They were officially used in Vietnam after the Red River Delta region was incorporated into the Han dynasty and continued to be used until the early 20th century (111 BC – 1919 AD) when use of Literary Chinese was abolished alongside the Confucian court examinations causing chữ Hán to be abandoned in favour of the Vietnamese alphabet.

Chữ Nho was first mentioned in Phạm Đình Hổ's essay, Vũ trung tùy bút (雨中隨筆 lit.

[2] Over time, however, the term evolved and broadened in scope, eventually coming to refer to the Chinese script in general.

[4] After the conquest of Nanyue (Vietnamese: Nam Việt; chữ Hán: 南越), parts of modern-day Northern Vietnam were incorporated into the Jiāozhǐ province (Vietnamese: Giao Chỉ; chữ Hán: 交趾) of the Han dynasty.

[5] From independence from China and onward, Literary Chinese still remained as the official language for writing whether if it was government documents or literature.

It was until in the 20th century that Chinese characters alongside chữ Nôm began to fall into disuse.

The French Indo-Chinese administration sought to westernise and modernise Vietnam by abolishing the Confucian court examinations.

During Vietnamese festivals, calligraphists will write some couplets written in Chinese characters wishing prosperity and longevity.

The poem talks about the ông đồ during Tết and how the art of Vietnamese calligraphy is no longer appreciated.

In the preface of Khải đồng thuyết ước (啟童說約; 1853) written by Phạm Phục Trai (范复齋), it has the passage,[10]余童年，先君子從俗命之，先讀《三字經》及三皇諸史，次則讀經傳，習時舉業文字，求合場規，取青紫而已。Dư đồng niên, tiên quân tử tùng tục mệnh chi, tiên độc “Tam tự kinh” cập Tam Hoàng chư sử, thứ tắc độc kinh truyện, tập thì cử nghiệp văn tự, cầu hợp trường quy, thủ thanh tử nhi dĩ.Tôi hồi tuổi nhỏ nghe các bậc quân tử đời trước theo lệ thường dạy mà dạy bảo, trước hết đọc Tam tự kinh và các sử đời Tam Hoàng, tiếp theo thì đọc kinh truyện, tập lối chữ nghĩa cử nghiệp thời thượng, sao cho hợp trường quy để được làm quan mà thôi.In my childhood, under the guidance of my elders and conforming to the customs, I first studied the "Three Character Classic" and various histories of the Three Emperors.

Afterward, I delved into the classics and their commentaries, honing my skills in calligraphy and writing, aiming to conform to the rules of society and attain a respectable status.Children around the age of 6–8 begin learning chữ Hán at schools.

[13] During the period of reformed imperial examinations (khoa cử cải lương; 科舉改良) that took place from 1906 to 1919, there were three grades of education.

[15] Đại học (大學) at this time referred to students studying in the national academies.

[17] In Vietnam, many provinces and cities have names that come from Sino-Vietnamese words and were written using Chinese characters.

[citation needed] Practically all surnames in Vietnamese are Sino-Vietnamese words; they were once written in Chinese characters.

Such as common surnames include Nguyễn (阮), Trần (陳), Lê (黎), Lý (李), etc.

But typically, knowing what readings was not a large problem due to context and compound words.

[25] Non-Sino-Vietnamese readings (âm phi Hán Việt; 音非漢越)[28][29][30] are pronunciations that were not consistently derived from Middle Chinese.

According to Trịnh Khắc Mạnh, when he analysed the early 13th century book, 釋氏寶鼎行持秘旨全章 (Thích thị Bảo đỉnh hành trì bí chỉ toàn chương).

It is composed of the radicals, 人 nhân [亻] and 天 thiên, all together to mean 'heavenly person'.