History of Vietnamese modern writing

Thanh Chiem village in the central province of Quảng Nam, seen as the regional gateway of foreign trade and culture exchange over centuries is considered as the birth place of the modern Vietnamese writing system.

According to research, the Vietnamese modern writing system appeared in 1618, in Thanh Chiem Village in Dien Ban District, Quang Nam Province. Priest Francisco de Pina was its creator and Alexandre de Rhodes, a French Jesuit missionary and lexicographer was responsible shaping the alphabet to suit local culture.

"Vietnam’s modern writing system became popular when Truong Vinh Ky, a newspaper-writer in Sai Gon at the time, used the writing in his reports. Then Vietnamese modern writing was gradually popular among by poets and writers. Those writers helped the current modern writing system evolve into what it is today", said Historian Dinh Trong Tuyen.

Patriotic movements in the beginning of 20th century including Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc, Duy Tan and Minh Tan also played an important role in promoting Vietnamese modern writing. All these movements used the Vietnamese new alphabet as a weapon in the country’s national liberation movement.