinese characters. Chinese characters are the only old script in the world still in use today. Chinese characters have such a powerful influence that when they spread to neighbouring countries and regions, local identity and awareness of Chinese characters may diverge from their origins, depending on the local culture.

There are many studies on Vietnamese Chinese characters in the academic field; some typical ones are: Wang Li 王力 (1948) A Study of the Sino-Vietnamese 汉越语研究; Dao Duy Anh (1975) The Nom Characters: Origin – Construction – 
Evolution; Nguyen Tai Can (1979) The Origin and Formation Process of the Sino-Vietnamese; Tran Trong San (1963) The Chinese Language; Ma Da 马达 (2004) The Influence of Chinese Culture on Vietnam from the History of the Use of Chinese Characters in Vietnam 从越南使用汉字的历史看汉文化对越南的影响; Nguyen Quang Hong (2008) A Brief History of the Rise and Fall of Vietnamese Chinese Characters; Liang Maohua 梁茂华 (2014) A Brief History of the Rise and Fall of Chinese Characters in Vietnam 越南汉字兴衰史述略, Research on the History of Vietnamese Character Development 越南文字发展史研究; Vu Van Ngan (2015) A Comparative Study of Nom Character and Chinese Character Formation; Zuo Rongquan 左荣全 (2016) ‘The identity of Chinese characters in ancient Vietnam and its transformation 越南古代的汉字认同及其变迁’; Yuan Yang 苑洋 (2017) The Influence of Chinese Characters on Vietnamese Language and Script 浅谈汉语汉字对越南语言文字的影响; Zhang Xiaoxiao 张潇潇 (2018) The Spread and Transmutation of Chinese Characters in Vietnam 汉字在越南的传播与嬗变; He Huazhen 何华珍 (2020) A Typological Study of Vietnamese Inscription Documents 越南碑铭文献的文字学研究; Zhao Xueyan 赵雪艳 (2020) Exploring the Evolution of Vietnamese Language and Script 越南语言文字演变探究; Lan Qiang 兰强 (2021) From Dictation to Abolition: A Test of the Fate of Chinese Characters in Vietnam 从独尊到废除:汉字在越南的命运考; and Thi Dat Chi (1955) Study of Chinese Characters. Most of these studies discuss the history of the spread and development of Chinese characters in Vietnam and their fate, the influence of Chinese characters on the Vietnamese language, and the formation and construction of Vietnamese Chinese vulgar characters and murals, and so forth. They have yet to delve into how the ancient Vietnamese scholars treated Chinese characters, so it is necessary to explore this using relevant Vietnamese literature.

With the introduction of Chinese characters in large numbers, ancient Vietnamese scholars compiled several dictionaries on Chinese characters to learn and master them better. These dictionaries were organized and categorized according to different compilation intentions, and the Chinese characters used in different periods in Vietnam were annotated, interpreted and shaped. These systematic, authoritative and rigorous dictionaries often include a preface that records the opinions of the compilers on Chinese characters, which cover many aspects of Chinese characters and provide a comprehensive picture of the ancient Vietnamese scholars’ knowledge of Chinese characters. In addition to referring to the preface and postscript in Vietnamese Chinese dictionaries, this article also refers to relevant records in other documents, such as the Le Quy Don (1773) Van Dai Loai Ngu 芸台类语, Pham Dinh Ho (late 18th century early 19th century) Vu Trung Tuy But 雨中随笔, Ngo Si Lien et al. (1998) Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu 大越史记全书 and Nguyen Ba Trac et al (1917 to 1934) Nam Phong Tap Chi 南风杂志, to analyze and summarize the attitudes of ancient Vietnamese scholars toward Chinese characters, in an attempt to provide a new perspective on the history of Vietnamese script development and the spread of Chinese characters.

Chinese and Vietnamese Chinese characters share the same view

Chinese character form, sound and meaning

Chinese characters are ideograms and have a significant influence on the neighboring countries. They were introduced to Vietnam in various ways in ancient times and became the official script of Vietnam before the last imperial examination in 1919. In ancient times, the two countries were clans, and Chinese characters were used as a tool for communication between China and Vietnam, so the ancient Vietnamese scholars had a rich knowledge of the form, sound and meaning of Chinese characters, which is also mentioned in the preface and certain documents of Vietnamese Chinese dictionaries.

Chinese characters are based on pictographs. Chinese character classification has been authoritatively determined since ancient times, and the study of Chinese character classification has become an introductory discipline: Shuowen Jiezi has described ‘According to the “Institutions of the Zhou Dynasty”, the students of the state entered primary school at eight years old, and the preceptor first taught them the Six Principles of Script 周礼八岁入小学，保氏教国子，先以六书’.

The ancient Vietnamese scholars had the same understanding of how to construct Chinese characters as China, and also believed that Chinese characters were composed according to the Chinese character classification, that the Chinese character classification represented the standard rules of character formation, and that the characters created according to the Chinese character classification were used throughout the four seas: Unknown (1831) has described ‘The Chinese character classification are draped in the same way, and the world is in the same symbol 六书垂则，四海同文’.

In addition, the ancient Vietnamese scholars realized that Chinese character forms are composed of horizontal, ­vertical, dotted, skewed and downward strokes and pointed out that these strokes have meaning. It was also pointed out that the number of Chinese character forms will continue to increase with time and social development. However, the number of Chinese character forms is still limited compared with the number of phonetic sounds:

Unknown (1831) has described ‘Characters are caused by strokes, and words increase with time 偏旁点画，文与时增’.

The essence of these statements is identical to that of China, and they gave the ancient Vietnamese a stereotypical image of writing, which also restricted the cognition and laws of later character formation.

However, at that time, Vietnam’s neighbors were China, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and other countries. During the trade and commerce process, some foreign epigraphs came along, especially Sanskrit, during the introduction of Buddhism, which made the ancient Vietnamese scholars aware of the difference between ideographic and epigraphic scripts. Le Quy Don (1773) said that `Chinese records character form; the nuclear meaning lies in shape rather than sound; the foreign writing system records phonetically; the nuclear meaning lies in the sound. Chinese characters understand the nuclear meaning of the character from the form of the character; if from the sound will be wrong, foreign writing system from the sound to judge the meaning from the form of the character will be wrong 中国记字，义理在字不在音，外国记音，义理在音声，从闻处生神识，​以字而求之则窒矣’.

It is clear that the ancient Vietnamese scholars had already discovered the difference between Chinese characters and other scripts and pinpointed that Chinese characters are ideographic and that their meanings are primarily expressed through their forms, not their sounds. Some Vietnamese scholars went further and pointed out that the ancients interpreted the meaning of characters to explain the form of characters; that is to say, the meaning is to serve the correct characters. This is basically consistent with Xu Shen's Shuowen Jiezi. Unknown (17th century) has described `The ancients view its shape to create its character, the establishment of the side to say the meaning to correct the name of the word 聖初達宁袩形，.

The ancient Vietnamese scholars were also aware of the complexity between the sounds and meanings and the differences in dialects:

Nguyen Van San (1899) has described 'China is a country, but there are many languages such as Chu language, Qi language 夫中国一国也，而有楚人齐语。’.

The difference in phonetics from one place to another is so significant that it is even difficult to recite because of the difficult tone. More importantly, the difference in pronunciation can change the meaning of the characters, which is not conducive to accurate pronunciation:

Le Quy Don (1773) has described 'Zhongzhou's clerical script is the correct sound from the ancient times 中州隶字，上古以来之​正音也, The symbol and character are is different, but it is also the voice of a country, so it is not possible to find the right sound 文殊字别，亦是写一国之声音耳，岂可执正音以求之哉。 (Van Dai Loai Ngu)

In response to the differences in phonetics between different places, ancient Vietnamese scholars pointed out that the phonetics of Zhongzhou have been the correct phonetics from ancient times to the present. Still, at the same time, they also believed that the differences between the phonetics of different places existed objectively and could not be judged by the correct phonetics, which should be recorded in other scripts. These documents generally use Zhejiang and Guangdong as examples, which shows that these places had more frequent exchanges with Vietnam in ancient times.

Development of Chinese characters and their survival and abolition

Chinese characters have been formed and developed for thousands of years. According to the research of recent scholars, Chinese characters originated in the pre-Shang period. The oracle bone script was formed in the Yin Shang period. Since the Han dynasty, Chinese characters have been separated from the ancient script and entered the regular script stage. It is also described in the Nam Phong Tap Chi:

Nguyen Ba Trac (1920:147) has described 'The Chinese used to use only ancient form in the past. After the Han Dynasty, there was a distinction between regular script, cursive script, clerical script, seal script and semi-cursive script 昔时中国惟用古文……至汉以后，始有真草篆隶，及行书之别’.

However, Chinese characters were not introduced to Vietnam until after the Libian 隶变. In other words, the regular script was the first script that Vietnamese scholars came into contact with and was widely used, while the seal script was only a secondary script and was not seen as the main script. However, the concept of the evolution of Chinese characters is highly consistent with that of China.

Chinese characters were not only the permanent official script of the Chinese nation, but in ancient times the influence of Chinese characters was even more expansive, covering the entire East Asian region, including Japan, Korea and Vietnam, forming a cross-linguistic and cross-racial Sinosphere. Because these areas do not have their own ethnic characters, or the ethnic characters have little influence and low recognition, under the continuous spread of the powerful Chinese culture, each ethnic group has to accept and use better culture to promote their own culture. Chinese characters played a fundamental role in learning from Chinese culture, and even rulers and scholars from all walks of life revered Chinese characters as much as they worshiped Chinese culture. The learning of Chinese characters continued to flourish. Therefore, during the development of Chinese characters, the exclusive status of Chinese characters made the ancient Vietnamese scholars’ view of Chinese characters consistent with that of China.

Imperial examinations were held in the Sui and Tang dynasties, and Vietnamese scholars could participate. Those who passed the examinations were either sent back to Vietnam or stayed in the capital to become government officials, which required Vietnamese scholars who wanted to work as government officials to master Chinese characters. During the Ly Dynasty, Vietnam built the Temple of Literature. It set up the National Academy, following China’s example of using the imperial examination to select talents. The Tran Dynasty set up the Imperial Academy and built schools in various places to further the imperial examination system. Based on Confucian classics, the examination system lasted for more than 800 years until the end of the Nguyen dynasty, reinforcing the importance of Chinese characters to the government and driving scholars to respect Chinese characters. Therefore, the only way for Vietnamese literati to become an official is the same as the Chinese, especially by mastering the Chinese character environment and supporting the Chinese character ideology in line with China.

Since the 19th century, when the western learning movement began, various countries throughout East Asia began to embark on a wave of learning from the West. This led to a succession of theories of Chinese character abolition and character reform. Faced with such a situation, both Chinese and Vietnamese scholars maintained the same hesitant mindset, which led to the emergence of two opposing schools in both countries. The matter was discussed more intensely in the Nam Phong Tap Chi:

Pham Quynh (1923:58) has described 'Our country today to absorb the new preservation of the essence of the problem of succession, there are two schools of thought: one for the European faction, one for the Chinese faction 我国今日吸新保粹继往产来之问题……厥有二派：一为欧学派，一为汉学派。’.

Nguyen Truong To, as one of the representatives of the reformist faction, had submitted 15 times to the Emperor of Tu Duc for the implementation of reform proposals, covering a wide range of aspects, including internal affairs, military, foreign affairs, and culture and education. In the imperial examinations system, the Four Books and Five Classics were abolished, and modern knowledge such as law, economics, agriculture, astronomy and mechanics was used instead; students were sent to Europe to study advanced knowledge, but these proposals were met with significant opposition at the time and ended in failure.

This voice intensified, and in other children’s books and dictionaries of the period, there were many statements in favor of abolition, linking civilization with backwardness:

Nguyen Binh (1909) has described ‘Today, when civilization is advancing day by day, the academia improves the Quoc Ngu characters, is civilization 今当文明日进，学界改良国语字，其开切也’.

At this time, the Vietnamese were psychologically complex. They faced two choices in language and writing: to continue using Chinese characters as the orthodox script and accept the disconnect between Chinese characters and the native language in written and spoken language, or to abolish Chinese characters, Nom characters and the imperial examination system, to break with historical documents and to promote the national language characters corresponding to the native language. Therefore, The mentally shaken of Chinese characters in Vietnam was the same as that in China at that time.

The relationship between Chinese characters and Nom characters

Nom characters are also known as ‘vulgar characters’ because their use is mainly limited to folklore. Since the emergence of Nom characters, Chinese characters were used in parallel with Nom characters for a few brief periods, especially during the Ho Dynasty (1400–1407) and the Tay Son Dynasty (1778–1802), when Nom characters were favored by the rulers and recognized as the official script to replace the exclusive status of Chinese characters, but it still failed. As can be seen, the relationship between the Chinese characters, which were in the orthodox position, and the Nom characters, which belonged to nationalism, was intricate and influenced each other.

First of all, the character formation principle of the Chinese characters is inherited from the Chinese character classification of Chinese characters: compound ideographs 会意, phono-semantic compounds 形声 and rebus (phonetic loan) characters 假借. In the Tam Thien Tu Giai Am, an example of the difference between Chinese characters and Nom characters in terms of character form is given:

Unknown (1831) has descirbed ‘In the text, 天 corresponds to the Nom characters , which is created by the metaphorical method, 地 corresponds to the Nom characters 坦, which is created by the morphological method, and so on. By analogy, the addition of parts to the base of Chinese characters makes them more complicated to remember than the Chinese character system, which is not conducive to learning and promotion 如轻青者，天也，中华呼为天，我国于天之下，加上字。重浊者，地也，​中华呼为地，我国于土之旁，加旦字。至于车、么、个、巨、艹、⺮，千字一画，随佐增加……故我国字号，难于中国’.

This shows that the ancient Vietnamese scholars realized that there is an inseparable connection between Chinese characters and Nom characters in terms of form and sound and that to understand and use Nom characters, one needs to have a certain degree of prior knowledge of Chinese characters, such as the principles of their construction to understand their structure, their pronunciation to understand their proximity to their sound, their parts and their meaning as a whole.

Secondly, ancient Vietnamese literati believed that Nom characters are not an isolated category. Although it is a product of nationalism, due to the continuous contact and influence between Vietnamese and Chinese languages in the long history, there are a lot of sources in Vietnamese vocabulary. These words are based on ancient Chinese words, but these words are rarely known in modern Chinese, but they are still used in Vietnamese until now, and it was once thought to be purely Nom characters. But in fact, these words that are considered to be Vietnamese are not pure Vietnamese words, but Chinese words that were introduced into Vietnam and assimilated a long time ago, such as 穭, the same as 稆, ‘穭，自生稻也 (Guangyun)’, the name of the genus ‘harvest’ is used in Nom, or ‘《山堂肄考》云‘禾不因播种而自生, 曰稆, 稆与旅同, 又草名稆葵,
《唐诗》云‘门前生稆葵’，今国俗呼禾为稆，俗书亦作此字’ (Van Dai Loai Ngu: Am tu ngu).

In addition, since Chinese characters are ideographic, they played a fundamental role in recording the complex dialects of ancient times and even the languages of East Asian countries, ensuring their authenticity, efficiency and topicality. Therefore, when they spread to Vietnam, Chinese characters were not only unhindered by the language and phonetics of the region but also made mutual contact with the local language, leaving deep-rooted traces in the Vietnamese language. These traces are mainly manifested at the level of vocabulary, especially some transgressive words of ancient Chinese:

Le Quy Don (1773) has descirbed ‘Meng Xun, King of Liang scolded his minister for daring to be hostile, seems to be a vulgar sound. The literature is interpreted as having the sound but not the character, explain as 姸, Synonymy with Chinese. The popular saying in our country is 馨馨, the meaning of fortunate to be hostile. 珍珍 means not being ashamed. 炭炭 means secure and comfortable. 凉王蒙逊骂其臣曰敢姸姸然，似是土音。史注谓有其音而无其义，甚是后注云如姸字，义同华饬则非也，本国俗说曰馨馨，幸戾之意，曰珍珍，不怍之意，曰炭炭，安舒之意，皆此类也，淮南子》曰：‘举大木者前称邪许(音虎)，
后亦应之，此举重劝力之歌也 (出道应训)’。今俗呼鸟阿即此’.

Different views of Chinese characters between China and Vietnam

Introduction of Chinese characters to Vietnam

Vietnam was called Giao Chi 交趾 (or 交阯) in ancient times, was renamed as Giao Chau 交州 in the Three Kingdoms period, and changed to An Nam in the Sui and Tang dynasties, and was used until 1945:

Li Wenfeng (1996:58) has described 'Yao ordered Xie and He to live in the southern, which is the land of Lac Viet; Shun ordered Yu to take care the southern . The name of Giao Chi have a long history 尧命羲和宅南交，乃骆越之地；舜命禹南抚交阯。交阯之名，
其来最久’.

Accordingly, it can be seen that China and Vietnam have had close interactions since ancient times. From the Qin and Han dynasties, Chinese characters and Chinese culture began to influence this place through some policies of Nan Yue Guo 南越国, and Chinese language and characters became the official preferred language and script of ancient Vietnam, so the proposition that Chinese characters were introduced to Vietnam has received the attention of many scholars.

There is no detailed record of the introduction of Chinese characters to Vietnam in Chinese literature, but only several measures, such as the setting up of administrative agencies, the dispatching of eunuchs and the building of schools by the Han Chinese in Vietnam:

Le Tung (1998:78) has described 'The culture and education of Quan Tuong are revitalized. With poetry and books to train the country's customs, with benevolence and justice to strengthen the hearts of people 文教振乎象郡。以诗书而化训国俗，以仁义而固结人心’.

It is not difficult to find that the Chinese rulers attached great importance to the education of ancient Vietnam. Through moving means ‘crime person’, building schools, teaching poetry and books, etc., the advanced Chinese culture into Vietnam, as ­‘sinners’ communication tools, record poetry and books, and other canonical Chinese characters must also be introduced into Vietnam.

The preface of the Vietnamese Chinese dictionary does not give a detailed explanation of the introduction of Chinese characters into Vietnam but only consistently mentions the significant contribution of Shi Xie 士燮 to the spread of Chinese characters in Vietnam:

Unknown (17th century) has described that 'As for the time of King Shi Xie, came here for more than forty years, and has been teaching and educating, interpreting the righteousness of the southern customs, and integrating the national language and poetry to know the name and rhyme 至于士王之时，移车就国四十余年，大行教化，解义南俗，以通章句，集成国语诗歌，以识号名韵’.

In ancient Vietnam (Giao Chau), under the administration of Shi Xie, security was guaranteed, people lived in peace, and culture was given more space to develop:

Le Tung (1998:79) has described 'King Shi Xie was a learned and humble scholar, and he was able to transform the country's customs with poetry and books, and the hearts of the people with manners and music. The country has been ruled for over forty years without incident 士王习鲁国之风流，学问博洽，谦虚下士，化国俗以诗书，淑人心以礼乐，治国逾四十年，境内无事’.

Ngo Si Lien et al. (1998:7) has described that 'Our country is versed in poetry and calligraphy, practicing rituals and music, and has been a state of literature since the beginning of King Shi Xie. Its virtue, not only at the time, but also to far-reaching future generations, is a great success

我国通诗书，习礼乐，为文献之邦，自士王始。其功德，岂特施于当时，而有以远及于后代，岂不盛矣哉’.

It can be seen that before Shi Xie 士燮, Chinese characters also appeared here sporadically, but with little success due to the social unrest and the low literacy level of the people. For more than 40 years, Shi Xie 士燮 ruled Giao Chau and devoted himself to reconciling the residents and foreign immigrants, making it a more stable place compared with China (中原), and more and more people from China（中原）also moved here, which was of great benefit to the cultural contact of Giao Chau. Therefore, later generations honored him as ‘the ancestor of southern suburbs learning 南郊学祖’, and, in the Tran Dynasty, he was also honored as ‘the great king of Thien Cam Gia Ung Linh Vu 善感嘉应灵武大王’.

In addition, Confucianism, which was carried by Chinese characters, was better spread during that time, and the ancient Vietnamese called Chinese characters Confucian characters 儒字 or sage characters 圣贤字, which is a logical response.

In addition, the Nam Phong Tap Chi (1918:241) divided the spread of Chinese studies into four periods, namely, the period of study abroad (belonging to the Han period), the period of the reach of Chinese studies by Buddhism (belonging to the Jin and Tang dynasties to the period of Dinh and Ly), the period of the parallel advancement of Confucianism and Buddhism (the Ly Tran period) and the period of the heyday of Confucianism (the Le dynasty to the Nguyen dynasty).

Among them, Truong Trong 张重 who was a scholar, and decades later Shi Xie 士燮 had a great significance to the spread of Chinese characters to Vietnam, as stated in the text, Nam Phong Tap Chi (1918:241); ‘By the time of Emperor Han Xian Di 汉献帝, Shi Xie 士燮 was the governor of Giao Chau and began to teach our people with poetry and calligraphy, and Chinese characters were spread in the country.’ These ideas are in complete agreement with the preface and postscript of the Vietnamese Chinese dictionary and are sufficient to supplement the few mentioned deficiencies in Chinese literature.

The relationship between Chinese characters and Nom characters

China is located to the north of Vietnam. The ancient Vietnamese people often called it the ‘northern country 北国’, so the language spoken in China is also called ‘northern language 北语’, or 北国言语. The sound used in the Middle Kingdom is called ‘northern sound 北音’ to distinguish it from the ancient Vietnamese as ‘southern country 南国’, ‘southern sound 南音 (or 国音)’, and ‘southern language 南语’. This shows that, although the two places use the same writing systems, there are still apparent differences in phonetics and language. This is the phenomenon of disconnect between written and spoken language:

Unknown (1831) has described 'Vietnam is founded on literature, the characters are the same as Chinese, but the meaning of the interpretation of the sound is different from Chinese 我越文献立国，文字与中华同，而切义解音则与中华异 ……正如《皇极惊世》所称：开口，撮口者，次亦南、朔自然之理’.

This phenomenon of writing the same script but speaking different languages existed in ancient Vietnam for a long time, almost throughout Northern Domination period, both on official formal occasions and in folk culture as in China, using Chinese characters as the official script, while using the native language (Vietnamese) to communicate in the spoken society. This created a contradiction between the written and spoken languages; thus, the Nom characters were born.

However, after the Chinese characters were introduced to Vietnam, only the Chinese characters were preserved and spread, and the ancient Vietnamese scholars did not pronounce them in Chinese but adapted the sound of the Chinese characters to the characteristics of their native speech, which is called the Sino-Vietnamese today; in ancient times, it was called 土音 or 南音:

Pham Quynh (1923:58) has described ‘The Chinese characters spoken in Vietnam have all been transmitted as native sounds, so these characters are southern sounds, not Chinese sounds, and southern materials, not Chinese materials 我国民所话之汉字，已尽传为土音，则此等说话，南音也，而非汉音，南料也而非汉料’.

The relationship between Chinese characters and Nom characters is also reflected in the different classes of use, which makes Chinese characters and Nom characters also have the distinction of positive and vulgar, high and low, and elegant and mediocre. This classification has widened the sense of distance between the two. Confucian scholars more Chinese characters and reject Nom characters. Ordinary people have secondary education in Chinese characters and only need to know part of the typical Chinese characters and Nom characters, to solve some fundamental social problems:

Pham Cong Huy (1852) said that ‘By understanding these common characters, things that seem difficult and rare become as easy to understand as the common things that happen in front of you. What is 丐堷, 丐渃, 丐檞, 丐檞, 丐㯿, etc. What is , 如㨢, etc. What is 如唹, 如, 如坤, 如懈, etc. Farmers are aware of this, but as for the rich, it may be rare 问之切近诸常用字，则閴然罕知，即如眼前常事，何者 为‘厶如丐堷、丐渃、丐檞、丐㯿云云’，何者为 ‘厶如、如、
如㨢云云’，又何者为 ‘厶如唹、如、如坤、如懈云云’。无论田夫野老，在所不知，至于穷经老蠹中人，亦属罕见何也’.

The Nom character is the one that most resembles the Chinese character in the three East Asian countries under the nationalism of their nationalities. The Japanese hiragana, katakana and Korean hangul systems are epigraphic scripts. The glyphs were created by simplifying Chinese characters. Still, the Nom characters were created by combining two or more Chinese character classifications. Just by looking at the form of the characters, there is no difference between the Chinese characters. The creation of the Nom characters is entirely in line with the concept of ‘graphics and background’ in Gestalt psychology; that is, Chinese characters as a visual ‘graphic’ entity. At the same time, the Vietnamese language system is a ‘large background’ that has not yet been differentiated.

Chinese characters and the language used in Vietnam are very different. In ancient times, when the Vietnamese perceived something, there were always two kinds of information, the concept of Vietnamese and a record of the concept of Chinese characters, which is to see graphics in the background; ‘graphics’ in the extensive background is constantly reinforced, over time, resulting in a severe disconnect between the two, and the creation of the Nom characters becomes a ‘new graphics’ to close the distance between the two.

For example, if ‘year’ is used, ‘năm’ is the first thing that comes to Vietnamese people’s minds. The Chinese character for this concept is 年, which has a different sound from Vietnamese, but if, however, the Nom character is used, the meaning character is ‘year’ and the sound character is ‘năm’, it becomes more appropriate. The psychology of the character is closely related to perceptual restructuring. It conforms to the five perceptual laws of Gestalt psychology of perfect perception, including proximity, similarity, continuity, closure and membership character. The Vietnamese language is similar to Chinese in terms of linguistic features. Vietnamese and Chinese have a high degree of similarity in linguistic characteristics. Both are isolated languages, while Japanese and Korean are adhesive languages, so in terms of language and writing, Vietnam is closer to the thinking of Chinese, and Chinese characters have influenced Vietnam quite profoundly, and the graphic perception of Vietnamese scholars has long been challenging to get out of the graphical structure of Chinese characters, so the Vietnamese mentality of respecting Chinese characters has a great relationship with the creation of Chinese characters and their principles.

Variations of Chinese characters

Chinese character forms have been used in China for millennia, but they have also changed over time and space. The most obvious is the change in the external form of the Chinese characters; that is, the shift from the oracle bone script 甲骨文, the bronze script 金文, the seal script 篆书, the clerical script 隶书, the regular script 楷书, and the cursive script 草书 and the semi-cursive script 行书 from the regular script. In the process of changing the structure of Chinese characters, new script replaced the old, and over time several variant characters 异体字 were formed, among which popular vulgar characters 俗字 abounded. However, by examining Vietnamese inscriptions and excavated documents, we only see the regular script used in Vietnam, and a small amount of the seal script and the clerical script used as artistic embellishments, so we have not been able to see the variations in the above scripts in Vietnam at present.

After the introduction of Chinese characters into Vietnam, they became an irreplaceable product of the Vietnamese language and script, but to be more compatible with the local language and culture and to be able to play a more significant role, the ancient Vietnamese scholars had to start with the Chinese character forms, and the modified Chinese characters are now called vulgar Vietnamese characters, and the contents of the Vu Trung Tuy But 雨中随笔 also give a more detailed explanation of this issue, which can also reflect the ancient Vietnamese awareness of the modification of Chinese characters, especially the variation of Chinese character forms.

Due to the tropical climate, high rainfall, high humidity and the turbulent history of Vietnam, the earliest documents available can only be traced back to the 11th to 15th centuries during the Ly Tran period. The beginning of Vu Trung Tuy But also says: ‘Vietnamese characters are not found before the Dinh and Le Dynasty 我越字学自丁黎以前，不可得见.’ According to the inscriptions that have been left, the Chinese characters used in such inscriptions as the Dung Thuy Pagoda Monument 涌翠塔碑, the bell of the Thien Phuoc Temple on Phat Tich Mountain 天福寺钟, and the monument of the three compartments of Chu Khe Tam Suong Chu Cong Biet Nghiep 唐安邾溪三厢周公别业 were taken from the Song Dynasty script. The article also describes in detail the character forms that were prevalent in each of the different eras of Vietnamese antiquity:

Pham Dinh Ho (1906) has described that ‘The plaque at Dong Hoa Mon was written by the emperor of the Ly dynasty, very natural and majestic, different from others, the strokes of the character are the ancestors of the Nam character 南字. The plaque at Dong Hung Mon was written by the emperor of Hong Duc, mixture of regular and real script. The ancient method has changed. During the Emperor Mac Dien Thanh, Mac Thi, daughter of Da Quoc Cong, built Boi Am Temple, the millstone is engraved with an inscription, the shape of the character resembles the head of a luan bird, with the final stroke elongated, similar to the present-day Nam character. But high on the left, sloping on the right, quite strange. The calligraphy of our country at the time of the Mac dynasty is similar to this. Recently, the Thuan Quang font is close to this, still retaining the ancient writing style 东华门扁，系李朝御笔，天然雄秀，迥不犹人，而撒捺拘挑，已胎南字之祖。大兴门扁，乃洪德时制，真楷相杂，
古法至此一变，莫延成间，陀国公女莫氏建贝庵寺，磨崖勒铭，字画鸾头拖脚，与今南字相似，惟左昂右劣，差为可怪，
想国初及莫辰书法大略如此，近日顺广字体近之，亦存古人之首也’.

The 南字 and 越字 mentioned here are not Nom characters created in Vietnam but are unique to Vietnamese Chinese character forms.

In addition, there is another type of Chinese character called 伩字, which along with 越字 (or 南字) and 花押字, are all Chinese characters and were developed after the Le Trung Hung Dynasty (1533), differing only in their users and occasions of use: Pham Dinh Ho (1906) said that ‘Since the Le Trung Hung Dynasty, the government has been using 南字 to prevent counterfeiting, so it has set up a Chinese character school to learn 南字. 中兴以来，业举子者从事古楷，增损讹伪，半失其真，谓之伩字，官府文移，别用南字，询其始别，盖防民间冒伪，故置华文字学，俾习南字’.

Scholars used 伩字 in ancient times to modify the ancient script for official examinations, and the 南字 was also limited by the scholars but only for official use in local institutions to prevent counterfeiting. However, this type of character was not respected by the scholars and was unanimously regarded as ‘the scribbles are as if they were written by a day laborer, which is offensive to read 潦草涂鸦，仿佛昼工之著色也，阅之令人掩卷’.

Thus, the changes in Chinese characters during this period were the result of ‘perfect perception’ according to Gestalt psychology, as reflected in the simplification and vulgarization of Chinese characters by ancient Vietnamese so that the modified characters could be perceived again with local thinking and experience, and some non-native information could be filtered. This transformation is mainly reflected in the reduction of strokes, increased strokes, variation of strokes, the transformation of parts, and other means of vulgar characters and avoidance of characters.

However, in 1717–1786, as Trinh Sam 郑森, the Lord of Tinh Do 靖都王, liked the orthographic forms of Chinese characters in China, scholars from all walks of life began to abandon the common characters and return to the correct forms:

Pham Dinh Ho (1906) has described that ‘During the year of Canh Hung, Lord Trinh Thinh Vuong, very fond of Chinese characters. Scholars change the Nam character 南字 to please him. No matter what the character or style, write only thick, straight and square, as long as it looks good. Sometimes a character is used in a mixture of seal script, clerical script, regular script and real script. Or, in the case of complicated writing, the cursive script is borrowed for consistency, called the Doi Lien characters 对联字. Cursive script imitating a sword dance, but twisted, rough and ungainly, called the De Tho characters 题诗字. 景兴中兴圣祖盛王，始喜比北字，学者稍变南字以逢之，不拘某字某体，只取粗直方劲，以合辰眠，有一字而参用篆隶书，之点隶书之挑，真书之弩勒者，或遇繁画，辄借草法以通之，谓之对联字，草书则祖舞剑体，湍捍粗鄙，
全无翰墨之致，谓之题诗字’.

It is obvious that from this period, the orthographic form of Chinese characters returned to its place, but the font changed, the form of Chinese characters no longer changed its form, but changed its body; for example, the dotted strokes in a character were in seal script, the hooked strokes were in official script, the skewed strokes were in real script and the complicated strokes were in cursive script, which can be divided into 对联字 in ordinary cursive script and 题诗字 in the same form as dancing swords, with crude and inelegant strokes, so it can be said that the variation of the form of ancient Vietnamese Chinese characters was mainly reflected in the awareness and knowledge of calligraphic habits.

Furthermore, in the series of Vietnamese Chinese character dictionaries, there is no other view that reflects the variation of Chinese character forms than the Tu Hoc Cau Tinh Ca 字学求精歌, Kiem Tu 检字, Tu Hoc Tu Ngon Thi 字学四言诗 and Co Ngu Chinh Ngo Tu Ngon Thi 古愚正误四言诗. The problem with this series of dictionaries aimed at correcting glyphs is social demand. Beginners are the main target, which means that at that time, the whole Chinese writing system was permeated by the culture of writing incorrect characters, except for a small number of children growing up in the nobility and Confucianism; most of the young students live in ordinary families and are nurtured by local education. Local education has a close relationship with vulgar culture. To avoid such vulgar characters and misspellings, a series of dictionaries to correct the characters was created:

Do Huy Uyen (1880) has mentioned that ‘During the King Minh Mang period, the calligraphy were so dense that no scholar at the time paid attention to them, and few were unaware of the vulgarity or error. Later, the rules became more and more paved, and the regular script and the cursive script was used as it pleased. 明命年间，试法字画茂密，当辰士子莫不留心，或俗或讹，鲜有不知。及后规式日疎，真草随用’.

Conclusion

From the perspective of comparing the ancient Chinese and Vietnamese views on Chinese characters, this paper, with the information on Chinese characters depicted in the preface of Vietnamese Chinese dictionaries and related documents, can provide a new research perspective on the history of the development of Vietnamese characters and the history of Chinese character transmission, thus revealing Ancient Vietnam from initial cognition to gestalt perception, and then to invisible cognition. This suggests that Chinese characters not only served as a medium of transmission between the two regions but, more importantly, they also carried the results of the views on Chinese characters that emerged between the two regions. Based on the cross-cultural context, Chinese characters are doubly perceived outside the domain; that is, the perception of the characteristics of the characters themselves and the reperception of them outside the domain.

Based on the literature mentioned above and theories, this article reveals the identification with Chinese characters in ancient Vietnam and the differences in the views on Chinese characters between the two regions from the perspectives of inheritance and variation, and sorts out many issues concerning the origin, introduction, orthography, the concept, survival and abolition, and variation of characters after the spread of Chinese characters to Vietnam. The history of the spread and evolution of Chinese characters shows that Chinese characters and the Chinese language have never been separated in Vietnam, and the core information of Chinese characters, common characters, Nom characters and invisible Chinese characters in the Sino-Vietnamese language, though stripped away in layers, can still be retained in the language and cognition, and carry cultural and cognitive patterns, which can also reveal the unique charm of Chinese characters and the Chinese language.