W.Minh Tuan

We know that we Vietnamese people do not have our own writing.

In the past, we used Chinese characters. Then some scholars of the Tran Dynasty came up with Nom, but very few people used it.

And now we use the National Language, alphabetical letters, like Latin, created by Western missionaries who came to Vietnam to preach in the 15th and 16th centuries.

In the world, there are words written like strings, or like tadpoles, like Thai letters, Lao words, Indian Sanskrit words,,,.

There are some recent studies in Vietnam, saying that in the past, during the Hung King period, we Vietnamese people also had own writing, also zigzag like a string, or like a venomous venom, tadpoles, called Khoa Dau script.

There is a lot of evidence to prove Chinese characters had been used in Vietnamese history.

The entire written history of Vietnam uses Chinese characters.

All divine genealogies, jade genealogies, parallel parallelograms in people’s houses, in temples and pagodas, all use Chinese characters.

All 81 Doctor’s Steles in the Temple of Literature-Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam use Chinese characters.

General Ly Thuong Kiet when writing the first Declaration of Independence of our country Vietnam in the year 1077, “Southern country, mountains and rivers, Nam De residence,,”, also wrote in Chinese characters.

General Tran Hung Dao when writing Hich Tuong Si, when the Yuan army invaded our country for the second time, in the year 1284, also wrote in Chinese characters.

When Nguyen Trai wrote Binh Ngo Dai Cao, announcing to the people about the victory over the Ming army, written in 1428, also written in Chinese characters.

So much to prove.

All documents on history, culture, most of the poetry of our country from the 1000 years of Northern domination, until the French invaded our country in 19 century, over a period of around 2000 years, were written in Chinese characters.

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Therefore, it is not wrong to say that Vietnamese people do not have their own writing.

Since the Tran Dynasty, Vietnamese people created Nom script, which is also a way of adapting Chinese characters, changing a bit, reading in Vietnamese style, writing in Chinese style.

Since the 16th and 17th centuries, when Western missionaries came to Vietnam to preach, they created for the Vietnamese people today’s National Language, using Latin letters to write, but reading in Vietnamese.

The greatest contributor to the creation of today’s Vietnam National Language is the French missionary Alexandre de Rhode, who came to Vietnam during the Dang Trong-Dang Ngoai period, around the year 1500.

Recently there have been many opinions about the word Khoa Dau, which is said to be the ancient writing of Vietnamese people during the Hung King period.

I do not intend, like some researchers with boundless nationalistic spirit, to talk about the word Khoa Dau in order to restore that word and replace the current Vietnamese national language system.

No, I have no such intention.

Furthermore, for the people, whatever is convenient is used. The current national language is extremely convenient. President Ho Chi Minh used the Vietnamese alphabet national language to write the Declaration of Independence in 1945, so we should not borrow that “boundless national spirit” to change the language from National language to be replaced by Khoa Dau script.

We cannot force time going back to the Hung King period, to start history again.

I mention the word Khoa Dau just to say that perhaps our Vietnamese people also had their own writing, from the time of the Hung Kings, and only because of the 1000-year period of Northern domination, and other later invasions of Han people, then the Vietnamese word Khoa Dau has been lost.

Recent discoveries show that in Sapa there are many ancient stones with many strange writings, which many researchers believe are the Khoa Dau script of ancient Vietnamese people during the Hung King period.

(Unfortunately, some Vietnamese people today have an extremely “uncultured” culture. They go to the Temple of Literature and stand hugging the steles in Temple of Literature to take pictures, not thinking that if many people do that, it will destroy the steles-stelas of Temple of Literature.

And many people come to Sa Pa Ancient Stone Beach, where the word Khoa Dau is engraved, squat on the Ancient Stone to take pictures, and even carve words and pictures on ancient stones that are more than 3,000 years old).

The word Khoa Dau, transliterated from Chinese characters, means tadpole script, somewhat similar to Thai and Lao characters today.

Author Nguyen Vu Tuan Anh writes about the word Khoa Dau in the book “Hung Vuong Dynasty through legends and myths” as follows:

“A recent document from the Ministry of Culture of Vietnam said that the book Thong Chi by Chinese author Trinh Tieu mentioned the word Khoa Dau. This Information Book says as follows:

“During the reign of Dao Duong, (King De Nghieu, 2253 BC, this year is equivalent to the reign of the fourth Hung King of Vietnam), the South of the Viet Thuong tribe twice sent envoys to visit, through translation, and offer the magic turtle. The magic turtle is probably over 1,000 years old, its body is over 3 meters long, and on its back is the Khoa Dau inscription, recording the expansion of heaven and earth. Emperor Nghieu ordered it to be copied, calling it Qui Lich (ie Turtle Calendar).”

Regarding the word Khoa Dau, we see three notable things.

Firstly, on the bronze drums of the Hung King period, we see many engraved images of toads, the animal that gives birth to tadpoles, and it is the symbol of the word Khoa Dau.

Second, Vietnamese people have a folk song:

“Toad is God’s uncle”

Whoever beats Toad, will be beaten by God.”

When did this folk song come from, and why could Toad be God’s Uncle?

Why does the Toad have such great power in Vietnamese beliefs?

And our people also have the fairy tale “Toad is God’s uncle“, to prove the above folk song.

Third, Dong Ho folk paintings in Dong Ho commune near Hanoi nowaday have the picture “Lao Oa teaches alone“, meaning the Toad teacher has the monopoly on teaching.

Is it the image of a Toad on a bronze drum, a song verse of “Toad is God’s uncle”, and the folk painting “Lao Oa monologue” are all the expressions of the spirit of Vietnamese people, valuing the Toad, that is valuing the tadpole image produced by the Toad,

and that is, to value Khoa Dau writing?

And that means that since the time of Hung King, our Vietnamese people have had Khoa Dau writing, but because of 1000 years of Northern domination, and the later wars of the Northern invaders, that Han states trying every way to destroy Vietnamese culture, so The Khoa Dau script has been eroded, leaving only a few relics such as the Sa Pa Ancient Stone Field, and a few other meager documents?

But with the uncultured state of some Vietnamese people today, it is very likely that even the Sa Pa ancient stone relic site, which has existed for over 3,000 years, may be destroyed in the near future.

The Taliban once set mines to destroy Buddha statues over 2,000 years old in Afghanistan, and in Vietnam, uncultured people are also ready to trample and step on the ancient rocks of Sa Pa, completing the task of destruction of Vietnamese culture that the Northern Han invaders have not been able to complete.///