Chinese characters in Vietnam have a long history, more than one thousand years. This paper with three main parts is aimed at doing a research overview of Vietnam’s Chinese characters over the years. In the first part, the birth and the usage of Chinese characters will be presented through the analysis of formation circumstances as well as the historical position of the characters in Vietnam. In the second part, the paper will introduce the social, cultural and educational background, the unearthed literature and handed-down literature, and anonymous literature as well as the arrangement and the research of the characters over each period in the history. In the last part, the achievements and the failures of researches on Vietnam’s Chinese characters by far will be pointed out as the foundation of future researches, which are to improve the status of Chinese characters socially.

• 王平([越南] 郭氏娥，越南太原大學中文系副教授、上海交通大學海外漢字文化研究中心 兼任研究員，研究方向：域外漢字學) | Ping WANG
• 郭氏娥([中國] 王平，上海交通大學人文學院教授、海外漢字文化研究中心主任，研究方向： 漢字發展史、域外漢字學、漢字數字化) | Thi Nga QUACH