As a component of Chinese vulgar characters, the character wen (文) not only serves symbolic functions but also conveys ideographic meanings. Furthermore, its dissemination has led to the emergence of numerous Chinese vulgar characters incorporating the wen (文) components. According to the unearthed literature, the inherited literature and the extraterritorial literature, the wen (文) components exhibits more than ten functions, categorized into three types: symbolic function, combined symbolic and ideographic function, and ideographic function. The former two types primarily reflect its inheritance in neighboring countries, while the latter indicates its diffusion beyond the region. Overall, although the function of the wen (文) component is generally consistent outside its native the domain, it has engendered new forms of vulgar characters, thereby broadening the repertoire of Chinese characters, and these vulgar characters are not devoid of rationale. Analyzing its developmental trajectory and dissemination bears significance for understanding the history of Chinese character evolution and dissemination.

The study of Chinese vulgar characters is one of the important contents in the study of modern Chinese characters, and it is also one of the important contents in the study of the dissemination of Chinese characters. Based on the 81 poems and more than 300 folk characters in the Vietnamese Chinese document “Giới Hiên Collected Poems”, this paper explores the nature of Chinese vulgar characters and related issues. The nature of Chinese vulgar characters can be characterized from the perspective of Chinese character shape, structure and function: Vulgar characters are used by the civil community, with different forms of different forms, different components of the composition of the word, often used to record and correspond to the orthography of the Chinese character. Clarifying the nature of “vulgar characters” is of great significance to its ontology research, modern Chinese research, and Chinese character dissemination research.