Chữ Nôm or Nôm script is the Vietnamese form of this system, and an example is shown here which can represent the English word 'moon'. But it can do much more work than that for the reader; it connects so well with much that is of historical importance to Vietnam.

'Moon' in Nôm Script

Let me first take it at its own face value. It is in two parts, to the left side is the Classic Chinese character for 'moon', while to the right is a phonetic representation of the Vietnamese word for 'moon'; this then is the Nôm for moon, but the Chinese also conveys the idea of a 'body part' while the Viet word for moon is very like a word for 'back', and so a second meaning follows and already three sets of sounds have become involved – a gift to any poet. This pattern of two juxtaposed elements is common in Nôm, sometimes the second element shows another aspect of meaning, sometimes it is simply a marker saying this is Vietnamese and not Chinese, sometimes it is a logical operator. And sometimes both elements are new and the Chinese core is set aside.

While the burgeoning ambiguity promotes poetry, the characters also lend themselves splendidly to the visual arts. The example here is presented as a work of art, notice the seal marks as used by Chinese artists, and it is in fact on a gallery wall. The gallery was housing an exhibition staged by one of the main driving forces for the promotion of Nôm in Hà Nội today. They are a group of Calligraphic Artists who are all able to read Classical Chinese and have a fair knowledge of Nôm. They are promoting both an interest in the script for the literature to which it gives access, and the use of the forms as pure design devices. The interest generated was palpable in the public attending the recent opening, indeed it was physical as can be seen in the photograph below where the clientele are being invited to add their Nôm words to the body of one of the artists! This is not the first such exhibition, but it is still only a couple of decades since Vietnam has again had the luxury of being able to welcome comprehensively its rich heritage and in this Nôm script plays a significant part. Now Hà Nội has an institute devoted to its preservation, and some 120 students studying it at the National University. This, however, is new and it is estimated that at present probably only about 100 people in the world are able easily to read the tens of thousands of documents that survive.

Demonstration by a leading member of the group of Nôm artists based in Hà Nội

Now I hope you are wondering how it comes to be that only a 100 people can read the national writing! I can use the 'moon' character to illustrate the way that Chinese and Vietnamese elements came together. Until the 10th century Vietnam was occupied by the Chinese for about a 1,000 years. During that time "big brother's" system (civil service, laws, literature and philosophy) was the only system allowed in Vietnam. So it became totally intertwined with the indigenous Vietnamese cultural mores. Today more words of Vietnamese have Chinese origins than are indigenous; much as English contains more French than Old German because of the events of a 1,000 years ago. Vietnamese has its roots in Mon-Khmer and Thai and as a result there were sounds which could not be transliterated into the Chinese script. This meant that officials who had to keep records sometimes found it difficult to represent the names of places and people. And further the official language was just that, rather official, and bad at conveying emotions, and social and personal events.
By the time Vietnam finally freed itself from Chinese occupation the imposed system was so ingrained that there was no hope, even if it had been recorded, of returning to the indigenous system or script. What happened was that a hybrid script was developed which used the great cultural resource of Chinese, but also accommodated the two problems just noted of sounds and emotions. The result was Nôm: a script of poetry and emotion. Its development was gradual and took a number of forms. But a literary version emerged which was widely used in the writings of those centuries, and a great number of Vietnamese classical texts were conceived especially for Nôm.

Street Writer of Chinese greetings by Văn Miếu in Hà Nội

So to the final twist of the story for while China, Japan and Korea stayed with their ancient scripts through the 20th century (although Chinese has recently adopted a parallel Romanization system) Vietnam converted to the western medium about 100 years ago and was unique in doing so. This conversion stemmed from the profound shock felt by all these Oriental countries at the material development of Western Europe in the 19th century. Vietnam, however, was alone in also suffering full occupation, and this humiliating combination of a culturally evangelising invader, and the sense of material inferiority, pushed the intellectual circles into adopting what they saw as a progressive stance, and one which would help them understand better the roots of western success. Accordingly they took up a phonetic system of writing out their own language in Roman script. This transliteration had been created in the 17th century by a French missionary, Alexandre de Rhodes, to assist his evangelical work.

Nôm Characters being applied at a recent exhibition opening

Rhodes had developed a remarkable system which has stood the test of over three centuries. Now Vietnamese is presented as linear European writing, and if you know the rules, and can make the sounds, it allows you to produce all the oriental tones and vowels in such a way that a Vietnamese person can understand what is being said. That is quite an 'if' as the making of the sounds is not easy for westerners, but the system is regular and simple and that is a huge advantage that many languages, not least English, covet! Because of the context, the Vietnamese conversion came with much political baggage: the war of independence against the French and the ensuing revolution saw the expunction of all cultural traditions which were seen as tied to the ruling and privileged classes, and it is clear that Nôm was so tainted.
Now, with the balancing effects of time, the taint is fading, and the cultural heritage is being fully reclaimed. What is so exhilarating about the reclamation is that it is being undertaken by young people: none of the members of the Nôm group has reached 40, that seems a very healthy movement indeed!