从独尊到废除:汉字在越南的命运考

From Domination to Abolition:A Study of the Fate of Chinese Characters in Vietnam

汉字是越南使用的第一种文字,为越南的国家治理、文化传承、开疆拓土发挥巨大作用。13世纪初,越南出现在汉字基础上自创的喃字,它开始挤压汉字的使用空间。国语字因传教的需要而诞生,与喃字一起进一步挤压汉字的使用空间,尤其是社会交往空间。近代以前,汉字在越南从独尊走向衰落但仍保持官方文字地位,这既有言、文分离的原因,更是源于朝廷的多重考量。近代以来,引导越南变迁的力量分化为帝王、儒士、教会、殖民者、新知识分子、共产党人等,各方对文字的立场和态度深刻地影响着汉字的命运。随着汉字的核心拥护者帝王和儒士的消亡,随着殖民者被驱赶,随着民众对民族独立进程参与的深入,汉字最终被废除,国语字成为越南的官方文字。汉字被替代,是越南民族—国家意识上升的产物,是精英共识的结果,更是底层民众参与国家建构的内在需求。

As the first written language used in Vietnam,Chinese characters played an important role in Vietnam’s national gover-nance,cultural inheritance and territorial expansion.At the beginning of the 13th century,the Chu Nom characters were created on the basis of Chinese characters,making the latter less frequently used.Furthermore,the Latinized Chu QuocNgu(the natio-nal language script)was also created to facilitate the missionary work,which further squeezed the living space of Chinese characters in Vietnam,especially its use in social interactions.Before modern times,Chinese characters went from the dominant status to decline.That being said,it remained the official writing script.This was not only due to the separation of language and writing but also to the realistic considerations of the imperial court.Since modern times,the major changing forces in Vietnam include emperors,Confucian scholars,churches,colonists,new intellectuals,communists,etc.Their positions and attitudes toward Chinese characters have profoundly influenced the fate of this traditional writing system.With the demise of the core users of Chinese characters,namely the emperors and Confucian scholars,with the expulsion of colonists,and with people’s growing participation in the national independence,Chinese characters were eventually abolished and the Latinized Chu QuocNgu became the official script of Vietnam.The change of writing script is a product of the rising national and state consciousness and the consensus of the elites.It was also a highly ideological phenomenon in that it is in line with the inherent need of the people to be involved in the nation building process.