Vietnamese calligraphy

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Vietnamese calligraphy (

Traditional Vietnamese calligraphy is strongly affected by that of China. Chữ Hán was often used as a literary language in ancient Vietnam, and as a result, Vietnamese calligraphy also used to follow Chinese calligraphy’s standard and used chữ Hán in many of its writings. For example, during the Lý dynasty, its style was similar to China’s Tang dynasty (618-907). During the Trần dynasty, it was influenced strongly by China’s Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties.^[2]

Nonetheless, over time, Vietnam developed its own styles of calligraphy historically for writing both Chữ Hán and Chữ Nôm. In the later Lê dynasty, Vietnam developed a unique style of calligraphy called "Nam tự" (lit. 'southern script', 南字,) by Phạm Đình Hổ (範廷琥) in his book Vũ Trung Tùy Bút (Written on Rainy Days - 雨中隨筆).^[3] It was first used in bureaucracy only but later became popular for all writing purposes. It was also called "Lệnh thư" (lit. 'script for decrees' 令書,) in Việt Sử Toát Yếu (Vietnamese History and Compendium - 越史撮要) because of its initial bureaucratic characteristic.^[4]

In modern times, calligraphy has been done frequently in the Latin-based Vietnamese alphabet, as Chữ Nôm and Chữ Hán have largely fallen out of use.^[5] Chữ quốc ngữ calligraphy gained popularity during the New Poetry 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 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

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  Write calligraphy on

  Tết Nguyên Đán

  in Hanoi
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  A stall selling Chữ Hán calligraphy
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  Vietnamese calligrapher in the midst of writing. The first word is "Tính" which means "to ponder" or "figure out".
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  The word "Nhẫn" is written in the Vietnamese alphabet
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  The word "Việt"
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  "

  Boat People

  " The picture of the people on the boat spell out : "Thuyền nhân", literally meaning 'Boat People'.
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  The word Tâm, which can mean soul, heart, or mind.
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  Chữ Hán-Nôm written on a scroll
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  A Vietnamese calligrapher is writing chữ Hán (Chinese characters) and chữ Nôm.
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  A Vietnamese calligrapher is writing 祿 (read as "lộc", means "good fortune") in preparation for Tết at the Temple of Literature, Hanoi
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  Vietnamese calligraphy from the Temple of Literature
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  Vietnamese in the Nguyễn Dynasty practicing calligraphy

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vietnamese calligraphy.

• Chinese calligraphy
• History of writing in Vietnam
• Vietnamese alphabet
• Chữ nôm
• Lệnh thư

References