Why Is Manchu Written Vertically?

The History of Manchu Script, Traditional Mongolian Writing, and the Old Uyghur Alphabet

By MING YE

When people encounter the Manchu writing system for the first time, one of the most striking features is its unusual writing direction.

Unlike modern English, which is written horizontally from left to right, traditional Manchu is written vertically, from top to bottom.

Even more interestingly, although Manchu and traditional Chinese can both be written vertically, their columns are arranged in opposite directions.

Traditional Chinese vertical writing generally places the first column on the right and proceeds toward the left. Manchu begins with the leftmost column and proceeds toward the right.

This raises an interesting question:

Why is Manchu written vertically, and where did this writing tradition originate?

The answer lies in the history of the traditional Mongolian script and, further back, the Old Uyghur writing tradition from which it developed.

The Vertical Direction of Manchu Was Not Invented by Qing Emperors

The vertical writing direction of Manchu did not originate after the establishment of the Qing dynasty.

In fact, the Manchu writing system emerged before the Qing dynasty was formally founded.

During the late sixteenth century, Nurhaci gradually unified several Jurchen groups and established new political and military institutions.

As his authority expanded, the need to record orders, manage administrative affairs, and preserve official documents became increasingly important.

According to traditional historical accounts, in 1599 Nurhaci instructed Erdeni and Gagai to develop a writing system based on the Mongolian script.

This early form of Manchu writing is commonly known as the undotted Manchu script, or Old Manchu script.

It was adapted from the Mongolian writing system then in use to meet the needs of recording the Jurchen language.

As a result, Manchu inherited the basic writing direction of traditional Mongolian from the beginning.

This was not an attempt to imitate Chinese characters, nor was it a new aesthetic arrangement designed by Qing emperors.

The most direct reason Manchu is written vertically is that it inherited the writing direction of the traditional Mongolian script.

Why Is Traditional Mongolian Also Written Vertically?

To understand Manchu writing, we must first examine the history of the traditional Mongolian script.

Traditional Mongolian writing did not emerge independently without earlier influences.

When the Mongols developed their written tradition, they adopted and adapted the Old Uyghur script, which had previously been used in Central Asia.

In the early thirteenth century, the emerging Mongol state began using the Old Uyghur writing tradition to record the Mongolian language.

Through adaptation and development, this eventually became the traditional Mongolian writing system.

The Mongolian script retained many features of Old Uyghur letterforms while developing the vertical writing arrangement still recognizable today.

Traditional Mongolian is generally written from top to bottom, with columns proceeding from left to right.

When the Manchu writing system was created, it borrowed this established script and preserved the same basic direction.

From the perspective of writing-system history, Manchu therefore has a direct historical relationship with traditional Mongolian writing.

However, this does not mean that Manchu and Mongolian are the same language.

Writing systems can be borrowed across linguistic boundaries, and languages that use similar scripts do not necessarily share the same linguistic ancestry.

Manchu belongs to the Tungusic language family, while Mongolian belongs to the Mongolic language family.

The two languages have experienced long periods of contact and historical influence, but similarities between their writing systems do not establish that they belong to the same linguistic branch.

Old Uyghur and the Earlier Writing Traditions of Central Asia

The history of the Manchu script can be traced even further back.

The Old Uyghur script, from which traditional Mongolian writing developed, was historically connected to the earlier Sogdian writing system.

Sogdian writing was widely used in parts of Central Asia, particularly in contexts involving trade and cultural exchange.

The Sogdian script itself had historical connections with the Aramaic writing tradition.

As languages and cultures interacted across different regions, these writing systems underwent significant changes over time.

Old Uyghur developed its own written forms within this broader historical process and later influenced the Mongolian script.

However, an important qualification is necessary.

The vertical direction of Manchu should not be understood as a writing direction preserved unchanged from ancient Aramaic.

Writing systems can change both their letterforms and their writing directions as they spread between languages and regions.

The vertical arrangement of traditional Mongolian is connected to changes in writing orientation during the historical development of the Old Uyghur tradition.

Thus, although the historical ancestry of the Manchu script reaches back to earlier Central Asian writing systems, the vertical arrangement adopted by Manchu came directly from traditional Mongolian writing.

Why Does Manchu Run from Left to Right While Traditional Chinese Runs from Right to Left?

This is one of the most easily overlooked characteristics of Manchu writing.

Both Manchu and traditional Chinese can be written vertically, but their reading orders differ.

In traditional Chinese vertical writing, readers generally begin with the rightmost column and move progressively toward the left.

In Manchu, readers begin with the leftmost column and move toward the right.

Within each column, both systems are read from top to bottom.

The difference lies in the direction in which readers move between columns.

This distinction demonstrates why two writing systems should not be assumed to have the same historical origin simply because both are written vertically.

Manchu developed through the Mongolian writing tradition, while Chinese characters followed their own independent historical development.

The two systems share a superficial similarity in vertical arrangement, but their historical origins are different.

Why Was Manchu Not Changed into a Horizontal Writing System?

Some readers may wonder why Manchu was not converted into horizontal writing, as is common in modern English, Chinese Pinyin, and many other writing systems.

First, Manchu inherited an already established writing structure from traditional Mongolian.

Manchu letters may have different forms depending on whether they appear at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.

Letters also connect to one another in characteristic ways.

These features are closely associated with the traditional vertical writing system.

Second, Manchu became widely used in Qing official archives, imperial documents, dictionaries, inscriptions, books, and other written materials.

Centuries of use established relatively stable writing conventions.

Changing the entire writing direction would involve more than rearranging text on a page. It could also affect letterform design, reading habits, and established documentary traditions.

For these reasons, traditional Manchu retained its vertical arrangement.

However, this does not mean that every method of recording the Manchu language must be vertical.

Today, researchers can represent Manchu pronunciation through Romanization, using Latin letters written horizontally from left to right.

Romanized Manchu commonly appears in language textbooks, dictionaries, and academic publications.

An important distinction must therefore be made:

Writing Manchu in Romanized transcription is not the same as writing Manchu in its traditional script.

Romanization can facilitate language learning, searching, and academic communication.

Traditional Manchu writing, by contrast, preserves the historical structure and visual conventions of the original script.

How Does Vertical Writing Influence Manchu Calligraphy?

The vertical structure of Manchu affects not only reading but also the visual characteristics of Manchu calligraphy.

Traditional Manchu letters are arranged along a vertical axis and connected to form complete words.

Unlike Chinese characters, which generally occupy relatively independent square-shaped spaces, Manchu words often form continuous linear structures.

This gives Manchu calligraphy a distinctive visual rhythm.

During writing, the connections between letters, the extension of strokes, the length of words, and the spacing between columns all influence the overall composition.

For this reason, Manchu calligraphy cannot simply be interpreted according to the structural principles of Chinese calligraphy.

Although both traditions may use a brush, their letter construction, stroke organization, and spatial arrangements differ significantly.

The artistic expression of Manchu calligraphy is shaped by the structural requirements of the script, while still allowing calligraphers to explore variations in letterforms, line quality, and composition.

Understanding why Manchu is written vertically therefore also helps explain why Manchu calligraphy developed visual characteristics distinct from those of Chinese characters and the Latin alphabet.

Why Do Computers and Smartphones Sometimes Display Vertical Manchu Incorrectly?

The vertical structure of Manchu has also created technical challenges in the digital age.

Most modern computer interfaces and websites are designed primarily around horizontally arranged text.

Traditional Manchu, however, requires characters to be displayed vertically while following specific rules for letter connections and contextual letterforms.

Correct Manchu display therefore depends not only on fonts containing Manchu characters, but also on text-rendering systems capable of handling the script's shaping and vertical layout requirements.

Unicode provides a character-encoding framework for Manchu writing.

However, the existence of Unicode characters does not guarantee that every website, application, or device will display Manchu correctly.

In some digital environments, Manchu letters may fail to connect properly, contextual forms may appear incorrectly, or vertical text may be displayed in the wrong orientation.

These problems do not indicate a defect in the Manchu language or writing system.

Rather, they demonstrate that historical scripts require appropriate technical support to function correctly in modern digital environments.

For the digital preservation of Manchu, accurate character encoding, suitable font design, and correct vertical text layout are all essential.

What Does the Vertical Direction of Manchu Tell Us About Its History?

Vertical Manchu writing is not merely an isolated visual convention.

It reflects centuries of cultural and linguistic contact among peoples of Northeast and Central Asia.

From earlier Central Asian writing traditions to Old Uyghur, traditional Mongolian, and eventually Manchu, this historical development demonstrates how writing systems can spread across linguistic and ethnic boundaries.

When the Manchus developed their own writing system, they did not create every element from the beginning.

Instead, they adapted an existing script to the linguistic requirements of their own language.

The Manchu writing system subsequently underwent further changes in letterforms and spelling conventions.

During the seventeenth century, reforms associated with Dahai improved the script by introducing or standardizing dots and circles that helped distinguish certain sounds more clearly.

These developments made the writing system better suited to representing the Manchu language.

However, they did not alter the basic vertical writing direction inherited from Mongolian.

We can therefore return to the original question:

Why is Manchu written vertically?

Because the Manchu writing system was developed from traditional Mongolian writing and inherited its arrangement of characters from top to bottom, with columns progressing from left to right.

This arrangement is also connected to the earlier history of Old Uyghur and the transmission of writing systems across Central Asia.

The vertical direction of Manchu was not an arbitrary writing convention imposed by Qing emperors. It was the result of a much longer history of script transmission, adaptation, and development.

Today, when we examine a Qing dynasty Manchu document or admire a work of Manchu calligraphy, we are seeing more than a distinctive arrangement of written characters.

We are also encountering a historical record of linguistic contact, cultural exchange, and the development of writing across different peoples and regions.

— MING YE