science

Vietnamese calligraphy

Vietnamese calligraphy is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Vietnamese calligraphy rather than just read about it. In short: Vietnamese calligraphy (Vietnamese alphabet: Thư pháp Việt Nam, chữ Hán: 書法越南) relates to the calligraphic traditions of Vietnam. It includes calligraphic works using a variety of scripts, including historical chữ Hán (Chinese characters) with chữ Nôm (Vietnamese-derived characters), both of them are collectively known as chữ Hán Nôm, and the Latin-based Vietnamese alphabet, which is known as Chữ quốc ngữ Historical…

Key takeaways

Vietnamese calligraphy belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Vietnamese calligraphy to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Vietnamese calligraphy from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Vietnamese calligraphy (Vietnamese alphabet: Thư pháp Việt Nam, chữ Hán: 書法越南) relates to the calligraphic traditions of Vietnam. It includes calligraphic works using a variety of scripts, including historical chữ Hán (Chinese characters) with chữ Nôm (Vietnamese-derived characters), both of them are collectively known as chữ Hán Nôm, and the Latin-based Vietnamese alphabet, which is known as Chữ quốc ngữ Historically, calligraphers mostly used the chữ Hán Nôm, then due to the adoption of the Latin-based chữ Vietnamese alphabet, modern Vietnamese calligraphy also uses Latin script. 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. 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). 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.

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

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Vietnamese calligraphy

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Vietnamese calligraphy claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Vietnamese calligraphy before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Vietnamese calligraphy ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Vietnamese calligraphy

In research: Vietnamese calligraphy appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Vietnamese calligraphy in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Vietnamese calligraphy is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Culture of Vietnam, Vietnamese calligraphy, Vietnamese inventions, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Vietnamese calligraphy outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Vietnamese calligraphy in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Vietnamese calligraphy means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Vietnamese calligraphy out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Vietnamese calligraphy in simple terms?

Why does Vietnamese calligraphy matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Vietnamese calligraphy?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Vietnamese calligraphy.