Chữ Hán ( 𡨸漢 [t͡ɕɨ˦ˀ˥ haːn˧˦] ; lit. ' Han characters ' ) are the Chinese characters that were used to write Literary Chinese ( Hán văn ; 漢文 ) and Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary in Vietnam. They were officially used in Vietnam after the Red River Delta region was incorporated into the Han dynasty and continued to be used until the early 20th century (111 BC – 1919 AD) where usage of Literary Chinese was abolished alongside the Confucian court examinations causing chữ Hán to be no longer used in favour of the Vietnamese alphabet .
104-446: Minh Mạng ( Hanoi: [mïŋ˧ maːŋ˧˨ʔ] ) or Minh Mệnh ( Hanoi: [mïŋ˧ məjŋ̟˧˨ʔ] , chữ Hán : 明 命 , lit. "the bright favour of Heaven "; 25 May 1791 – 20 January 1841; born Nguyễn Phúc Đảm , also known as Nguyễn Phúc Kiểu ) was the second emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam , reigning from 14 February 1820 until his death, on 20 January 1841. He was
208-662: A British delegation in 1804 proposing that Vietnam be opened to trade; the delegation's gifts were not accepted and turned away. At the time, Vietnam was of no interest to the European powers, since most of the continent was engaged in the Napoleonic Wars . Nevertheless, Napoleon had seen Vietnam as a strategically important objective in the Anglo-French power struggle in Asia, as he felt that it would make an ideal base from which to contest
312-554: A Cochinchinese missionary devotee of Mgr Pigneau. However, Pigneau found the governor of Pondicherry unwilling to further fulfill the agreement. Although the Royal Council had already decided in October 1788 to endorse Conway, Pigneau was not informed until April. Pigneau was forced to use funds raised in France and enlist French volunteers. Of this duplicity, he defiantly noted: "I shall make
416-877: A French possession in India, on 21 June 1766. Pigneau had arrived just prior to the Burmese capture of Ayutthaya in Siam . After waiting for a few months in the Portuguese colony of Macau , Pigneau travelled on a Chinese ship to reach the small coastal town Hà Tiên in Cochinchina (Southern Vietnam ) near the Cambodian border, set up by missionaries who had been displaced by the Burmese. He arrived there in March 1767. In Ha Tien, Pigneau worked as head of
520-500: A chữ Hán character causing confusion between pronunciations. Chữ Hán can be classified into the traditional classification for Chinese characters , this is called lục thư ( 六書 , Chinese: liùshū), meaning six types of Chinese characters. The characters are largely based on 214 radicals set by the Kangxi Dictionary . Some chữ Hán characters were simplified into variants of characters that were easier to write, but they are not
624-432: A chữ Nôm character. Most chữ Hán characters that were used for Vietnamese words were often used for their Sino-Vietnamese pronunciations rather than their meaning which could be completely different from the actual word being used. These characters were called chữ giả tá (phonetic loan characters), due to them being borrowed phonetically. This was one reason why it was preferred to create a chữ Nôm character rather than using
728-715: A former officer of the Dryade who has deserted in Poulo Condor, built in 1790 the Citadel of Saigon and in 1793 the Citadel of Diên Khánh according to the principles of Vauban . He also instructed Vietnamese troops in the modern use of artillery, and implemented European infantry methods in the Vietnamese army of Nguyễn Phúc Ánh. In 1792, Olivier de Puymanel was commanding an army of 600 men who had been trained with European techniques. Puymanel
832-617: A hairstyle in his honour " au prince de Cochinchine ". His portrait was made in France by Maupérin , and is now on display at the Séminaire des Missions Étrangères in Paris. Prince Cảnh dazzled the Court and even played with the son of Louis XVI, Louis-Joseph, Dauphin of France , who was about the same age. By November, his constant pressure had proved effective. On 21 November 1787, the Treaty of Versailles
936-575: A part of the new elementary curriculum complied by Ministry of Education and Training after the Vietnam War. Today, Chinese characters can still be seen adorned in temples and old buildings. Chữ Hán is now relegated to obscurity and cultural aspects of Vietnam. During Vietnamese festivals, calligraphists will write some couplets written in Chinese characters wishing prosperity and longevity. Calligraphists that are skilled in calligraphy are called ông đồ. This
1040-493: A policy of cultural assimilation of non-Viet ethnic groups which from 1841, through 1845, led to southern Vietnam experiencing a series of ethnic revolts. Minh Mạng was known for his firmness of character, which guided his instincts in his policy making. This accentuated his unwillingness to break with orthodoxy in dealing with Vietnam's problems. His biographer, Marcel Gaultier, asserted that Minh Mạng had expressed his opinions about national policy before Gia Long's death, proposing
1144-580: A policy of greater isolationism and shunning westerners, and that Long tacitly approved of this. Minh Mạng was regarded as more nuanced and gentle than his father, with less forced labour and an increased perceptiveness towards the sentiment of the peasantry. Although he disagreed with European culture and thinking, he studied it closely and was known for his scholarly nature. Ming Mạng was keen in Western technologies, namely mechanics, weaponry and navigation which he attempted to introduce into Vietnam. Upon hearing of
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#17328484591791248-697: A program of salaries and pensions for princes and mandarins to replace the traditional assignment of fief estates. Diseases, disasters and rebellions against oppression and misery were very frequent, undermining the king's strength. Vietnam was at its low point of coherence in history. About 200 rebellions were recorded during his twenty-year reign. Despite ongoing intra-turmoil, Minh Mang exhibited his admiring to Confucian rule and classical Chinese culture, while imposing ethnic assimilation at home and pursuing territorial expansion and interference in neighboring Laos. Minh Mang put his support to Vientiane 's king Chao Anou , his close ally, to wage war against Siam . But
1352-469: A remarkable number of offspring: Prince of Thọ Xuân fathered 144 children, including 78 sons and 66 daughters, Prince of Tuy Lý , another son, had 77 sons and 37 daughters. He is succeeded by Emperor Thiệu Trị , who himself fathered 29 princes and 35 princesses. He decided to name his descendants ( Nguyễn Phước or Nguyễn Phúc: all members of the Nguyễn dynasty ) by choosing the Generation name following
1456-640: A restriction against the Thanh nhân was issued in 1827, which prohibits the Thanh nhân access to the state bureaucracy, rice monopoly and foreign trade. Their alternate option was having themselves to be adjusted and integrated into Vietnamese society like the Minh Hương. Minh Mang sent troops to crushed a rebellion in Cambodia in 1820, then incorporated Cambodia into Vietnam in 1834 as the new Tây Thành province . Since then, until his death, Minh Mang had been trying to force
1560-464: A result, he was held in high regard for his devotion to running the country. When Minh Mạng died, he left the throne to his son, Emperor Thiệu Trị , who was more rigidly Confucianist and anti-imperialist than his father. During Thiệu Trị's reign, diplomatic standoffs precipitated by aspiring European imperial powers on the pretext of the "treatment" of Catholic priests gave them an excuse to use gunboat diplomacy on Vietnam, and led to increasing raids and
1664-459: A single character. While most characters usually have one or two pronunciations, some characters can have up to as many as four pronunciations and more. An example of this would be the character 行 hàng – which could have the readings hàng , hành , hãng , hạng , and hạnh . The readings typically depend on the context and definition of the word. If talking about a store or goods, the reading hàng would be used, but if talking about virtue ,
1768-514: A warship in the Saigon river against Tây Sơn troops. The defeat, with its battle plan deemed faulty, towers high in the list of setbacks suffered. Nguyễn Ánh was forced to retreat to the island of Phú Quốc . In October 1782, the tide turned again and Nguyễn Ánh and Pigneau returned to Saigon. In March 1783, the Nguyễn were again defeated, and Nguyễn Ánh and Pigneau once more set sail for Phú Quốc. Sanctuary
1872-499: Is chữ Hán ( 𡨸漢 ). It is made of chữ meaning 'character' and Hán 'Han (referring to the Han dynasty )'. Other synonyms of chữ Hán includes chữ Nho ( 𡨸儒 , literally ' Confucian characters') and Hán tự ( 漢字 ) which was borrowed directly from Chinese. Chữ Nho was first mentioned in Phạm Đình Hổ's essay, Vũ trung tùy bút ( 雨中隨筆 lit. ' Essays in
1976-805: Is especially reflected in the poem, Ông đồ, by Vũ Đình Liên. The poem talks about the ông đồ during Tết and how the art of Vietnamese calligraphy is no longer appreciated. In the preface of Khải đồng thuyết ước ( 啟童說約 ; 1853) written by Phạm Phục Trai ( 范复齋 ), it has the passage, 余童年,先君子從俗命之,先讀《三字經》及三皇諸史,次則讀經傳,習時舉業文字,求合場規,取青紫而已 。 Dư đồng niên, tiên quân tử tùng tục mệnh chi, tiên độc “Tam tự kinh” cập Tam Hoàng chư sử, thứ tắc độc kinh truyện, tập thì cử nghiệp văn tự, cầu hợp trường quy, thủ thanh tử nhi dĩ. Tôi hồi tuổi nhỏ nghe các bậc quân tử đời trước theo lệ thường dạy mà dạy bảo, trước hết đọc Tam tự kinh và các sử đời Tam Hoàng, tiếp theo thì đọc kinh truyện, tập lối chữ nghĩa cử nghiệp thời thượng, sao cho hợp trường quy để được làm quan mà thôi. In my childhood, under
2080-877: Is referred to as Hán văn ( 漢文 ) and văn ngôn ( 文言 ). After the conquest of Nanyue ( Vietnamese : Nam Việt; chữ Hán: 南越 ), parts of modern-day Northern Vietnam were incorporated into the Jiāozhǐ province ( Vietnamese : Giao Chỉ ; chữ Hán : 交趾 ) of the Han dynasty . It was during this era, that the Red River Delta was under direct Chinese rule for about a millennium. Around this time, Chinese characters became widespread in northern Vietnam. Government documents, literature, and religious texts such as Buddhist sutras were all written in Literary Chinese ( Vietnamese : Hán văn; chữ Hán: 漢文 ). From independence from China and onward, Literary Chinese still remained as
2184-410: Is said to have trained the 50,000 men of Nguyen's army. French bombs were used at the siege of Qui Nhơn in 1793. French Navy officers such as Jean-Marie Dayot and Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau were used to drill the navy. By 1792, a large naval fleet was formed, with two European warships and 15 frigates of composite design. In 1792, Dayot attacked the strategically important port of Qui Nhơn , opening
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#17328484591792288-417: Is the character, 𫢋 phật (⿰亻天) which is a common variant of the character 佛 meaning 'Buddha'. It is composed of the radicals, 人 nhân [ 亻 ] and 天 thiên, all together to mean 'heavenly person'. The character 匕 (chuỷ) or 〻 is often used as an iteration mark to indicate that the current chữ Hán character is to be repeated. This is used in words that use reduplication . For example, in
2392-615: The particule "de Béhaine" in his name, Pigneau was not of noble extraction, and it seems the particule first appeared only in the 1787 Treaty of Versailles . Pigneau de Behaine was trained as a missionary and sent abroad by the Paris Foreign Missions Society ( Séminaire des Missions Étrangères ). He left France from the harbour of Lorient in December 1765, to work in southern Vietnam . He landed in Pondicherry , then
2496-850: The East India Company 's foothold in the Indian subcontinent . With the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy and the final exile of Napoleon in 1815, the military scene in Europe quieted and French interest in Vietnam was revived. Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau , one of the volunteers of Pigneau de Behaine who had helped Gia Long in his quest for power, had become a mandarin and continued to serve Minh Mạng, upon whose ascension, Chaigneau and his colleagues were treated more distantly. He eventually left in November 1824. In 1825, he
2600-453: The Four Books and Five Classics . While literature in Vietnamese (written with chữ Nôm ) was the minority. Literature such as Nam quốc sơn hà (chữ Hán: 南國山河 ) and Truyền kỳ mạn lục (chữ Hán: 傳奇漫錄 ) being written with Chinese characters. With every new dynasty with the exception of two dynasties, Literary Chinese and thus Chinese characters remained in common usage. It was until in
2704-558: The Holy See had urged a rebuke for an "enemy of the religion". The delegation went on to London, with no success. The beginning of Minh Mang rule over Vietnam was vastly unsettling. Vietnam was divided into autonomous domains governed independently by Viceroys under Gia Long. The first cholera pandemic reached Vietnam in summer 1820 removed 206,835 tax payers from royal tax registers, while political scientist Samuel Popkin suggested that around one million people might have been perished due to
2808-799: The Phụng (" Phoenix "), commanded by Philippe Vannier , and enticed volunteers and deserters to man the vessels. Jean-Marie Dayot deserted the Pandour and was put in charge of supplies, transporting weapons and ammunitions on his ship the St. Esprit . Rosily, who had been commanding the Méduse deserted with 120 of his men, and was put in charge of recruitments. Pigneau's expedition left for Vietnam on 19 June 1789 and arrived at Vũng Tàu on 24 July 1789. The foreign contingent helped to consolidate southern Vietnam and modernized its army, navy and fortifications. Olivier de Puymanel ,
2912-589: The Seminary of the Holy Angels , the seminary established in Asia by the Paris Foreign Missions Society, which had relocated from Ayutthaya in Siam following the 1765 Burmese invasion , with approximately forty students of Chinese , Siamese , and Vietnamese extraction. In 1768, the missionaries were jailed for three months when Siamese authorities complained to the local ruler Mạc Thiên Tứ that
3016-496: The Sino-Xenic pronunciations. Non-Sino-Vietnamese readings (âm phi Hán Việt; 音非漢越 ) are pronunciations that were not consistently derived from Middle Chinese. Typically these readings came from Old Chinese, Cantonese, and other Chinese dialects. ( Old > Middle ) Nôm readings (âm Nôm; 音喃 ) were used when there were characters that were phonetically close to a native Vietnamese word's pronunciation would be used as
3120-471: The Three Character Classic ( 三字經 ). The primers were often glossed with chữ Nôm. As such with Nhất thiên tự ( 一千字 ), it was designed to allow students to make the transition from Vietnamese grammar to Classical Chinese grammar . If students read the Chinese characters only, the words will be in an alternating rhyme of three and four, but if it was read with the chữ Nôm glosses, it would be in
3224-650: The United States Navy was the first American to make contact with Vietnam, arriving in Saigon . Minh Mạng was willing to sign a contract, but only to purchase artillery, firearms, uniforms and books. White was of the opinion that the deal was not sufficiently advantageous and nothing was implemented. In 1821, a trade agreement from Louis XVIII was turned away, with Minh Mạng indicating that no special deal would be offered to any country. That same year, East India Company agent John Crawfurd made another attempt at contact, but
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3328-876: The centuries long Cham–Vietnamese wars . He aggressively repressed culture of the Cham and indigenous highland peoples. The Cham Muslim leader Katip Sumat was educated in Kelantan and came back to Champa to declare a Jihad against the Vietnamese after Emperor Minh Mạng's annexation of Champa. The Vietnamese coercively fed lizard and pig meat to Cham Muslims and cow meat to Cham Hindus against their will to punish them and assimilate them to Vietnamese culture. The Chinese or Hoa particularly concentrated in urbanized areas such as Saigon, Cho Lon, and Hanoi. They organized themselves into bang or 'congregations.' Two groups of Chinese that people tended to distinct, known as Minh Hương and Thanh nhân. The Minh hương were South Chinese refugees of
3432-666: The posthumous name Trung Ý (忠懿 lit. "loyalty and kindness") from Gia Long. Only a few of Pigneau's men stayed for more than two or three year, disappointed in the lack of a quick fortune. Pigneau himself had wanted a Catholic as ruler of Vietnam. His ambition never materialised with the failure to convert Canh, who predeceased his father Nguyễn Ánh by twenty years in any case. Pigneau often compromised his religious principles when they came into conflict with political and diplomatic imperatives. He had initially taught Canh to refuse to engage in ancestor worship, something that greatly shocked and angered Nguyễn Ánh. He later changed his mind on
3536-630: The 20th century that Chinese characters alongside chữ Nôm began to fall into disuse. The French Indo-Chinese administration sought to westernise and modernise Vietnam by abolishing the Confucian court examinations . During this time, the French language was used for the administration. The French officials favoured Vietnamese being written in the Vietnamese alphabet. Chinese characters were still being taught in classes (in South Vietnam ) up to 1975, but failed to be
3640-508: The Cambodians to adopt Vietnamese culture by the cultural assimilation progress of what historian David P. Chandler dubbed The Vietnamization of Cambodia. Siamese accounts describe that Khmer nobles in Phnom Penh was forced to dress like Vietnamese, abide to Vietnamese laws, and were called "the new Yuon (Viet)". Cambodian revolts were put down brutally. Douglas Johnson recalled year 1836 as
3744-668: The Ming dynasty that had migrated and settled down in South Vietnam earlier during the 17th century, who married with Cambodian women, had been substantially assimilated to local Vietnamese and Khmer populaces, and loyal to the Nguyen, compared to the Thanh nhân, Chinese immigrants of the Qing dynasty that recently arrived in Southern Vietnam, who dominated the grain trade . During the reign of Minh Mạng,
3848-493: The Nguyễn forces to victory at Qui Nhơn in 1801 against the Tây Sơn dynasty and was made regent in the south by Gia Long with full freedom to rule and deal with foreign powers. In February 1825, Minh Mạng banned missionaries from entering Vietnam. French vessels entering Vietnamese harbours were ordered to be searched with extra care. All entries were to be watched "lest some masters of the European religion enter furtively, mix with
3952-630: The Portuguese. The Bishop attracted accusations by the Portuguese of manufacturing weapons for the Cochinchinese, especially grenades , a new weapon for Southeast Asia. Pigneau de Behaine also organized the supply of three Portuguese warships for Nguyễn Ánh. In his activities, Pigneau was supported by a French adventurer, Manuel. In 1782, the Tây Sơn led a new offensive to the South. Manuel died in his command of
4056-513: The Rain ' ) where it initially described a calligraphic style of writing Chinese characters. Over time, however, the term evolved and broadened in scope, eventually coming to refer to the Chinese script in general. This meaning came from the viewpoint that the script belonged to followers of Confucianism. This is further shown with Neo-Confucianism becoming the state ideology of the Lê dynasty . Classical Chinese
4160-476: The Sino-Vietnamese name for Đèo Ba Dội. Practically all surnames in Vietnamese are Sino-Vietnamese words; they were once written in Chinese characters. Such as common surnames include Nguyễn ( 阮 ), Trần ( 陳 ), Lê ( 黎 ), Lý ( 李 ), etc. Owing to historical contact with Chinese characters before the adoption of Chinese characters and how they were adapted into Vietnamese, multiple readings can exist for
4264-521: The Tây Sơn in the Mekong river. Nguyễn Ánh again took refuge with the Siamese court, and again tried to seek help from the Siamese. Resolving to muster any support he could from Western powers., Nguyễn Ánh asked Pigneau to appeal for French aid, and pledged to allow Pigneau to take his son Prince Cảnh with him. Pigneau in return attempted to obtain assistance from Manila , but the party of Dominicans he sent
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4368-539: The Vietnamese lục bát rhyme. These books gave students a foundation to start learning more difficult texts that involved longer sentences and more difficult grammatical structures in Literary Chinese. Students would study texts such as Sơ học vấn tân ( 𥘉學問津 ; 'inquiring in elementary studies'), Ấu học ngũ ngôn thi ( 幼學五言詩 ; 'elementary learning of the five-character verses'), Minh tâm bảo giám ( 明心寶鑑 ; 'precious lessons of enlightenment'), and Minh Đạo gia huấn ( 明道家訓 ; 'precepts of Minh Đạo'). These books taught
4472-454: The age of 6. The first grade level was called ấu học ( 幼學 ) (ages 6–12), next was tiểu học ( 小學 ) (ages under 27), and then finally, trung học ( 中學 ) (ages under 30). Đại học ( 大學 ) at this time referred to students studying in the national academies. The education reform by North Vietnam in 1950 eliminated the use of chữ Hán and chữ Nôm. Chinese characters were still taught in schools in South Vietnam until 1975. During those times,
4576-540: The basic sentences necessary to read Literary Chinese and taught core Confucian values and concepts such as filial piety . In Sơ học vấn tân ( 𥘉學問津 ), it has four character phrases that were divided into three sections, one on Chinese history, then Vietnamese history, and lastly on words of advice on education. During the period of reformed imperial examinations (khoa cử cải lương; 科舉改良 ) that took place from 1906 to 1919, there were three grades of education. Students would start learning Chinese characters beginning from
4680-561: The child prince Canh at the court of Louis XVI in Versailles , Pigneau had difficulty in gathering support for a French expedition to install Nguyễn Ánh on the throne. This was due to the poor financial state of the country prior to the French Revolution . Pigneau was helped by Pierre Poivre who had been involved previously in French interests in Vietnam. Eventually, he was able to seduce military figures with precise instructions as to
4784-518: The conditions of warfare in Indochina and materiel for the proposed campaign. He explained how France would be able to "dominate the seas of China and of the archipelago." The party met with King Louis XVI , Minister of the Navy de Castries and Minister of Foreign Affairs Montmorin on 5 or 6 May 1787. Prince Cảnh created a sensation at the court of Louis XVI, leading the famous hairdresser Léonard to create
4888-584: The costs of such a venture. After the outbreak of the First Opium War in 1839, Minh Mạng attempted to build an alliance with European powers by sending a delegation of two lower rank mandarins and two interpreters in 1840. They were received in Paris by Prime Minister Marshal Soult and the Commerce Minister, but they were shunned by King Louis-Philippe . This came after the Society of Foreign Missions and
4992-452: The country. The first French missionary executed was Gagelin in October 1833, the second was Marchand, who was put to death along with the other leaders of the Saigon citadel which surrendered in September 1835. From then until 1838 five more missionaries were put to death. The missionaries began seeking protection from their home countries and the use of force against Asians. Minh Mạng pursued
5096-490: The crown prince, all mandarins of the court, the royal bodyguard of 12,000 men and 40,000 mourners. Pigneau de Behaine was the object of several funeral orations on behalf of emperor Gia Long and his son Prince Cảnh . In a funeral oration dated 8 December 1799, Gia Long praised Pigneau de Behaine's involvement in the defense of the country, as well as their personal friendship: Funeral oration of emperor Gia Long to Pigneau de Behaine (excerpt): "(...) Pondering without end
5200-424: The defense for a period. Eventually, however, the Siamese were defeated and the south was recaptured by royalist forces, who besieged Saigon. Khôi died during the siege in December 1834 and Saigon fell nine months later in September 1835 and the rebel commanders put to death. In all the estimates of the captured rebels was put between 500 and 2000, who were executed. The missionaries were rounded up and ordered out of
5304-517: The disease, out of Vietnam's total population of around eight million. On the domestic front, Minh Mạng continued his father's national policies of reorganising the administrative structure of the government. These included the construction of highways, a postal service, public storehouses for food, monetary and agrarian reforms. He continued to redistribute land periodically and forbade all other sales of land to prevent wealthy citizens from reacquiring excessive amounts of land with their money. In 1840 it
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#17328484591795408-404: The early 19th century, a Vietnamese-approved monarch was installed. Minh Mạng was forced to put down a Siamese attempt to regain control of the vassal as well as an invasion of southern Vietnam which coincided with rebellion by Lê Văn Khôi . The Siamese planned the invasion to coincide with the rebellion, putting enormous strain on the Nguyễn armies. Eventually, Minh Mạng's forces were able to repel
5512-537: The establishment... Pigneau was forced to flee in December 1769 with the survivors to Pondicherry , then a French territory, after a long sea journey through Malacca . The College was established a few miles from Pondicherry, in Virampatnam . While in Pondicherry, Pigneau continued mastering Chinese and Vietnamese languages until he was fully conversant with both. In 1773, he compiled a Vietnamese-Latin dictionary with
5616-734: The eventual colonisation of Vietnam by France. Nevertheless, during his reign Minh Mạng had established a more efficient government, stopped a Siamese invasion and built many national monuments in the imperial city of Huế . Minh Mạng had a large number of wives and concubines. He is reported to have fathered 142 children from 43 wives. His sons included: Miên Tông (Emperor Thiệu Trị ), Miên Định (Prince of Thọ Xuân), Miên Thẩm (Prince of Tùng Thiện), Miên Trinh (Prince of Tuy Lý), Miên Bửu (Prince of Tương An), Miên Lâm (Prince of Hoài Đức), Miên Triện (Prince of Hoằng Hóa), Miên Lịch (Yên Thành). Three of his daughters, Nguyệt Đình , Mai Am and Huệ Phố , were famous poets. Minh Mạng's sons also had
5720-588: The former ally, might have jeopardized Vietnamese hegemony in Cambodia, which had been acquired by his father Gia Long. Second, he had careful watched the British seizure of Singapore in 1819 and were waging war in Burma, thus he saw Britain as the new rising threat, and urged the Chakri dynasty of Siam should focus with Burma in their struggle against the British expansion. After Vietnam under Gia Long gained control over Cambodia in
5824-530: The fourth son of Emperor Gia Long , whose eldest son, Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh , had died in 1801. He was well known for his opposition to French involvement in Vietnam, completing the final Vietnamese conquest of Champa , temporary annexation of Cambodia , and his rigid Confucian orthodoxy . Born Nguyễn Phúc Đảm at Gia Định in the middle of the Second Tây Sơn – Nguyễn War, Minh Mạng was the fourth son of lord Nguyễn Phúc Ánh – future Emperor Gia Long. His mother
5928-487: The funeral. Gia Long however, brought out the agreement to insist that Phúc Đảm, as Thừa Thiên's son, should be the one fulfilling the duty. Despite opposition from mandarins such as Nguyễn Văn Thành , Gia Long was decisive with his selection. In 1816, Gia Long appointed Đảm as his heir apparent. After the ceremony, Crown Prince Đảm moved to Thanh Hòa Palace and started assisting his father in processing documents and discussing country issues. Gia Long's death coincided with
6032-514: The governor of Cochin China, and a close confidant of Gia Long and Pigneau de Behaine , Minh Mạng agreed to release the priests on the condition that they congregate at Đà Nẵng and return to France. Some of them obeyed the orders, but others disobeyed the order upon being released, and returned to their parishes and resumed preaching. Minh Mạng continued and intensified his father's isolationist and conservative Confucian policies. His father had rebuffed
6136-678: The guidance of my elders and conforming to the customs, I first studied the "Three Character Classic" and various histories of the Three Emperors. Afterward, I delved into the classics and their commentaries, honing my skills in calligraphy and writing, aiming to conform to the rules of society and attain a respectable status. Children around the age of 6–8 begin learning chữ Hán at schools. Students began by learning characters from books such as Nhất thiên tự ( 一千字 ; 'one thousand characters'), Tam thiên tự ( 三千字 ; 'three thousand characters'), Ngũ thiên tự ( 五千字 ; 'five thousand characters'), and
6240-518: The help of eight southern Vietnamese, following in the footsteps of Alexandre de Rhodes . His work, Dictionarium Anamitico-Latinum , would be published in 1838 by Mgr Jean-Louis Taberd . Pigneau de Behaine was appointed bishop in partibus infidelium of Adran in Syria, and Apostolic Vicar of Cochinchina on 24 September 1771. After his ordination on 24 February 1774 in São Tomé near Madras , he went to Macau to gather more staff before returning to resume his work in Ha Tien. In Macau, he
6344-415: The invasion as well as the revolt in Saigon, and he reacted to Western encroachment by blaming Christianity and showing hostility, leading to the European powers asserting that intervention was needed to protect their missionaries. This resulted in missed opportunities to avert the colonisation of Vietnam through having friendly relations, since strong opposition was raised in France against an invasion, due to
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#17328484591796448-516: The late Tang dynasty (618-907). Vietnamese scholars used Chinese rime dictionaries to derive consistent pronunciations for Chinese characters. After Vietnam had regained independence, its rulers sought to build the country on the Chinese model, during this time, Literary Chinese was used for formal government documents. Around this, the Japanese and Koreans also borrowed large amount of characters into their languages and derived consistent pronunciations, these pronunciations are collectively known as
6552-407: The loss of southern autonomy after Duyệt's death was the main catalyst. Khôi's rebels brought Cochinchina under their control and proposed to replace Minh Mạng with a son of Prince Cảnh. Khôi took into hostage French missionary Joseph Marchand within the citadel, thinking that his presence would win over Catholic support. Khôi enlisted Siamese support, which was forthcoming and helped put Minh Mạng on
6656-421: The memory of his virtues, I wish to honour him again with my kindness, his Highness Bishop Pierre, former special envoy of the kingdom of France mandated to obtain a sea-based and land-based military assistance sent by decree by warships, him, this eminent personality of the Occident received as a guest of honour at the court of Nam-Viet (...) Although he went to his own country to address a plea for help and rally
6760-416: The missionaries he sent suffered greatly, and either fell ill or returned. In 1777, the Tây Sơn brothers attacked Saigon and eliminated almost the entire Nguyễn dynasty , with the fifteen-year-old Nguyễn Ánh managing to escape into the far south. He took refuge at Pigneau's seminary from September to October before both were forced to flee to the island of Pulo Panjang in the Gulf of Siam . The move
6864-460: The momentum marked the greatest territorial extent of the Vietnamese empire, also high point of its stability which most revolts in Minh Mang's realm had been suppressed. However, continuous uprisings in Cambodia, Tonkin, and wars with Siam put Minh Mang's expansion to an query, as all sides became exhausted. Minh Mạng was regarded as being in touch with the concerns of the populace. Frequent local rebellions reminded him of their plight. Descendants of
6968-414: The monarchy more than most Vietnamese and this erupted after Duyệt's death. Minh Mạng ordered Duyệt posthumously indicted and one hundred lashes were applied to his grave. This caused indignation against southerners who respected Duyệt. In July 1833, a revolt broke out under the leadership of his adopted son, Lê Văn Khôi. Historical opinion is divided with scholars contesting whether the grave desecration or
7072-404: The offer of an alliance from Burma against Siam, a common enemy of both countries. In 1824 Henri Baron de Bougainville was sent by Louis XVIII to Vietnam with the stated mission "of peace and protection of commerce. Upon arriving in Tourane in 1825, it was not allowed ashore. The royal message was turned away on the pretext that there was nobody able to translate it. It was assumed that the snub
7176-510: The official language for writing whether if it was government documents or literature. Every succeeding dynasty modeled their imperial exams after China's model . Scholars drew lessons from Neo-Confucianism and used its teachings to implement laws in the country. The spread of Confucianism meant the spread of Chinese characters, thus the name for Chinese characters in Vietnamese is called chữ Nho (literally: 'Confucian characters; 𡨸儒 ). Scholars were focused on reading Chinese classics such as
7280-458: The old Lê dynasty fomented dissent in the north, appealing not only to the peasantry but to the Catholic minority. They attempted to enlist foreign help by promising to open up to missionaries. Local leaders in the south were upset with the loss of the relative political autonomy they enjoyed under Duyệt. With Duyệt's death in 1832, a strong defender of Christianity passed. Catholics had traditionally been inclined to side with rebel movements against
7384-418: The opinion in order to obtain military assistance, he was met with adverse conditions midway through his endeavour. At that time, sharing my resentment, he decided to act like the men of old: we rather rallied together and outshone each other in the accomplishment of duty, looking for ways to take advantage of opportunities to launch operations (...) Everyday intervening constantly, many times he marvelously saved
7488-586: The outbreak of civil war in Holland . French enthusiasm for Pigneau's plan was severely dampened. A few days after the treaty was signed, the foreign minister sent instructions on 2 December 1787 to the Governor of Pondicherry Thomas Conway , which left the execution of the treaty to his own appreciation of the situation in Asia, stating that he was "free not to accomplish the expedition, or to delay it, according to his own opinion" Louis XVI himself told Pigneau that Conway
7592-514: The outcome did not go for their plan. Anou was defeated and then was detaining to the Siamese in late 1828 by Chao Noi , ruler of Muang Phuan , also a tributary of Minh Mang. Chao Noi was arrested by the Vietnamese for betraying, then being executed in Hue by Minh Mang. Muang Phuan was annexed into Vietnam in 1832 as Tran Ninh prefecture. Minh Mạng enacted the final conquest of the Champa Kingdom after
7696-403: The papal ban and proposed to consider ancestor worship as a civil ceremony, a simple manifestation of respect for the dead. He cited the apostles as being tolerant of local customs as his justification. In 1983, the tomb of Pigneau de Behaine was dismantled by the Vietnamese government, and the area was replaced by a park. His remains were cremated and sent to France where they are now housed in
7800-445: The people and spread darkness in the kingdom." In an imperial edict, Christianity was described as the "perverse European" (practice) and accused of "corrupting the hearts of men". Between 1833 and 1838, seven missionaries were sentenced to death, amongst them Pierre Borie , Joseph Marchand , and Jean-Charles Cornay . He first attempted to stifle the spread of Christianity by attempting to isolate Catholic priests and missionaries from
7904-694: The poem Chinh phụ ngâm khúc ( 征婦吟曲 ), the character 悠 (du) is repeated twice in the third line of the poem. It is written as 悠〻 to represent 悠悠 (du du). The way the marker is used is very similar to how Chinese and Japanese use their iteration marker 々 . Japanese uses 々 as an iteration marker, so, for example, 人人 (hitobito) would be written as 人々 (hitobito). Pigneau de Behaine Pierre Joseph Georges Pigneau (2 November 1741 – 9 October 1799), commonly known as Pigneau de Béhaine ( French: [piɲo də be.ɛn] ), also Pierre Pigneaux , Bá Đa Lộc (" Pedro " 百 多 祿 ), Bách Đa Lộc ( 伯 多 祿 ) and Bi Nhu ("Pigneau" 悲 柔 ),
8008-439: The populace. He asserted that he had no French interpreters after Chaigneau's departure and summoned the French clergy to Hue and appointed them as mandarins of high rank to woo them from their proselytising. This worked until a priest, Father Regereau, entered the country and began missionary work. Following the edict which forbade further entry of missionaries into Vietnam, arrests of clerics began. After strong lobbying by Duyệt ,
8112-466: The re-establishment of the Paris Missionary Society's operations in Vietnam, which had closed in 1792 during the chaos of the power struggle between Gia Long and the Tây Sơn brothers before Vietnam was unified. In the early years of Minh Mạng's government, the most serious challenge came from one of his father's most trusted lieutenants and a national hero in Vietnam, Lê Văn Duyệt , who had led
8216-938: The reading hạnh would be used. But typically, knowing what readings was not a large problem due to context and compound words. Most Sino-Vietnamese words are restricted to being in compound words. Readings for chữ Hán, often classified into Sino-Vietnamese readings and Non-Sino-Vietnamese readings. Non-Sino-Vietnamese readings are derived from Old Chinese and recent Chinese borrowings during the 17th–20th centuries when Chinese people migrated to Vietnam. Most of these readings were food related as Cantonese Chinese had introduced their food into Vietnam. Borrowings from Old Chinese are also referred to as Early Sino-Vietnamese pronunciations according to Mark Alves. Sino-Vietnamese readings are usually referred to as âm Hán Việt ( 音漢越 ; literally "sound Sino-Vietnamese"), which are Vietnamese systematic pronunciations of Middle Chinese characters. These readings were largely borrowed into Vietnamese during
8320-580: The revolution in Cochinchina alone." He rejected an offer from the English, and raised money from French merchants in the region. Conway finally provided two ships to Pigneau, the Méduse , commanded by François Étienne de Rosily-Mesros , and another frigate. Pigneau used the raised funds to equip two more ships with weapons and ammunition, which he named the Long (" Dragon "), commanded by Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau , and
8424-689: The same simplified characters used by current-day Chinese. According to Trịnh Khắc Mạnh, when he analysed the early 13th century book, 釋氏寶鼎行持秘旨全章 (Thích thị Bảo đỉnh hành trì bí chỉ toàn chương). He found that the number of character variants is double the number of variants borrowed from China. This means that Vietnamese variant characters may differ from Chinese variants and simplified characters , for example: Some characters matching Simplified Chinese do exist, but these characters are rare in Vietnamese literature. There are other variants such as 𭓇 học (variant of 學 ; ⿳⿰〢⿻ 丨 𰀪 冖子 ) and 𱻊 nghĩa (variant of 義 ; ⿱𦍌 又 ). Another prominent example
8528-413: The school had afforded shelter to a fugitive Siamese prince. Pigneau was put into a cangue , a wooden and iron frame fastened around his limbs weighing eight pounds. He ignored family requests to return to France, saying that his missionary work was more important than a comfortable life. In 1769, the school was attacked by Chinese and Cambodian pirates , who massacred some of the students and burnt down
8632-436: The situation with extraordinary plans. Although he was preoccupied with virtue, he did not lack humour. Our agreement was such that we always desired to be together (...) From the beginning to the end, we were but one heart (...)" Pigneau de Behaine was granted the position Thái tử Thái phó (太子太傅, "Crown Prince's Tutor") and the noble title Bi Nhu Quận công (悲柔郡公, lit. "provincial duke Bi Nhu ") posthumously. He also received
8736-764: The textbooks that were used were mainly derived from colonial textbooks. There were two main textbooks, Hán-văn tân khóa bản ( 漢文新課本 ; 1973) and Hán-văn giáo-khoa thư ( 漢文敎科書 ; 1965). Students could begin learning Chinese characters in secondary school. The department dealing with Literary Chinese and Chinese characters was called Ban Hán-tự D. Students could either chose to learn a second language such as English and French or choose to learn Literary Chinese. Exams for Literary Chinese mainly tested students on their ability to translate Literary Chinese to Vietnamese. These exams typically took around 2 hours. In Vietnam, many provinces and cities have names that come from Sino-Vietnamese words and were written using Chinese characters. This
8840-477: The vaccination against smallpox , he organised for a French surgeon to live in a palatial residence and vaccinate the royal family against the disease. He was learned in Eastern philosophy and was regarded as an intellectually oriented monarch. He was also known for his writings as a poet. He was known for his attention to detail and micromanagement of state affairs, to a level that "astonished his contemporaries". As
8944-462: The way to the Cochinchinese ships which then defeated the Tây Sơn fleet. In 1793, Dayot led a raid in which 60 Tây Sơn galleys were destroyed. From 1794, Pigneau took part in all campaigns, accompanying Prince Cảnh. He organized the defense of Diên Khánh when it was besieged by a numerically vastly superior Tây Sơn army in 1794. Heavy fighting raged in Qui Nhơn for control of the fortress until it
9048-783: The words of the Imperial succession poem to avoid confusion. For boys, the following poem is shown in Chữ Quốc Ngữ (modern Vietnamese script) and in chữ nôm : Note: Hường replaced Hồng and Thoại replaced Thụy because it was taboo to use the names of passed emperors or fathers. The meaning of each name is roughly given as follows: Girls receive also a different name on each generation, for example: Công-chúa , Công-nữ , Công Tôn-nữ , Công-tằng Tôn-nữ , Công-huyền Tôn-nữ , Lai-huyền Tôn-nữ , or shorten to Tôn-nữ for all generations afterward. [REDACTED] Ch%E1%BB%AF H%C3%A1n The main Vietnamese term used for Chinese characters
9152-669: Was resolutely opposed to intervening in southern Vietnam, stating that it was not in the national interest. In July 1786, Pigneau was allowed to travel back to France to ask the royal court directly for assistance. News of his activities reached Rome where he was denounced by the Spanish Franciscans. Pigneau at that point offered Prince Cảnh and his political mandate to the Portuguese. They left Pondicherry for France in July 1786. which they reached in February 1787. Arriving in February 1787 with
9256-471: Was Gia Long's second wife Trần Thị Đang , later known as the empress Thuận Thiên . At the age of three, under the effect of a written agreement made by Gia Long with his first wife the Empress Thừa Thiên , she took Đảm in and raised him as her own son. Following Thừa Thiên's death in 1814, it was supposed that her grandson, Crown Prince Cảnh 's eldest son Mỹ Đường , would be responsible for conducting
9360-516: Was a French Roman Catholic bishop best known for his role in assisting Nguyễn Ánh (later Emperor Gia Long ) to establish the Nguyễn dynasty in Vietnam after the Tây Sơn rebellion . Pierre Pigneau was born in Origny-en-Thiérache (later Aisne , France), where the family of his mother lived. His father's family owned a small estate named Béhaine, in the nearby parish of Marle . Despite
9464-499: Was a political step taken by Pigneau to align himself with Nguyễn Ánh, allowing himself a foray into politics. He became less of a missionary and more of a politician thereafter. In November 1777, Nguyễn Ánh was able to recapture Saigon, and in 1778 pursued the retreating Tây Sơn as far as Bình Thuận . In neighbouring Cambodia , a pro-Cochinchinese revolt erupted to topple the pro-Siam king Ang Non . In 1780, Cochinchinese troops intervened, and Pigneau helped them procure weapons from
9568-551: Was able to publish and print a catechism in Vietnamese (containing an introduction in Chinese, the body of the text in the Vietnamese alphabet , and a translation in Latin ), and despatched a copy to Rome. He left Macau on 1 March 1775, and reached Ha Tien later in the month, where he again re-established missionary operations. In 1775-76, Pigneau attempted to convert the Stieng people , but
9672-460: Was appointed Governor of Pondicherry simply to remove him from Europe. The party left France in December 1787 on board the Dryade , commanded by M. de Kersaint and accompanied by the Pandour , commanded by M. de Préville. They would again disembark in Pondicherry from May 1788 to July 1789. The Dryade was ordered by Conway to continue to Poulo Condor to meet with Nguyễn Ánh and deliver him 1,000 muskets bought in France and Father Paul Nghi ,
9776-653: Was appointed as French consul to Vietnam after returning to his homeland to visit his family after more than a quarter of a century in Asia. Upon his return, Minh Mạng received him coldly. The policy of isolationism soon saw Vietnam fall further behind the pace of technology and become more vulnerable to outside encroachment as political stability returned to continental Europe, allowing European powers free hand to once again direct their attention towards increasing their influence in Asia. With his Confucian orthodoxy, Minh Mạng shunned all western influence and ideas as hostile and avoided all contact. In 1819, Lieutenant John White of
9880-458: Was at once both fleeting and illusory. They had to escape again when their hideout was discovered, being chased from island to island until they reached Siam. Pigneau de Behaine visited the Siamese court in Bangkok in late 1783. Nguyễn Ánh also arrived there in February 1784, where he enlisted an army to accompany him back to Vietnam. In January 1785 however the Siamese fleet met with disaster against
9984-626: Was captured by the Tây Sơn. From Pondicherry , he also sent a request for help to the Portuguese Senate in Macao , which would ultimately lead to the signature of a Treaty of Alliance between Nguyễn Ánh and the Portuguese on 18 December 1786 in Bangkok. The party reached Pondicherry in February 1785. The French administration in Pondicherry, led by the interim Governor Coutenceau des Algrains , successor of Bussy , seconded by Captain d'Entrecasteaux ,
10088-405: Was captured in 1799. Pigneau died there of dysentery on 9 October in the same year, after serving his final years as an advisor and de facto foreign minister to Nguyễn Ánh. He was buried at Saigon with full military honours. Nguyễn Ánh's funeral oration described him as "the most illustrious foreigner ever to appear at the court of Cochinchina." He was buried on 16 December 1799 in the presence of
10192-434: Was concluded between France and Cochinchina in Nguyễn Ánh's name. Four frigates, 1650 fully equipped French soldiers and 250 Indian sepoys were promised in return for Pulo Condore and harbour access at Tourane ( Da Nang ). De Fresne was supposed to be the leader of the expedition. The French government, on the eve of the French Revolution , was in dreadful financial trouble, and saw its position weakened even more with
10296-399: Was decreed that rich landowners had to return a third of their holdings to the community. Calls for basic industrialisation and diversification of the economy into fields such as mining and forestry were ignored. He further centralised the administration, introduced the definition of three levels of performance in the triennial examinations for recruiting mandarins. In 1839, Minh Mạng introduced
10400-411: Was done because historically the government administration needed to have a way to write down these names, as some native names did not have characters. Even well-known places like Hanoi ( 河內 ) and Huế ( 化 ) were written in Chinese characters. Often, villages only had one word names in Vietnamese. Some Sino-Vietnamese names were translated from their original names, like Tam Điệp Quan ( 三疊關 ) being
10504-412: Was only allowed to disembark in the northern ports of Tonkin ; he gained no agreements, but concluded relations with France posed no threat to Company trade. In 1822, the French frigate La Cleopatre visited Tourane (present day Đà Nẵng ). Her captain was to pay his respects to Minh Mạng, but was greeted with a symbolic dispatch of troops as though an invasion had been expected. In 1824 Minh Mạng rejected
10608-418: Was prevented. Later, in 1833 and 1834, a war with Siam was fought over control of Cambodia which for the preceding century had been reduced to impotence and had fallen under the control of its two neighbours. In 1824, a Burmese envoy dispatched by Burmese king, presenting a proposal of a Burma-Vietnam alliance against Siam, which was immediately declined by Minh Mang. Minh Mang saw a risky war against Siam,
10712-541: Was related to an attempt by Bougainville to smuggle ashore a Catholic missionary from the Missions étrangères de Paris . Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau 's nephew, Eugène Chaigneau, was sent to Vietnam in 1826 as the intended consul but was forced to leave the country without taking up his position. Further fruitless attempts to start a commercial deal were led by de Kergariou in 1827 and Admiral Laplace in 1831. Another effort by Chaigneau in 1829 also failed. In 1831 another French envoy
10816-584: Was turned away. Vietnam under Minh Mạng was the first East Asian country with whom the United States sought foreign relations. President Andrew Jackson tried twice to contact Minh Mạng, sending Edmund Roberts in 1832, and Consul Joseph Balestier in 1836, to no avail. In 1837 and 1838, La bonite and L'Artémise were ordered to land in Tourane to attempt to gauge the situation in Vietnam with respect to missionary work. Both were met with hostility and communication
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