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The generic Japanese term for this type of glossing Chinese texts is kundoku 訓読.31 Similar strategies for reading texts written in literary Sinitic, which likewise took into account differences in word order and pronunciation, developed in Korea and Vietnam as well.32
Moreover, by the fifteenth century at the latest (and in the case of Japan and Vietnam much earlier), the Japanese, Koreans, and Vietnamese all had developed their own indigenous (non-Chinese) written scripts, each of which reflected the sounds of their respective spoken languages: kana (仮名) in Japan (and the Ryūkyū Kingdom); hangŭl (한글) in Korea; and nôm (喃) or chữ nôm (ࡨ�喃) in Vietnam.33 Texts could be written exclusively in these phonetically based scripts or combined with Chinese characters. For most of the period from 1600 to 1900 CE, texts written exclusively in the kana, hangŭl, and nôm vernaculars lacked the exalted status of classical Chinese, but this prestige did not preclude significant changes in literary Sinitic-based texts—hence descriptive hybrid terms such as Sino-Japanese, Sino-Korean, and Sino-Vietnamese.34
Finally, as indicated, the specific historical experiences of each culture group differed dramatically, producing, among other things, complex self-images that might involve admiration for Chinese culture as well as countervailing assertions of cultural distinctiveness and superiority.35 Historical conditions as well as scholarly fashions obviously affect both the transmission and the reception of new ideas and cultural practices, and political factors can play decisive roles in both processes. For instance, rulers can support or suppress new cultural practices. In Vietnam, for example, chữ nôm briefly replaced Chinese for official purposes under the Hồ dynasty (1400–1407) and the Tây Sơn regime (1778–1802).36
Institutionally speaking, the presence or absence of a Chinese-style civil service examination system had far-reaching implications for the various cultures of East Asia. In China, the examination system produced, as intended, a meritocracy—the key to both social and bureaucratic mobility and the sole focus for Chinese higher education.37 Chosŏn 朝鮮 (a.k.a. Joseon) Korea (1392–1910) was fundamentally a hereditary