Women's Script - NUSHU

NUSHU is one of the writing systems least known about. It is estimated that its origin dates as far back as the third century. In a remote part of China, this writing system was used exclusively by women. As traditional Chinese culture was male-oriented and females were forbidden from receiving any kind of formal education, NUSHU was secretly developed over hundred of years in the Jiangyong county of Hunan. NUSHU, like Chinese, is written from top to bottom in columns, and the columns are written from right to left. This is a dying language and only a few women are left that can still read and write in this script (the last proficient user as Yang Huanyi who died in 2004 at age 98). To many, it is a symbol of women�s resilience in an oppressive environment, but, unfortunately, there are no official programs in existence to preserve this cultural heritage, so it will soon be forgotten! However, I was very excited to read that a revival of interest in NUSHU is emerging, and that a number of women are studying it and using it.

Here�s a site that shows this fascinating writing script.

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/nushu.htm   

How bloody true.

Why did N�shu emerge in the Hunan province and its vicinity?

 

 

Nushu and Proto-feminism

What was written in N�shu is a very good projection of the psychology of women at that time. A lot of N�shu was written in the first person singular. The literary style is highly realistic. While a lot of N�shu describes ordinary everyday events, some women used it to express their grievances, their discontent with gender inequality, and their contempt for what they perceived as �macho materialism.� Some researchers even characterize the mentality of these women as �proto-feminist.� Such mentality is extremely rarely reflected in traditional Confucianist writings, let alone those written by and for women. And the fact that such thinking was evident in the remote rural Jiangyoung County of Hunan province makes it even more remarkable. There, women practised the repressive �foot-binding� custom and were subjugated under an essentially paternalistic feudalistic system that prescribed practices such as arranged marriages. One of the reasons why such radical �proto-feminist� thoughts existed in N�shu may be that local communities were culturally influenced by the neighbouring Yiao minority group where women had a relatively higher status. (Some scholars even go as far as arguing that the Yiao minority actually exhibits a matriachal familial structure.) The Yiao influence is also evident in the tradition that newly-married women would return to live with their own family only three days after the marriage ceremony. They would not move to live with their husband�s family until they got pregnant. (One could not but wonder, though, how they managed to get pregnant if they did not live with their husband.)

 

Really enligtening flyingzone.