Brushtalk is a form of written communication using Literary Chinese to facilitate diplomatic and casual discussions between people of the countries in the Sinosphere, which include China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.
Brushtalk was first used in China as a way to engage in "silent conversations". Beginning from the Sui dynasty (581 to 618), the scholars from China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam could use their mastery of Classical Chinese (; kanbun; ; Vietnamese: ', chữ Hán: ) to communicate without any prior knowledge of spoken Chinese.
The earliest and initial accounts of Sino-Japanese brushtalks date back to during the Sui dynasty. By an account written in 1094, minister was sent to China as an envoy. One of his goals there was to obtain Buddhist sutras to bring back to Japan. In one particular instance, Ono no Imoko had met three old monks. During their encounter, due to them not sharing a common language, they held a "silent conversation" by writing Chinese characters on the ground using a stick.
The Vietnamese revolutionary Phan Bá»Âi Châu () in 1905-1906 conducted several brushtalks with several other Chinese revolutionaries such as Sun Yat-sen () and reformist Liang Qichao () in Japan during his ÃÂông Du movement (). During his brushtalk with Liang Qichao, it was noted that Phan Bá»Âi Châu was able to communicate with Liang Qichao using Chinese characters. They both sat at a table and exchanged sheets of paper back and forth. However, when Phan Bá»Âi Châu tried reading what he wrote in his Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation, the pronunciation was unintelligible to Cantonese-speaking Liang Qichao. They discussed topics mainly involving the pan-Asian anti-colonial movement. These brushtalks later led to the publishing of the book, History of the Loss of Vietnam (; chữ Hán: ) written in Literary Chinese.
During one brushtalk between Phan Bá»Âi Châu and ,
About a hundred of Phan Bá»Âi Châu's brushtalks in Japan can be found in Phan Bá»Âi Châu's book, Chronicles of Phan Sào Nam (; chữ Hán: ).
There are several instances in the Chronicles of Phan SÃÂ o Nam that mentions brushtalks were used to communicate.
during his visit to Beijing in 2019 tweeted his schedule, but only using Chinese characters (no kana) as a way of connecting with Chinese followers. While the text is not like Chinese nor is it like Japanese, it was fairly understandable by Chinese speakers. It is a good example of Pseudo-Chinese and how the two countries can somewhat communicate with each other with writing. The tweet resembled how brushtalks were used in the past.
One famous example of brushtalk is a conversation between a Vietnamese envoy (Phùng Khắc Khoan; ) and a Korean envoy (Yi Su-gwang; ) meeting in Beijing to wish prosperity for the Wanli Emperor (1597). The envoys exchanged dialogue and poems between each other. These poems followed traditional metrics which was made up of eight seven-syllable lines (). It is noted by Yi Su-gwang that out of the 23 people in 's delagation, only one person knew spoken Chinese meaning that the rest had to either use brushtalks or an interpreter to communicate.
These poems were compiled in the eighth volume () of Yi Su-gwang's book, Jibongseonsaengjip ().
These poems were compiled in Phùng Khắc Khoan's book, Mai Lénh sứ hoa thi táºÂp ().
Another encounter with Korean envoy (I Sangbong; ) and Vietnamese envoy (Lê Quý ÃÂôn; chữ Hán: ) on 30 December 1760, led to a brushtalk about the dress customs of ÃÂại Viá»Ât (), it was recorded in the third volume of the book, Bugwollok (),
I Sangbong was fascinated with the Vietnamese custom of teeth blackening after seeing the Vietnamese envoys with blackened teeth.
A passage in the book, Jowanbyeokjeon (), also mentions these customs:
The author Jo Wanbyeok () was sold to the Japanese by the Korean military, but since he was excellent in reading Chinese characters, the Japanese traders brought him along. From there, he was able to visit Vietnam and was treated as a guest by Vietnamese officials. His biography, Jowanbyeokjeon records his experiences and brushtalks with the Vietnamese.
, a journalist working in Vietnam noted that he held brushtalks with locals in his book, The ,
In the 18th century Japanese book, , mentions a drifter's account in Annam.
A letter sent from Nguyá» n Hoàng (chữ Hán:àé®潢) to in 1607 shows the diplomatic relations between Japan and Vietnam during that period. The letter reads,