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Creating a Women’s Language:isx: tun
In ancient China, women were
excluded from any standard
education. Education of a man was a
very good investment that would be
rewarded if one day this man
(1644-1912) and only those parents
who were rich enough to “waste’
money on the education of their
daughters would hire private tutors
for their girls. They did this because
Nushu means “women’s writ
ing” or “women’s script.” It was a
special script invented and circulated
only between women for a long
period of time in Jiangyong, a small
Instead of remaining totally illiterate, [these Chinese women] created their own
language, a secret code between women that men were not allowed to learn
became a government official and
was able to bring glory to his
ancestors. But the education of a
woman was considered to be the
most extravagant luxury. Women did
not need to know how to read and
write since their main function in
society was to be virtuous wives and
caring mothers. It was even
considered better if a woman did not
know much, as she would not be
able to challenge any man, especially
her husband, Therefore, there was
never any formal education for
‘women until the late Qing Dynasty
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the inculcation of basic literary
knowledge and the proper mannerisms
of “how fo be a lady” would make
their girls better brides in the future.
AAs for those women from poor and
working class families, they usually
remained illiterate.
Even though poor women were
deprived of the right to receive any
standard education, some still found
a way. They created their own
Janguage—nushu:; as of now, it is the
only written language developed by
women that has been discovered in
the world,
november-december 2003
agricultural region located at the
southeast of Hunan Prefecture
China. Until it was discovered in
1982 by a Chinese teacher from the
South-Central China Institute for
Nationalities, Gong Zhebing, this
script was used secretly by local
women and no man ever learne
it
Gong went to Jiangyong to investi-
gate customs and culture of the
locals, but while there he unexpect-
edly discovered this strange calligra-
phy that was based on Chinese, but
at the same time almost totally
different from it.Chinese fans with Nushu writing. [Photo by Lei Znen Lin}
No one knows exactly when this
women’s script was invented. The
number of nushu characters has not
been confirmed until recently, The
Central-South University for Nation.
alities claimed that nushu is a written
language that contains around 2,000
characters with “no spoken counter-
parts.” These women created an
alternative written language because
they were not allowed to learn
Chinese. Instead of remaining totally
illiterate, they created their own
langu
women that men were not allowed to
learn,
Jiangyor
been blessed with rich and fertile soil
a secret code between
County has always
that promises its residents abundant
harvest. Only men worked in the
field, Bound
fect village women were
hot permitted t work outdoors,
They spent the whole day doing
housework in their inner chambers.
Within these women’s chambers
when men were out, women loved
to gather together with other female
relatives, friends or neighbors. This
was their female world: their own
time, their own space, and their own
limited freedom enclosed by the four
walls of their houses, They made
shoes, they cooked, and they did
spinning, sewing and e
together,
broidery
Sworn Sisters
When they worked, they loved
to sing folk songs or recite simple
poems. A strong companionship
developed between them. They
would then make pledges in front of
god and swear that until the end of
Ueir lives, they would treat their
female companions as well as or
even better than real sisters. To:
gether they would share both fortune
and misfortune. This tradition was
which meant
jood, but by
called “sworn sisters,
women bound not by bl
vows. The practice of sworn sisters
played a very important role in the
invention and dissemination of
nushu. In fact, a lot of nushu
materials produced were letters to
sworn sisters
You can almost imagine what it
was like when these women
gathered together to work. They
soon found that they needed to
express something in words, such as
their own thoughts, desires,
happiness, sorrows and hopes, all
written in their letters to each other
the simple storiey and songs they
created, So, as Professor Orie Endo
of Japan Bunkyo University
rm and then
suggested, nushu wa:
passed on through generations within
the
was no scholar in the establishment
¢ women’s chambers. The
of this new script. There was no real
teacher or school to p
throug!
by some villa
+h generations. It was created
poor and not very literate
The transmission of the script
was rather primitive, as well, For
ages, grandmothers educated
granddaughters and mothers taught
daughters, usually orally, Some girls
learned it from friends or relatives.
skilled
a living by
Women who were ver
nushu could even make
teachi
other girls the script. Once
rls learned the nushu script, they
could utilize the language to commu
nicate with their companions. They
wrote letters to each other and made
their vows in nushu during the
practice of sworn sisters, Th
composed verses and songs. They
wrote nushu in their prayers and
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november-december 2003
pageatchants to god. They wrote nushu on
fans and they would even embroider
their work on handkerchiefs, cloths
and quilts:There were also competi
tions of nushu
writings between
women during
festival events and
the winner would be
given great respect. and the
A woman with the
knowledge of nushu
was said fo enjoy a
higher status in the
society. And when a woman died,
her nushu works would be buried
with her in the belief that she could
bring her works to her next life
through reincarnation,
Nushu was not carved out by
just the imagination of these women.
Although these women were not
very literate, some of them must
have known some Chinese charac-
ters. They might have learned some
Sa.
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——s
SRY WSS
sb
Soweny > RMR,
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informally from their own families
beforchand, When it came to the
development of nushu, they created
it with the concept of Chinese
‘With nushu, we touch the independent souls
inner strength of women
characters, Therefore, nushu looks
like Chinese characters, but at the
same time a litte bit different.
‘The most crucial distinction is
that Chinese is ideogram, but nushu
is, on the contrary, a phonogram that
represents local dialect, To be more
precise, itis basically a phonogram
mixed with some ideograms. As for
the shape of characters, Chinese is
boxier, like a square, but nushu is
Wed sex aes
mes GK
iH Specs Se
Sesh Gans
3
eeu
Bel tee
BH ea
HRS
Nushu song with Chinese translation. [Courtesy of Zhuhai
Publishing]
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page 42
november-december 2003
rather wispy and cursive: it is
written in a more elegant way. Apart
from all these diffe
written from top to bottom and from
right to left, the same
Chinese.
ces, nushu is
The practice of
burying nushu works
with their authors
ight sound in
ing to people just
earning about the
language, but because
of this practice, as
well as a lot of loss during the
dissemination, the remains of nushu
materials available now are rare,
which has made the studies of the
script much more difficult.
Independent Souls
When we look into these re
mains we also look into the lives or
even hearts of these village women
As nushu was written i
chambers, the writ
has been inside the
wel; in other words, the whole
reflect what
chambers as
world of village women in the past.
Most of the collections we have now
were letters written to sworn sisters,
simple songs and stories,
Sanchaoshu is a cloth booklet
full of nushu songs and poems
written by mothers or sworn sisters
to a newly married woman.
Jigjiaoshu is not a booklet for
marriage; rather it is comprised of
the commitments made by sworn.
sisters. They swore in front of god
and recorded their pledges in red
paper. It is a book of vows
It is extremely fascinating that
rnushu could ever be created. Since
the power of the patriarchal Cont
cian culture was so overwhelmifor thousands of years, its )
beliefs became rooted in the
consciousness of the people {
Even some nushu writers $
could not rid themselves of
its influence. Various nushu
works do include patriarchal
values, such as how a decent
woman should behave and
what she should not do in
order to remain virtuous. It
is inevitable that those values i
are found in nushu because
once you are born, you are
brainwashed by the whole
environment and social
norms surrounding you. It
all becomes a part of you so
that you will think and act
according to certain pat
tems subconsciously. *
But still, when facing ‘a
the patriarchal culture and ‘
its orthodox lang
women created something
by and for themselves.
They were expressing
themselves by their own
female script, not by the
masculine Chinese charac
ters that were made by and
tailored perfectly to the
needs of men, With nushu,
we touch the independent
souls and the inner strength
of women, women who were
considered not able to think and f
as a human in old China, We can feel
their tears and joy, hope and despair.
We can even find a lot of
complaints against the unfair male
governed social system. There is an
‘outcry of feminism in their nushu
works. In writing to other women,
they could express their resentment
and bitterness against oppression
when they were so unable to fight
for their own rights and respect, The
Put
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Comparison of Nushu writing with Chinese
characters. [Courtesy of Henan People’s
lishing]
content of nushu even extended to
the outside world of politics, as long
as it affected their households. We
can find some anti-Japanese songs
written in nushu during the 2” World
War when Japan launched their
invasion of China.
Materials Destroyed
Sadly, as important as nushu
was to Jiangyong women, it soon
Jost its value when the liberation of
women began in the early 20
Tovember-december 2003
century. The roles for
{6 women began to improve.
Schools were built for both
x boys and girls, Women
were then allowed to be
fe formally educated and
learn Chinese. Fewer
xg women learned nushu after
this formal education
BI began. Even more disas-
tous, nushu was listed as
Leftover
an evil feu
during the Cultural Revolu-
tion (1966-1976) and a lot
of materials were de-
stroyed. Women who had
nushu knowledge were
seized and condemned,
After this nightmare, a lot
of old women died. Those
who survived the ordeal
He
were too afraid to mention
nushu again
according to Professor
Endo, there are only 3
‘women left in the region
who still know this script.
They are Yang Huanyi
(95), He Yanxin (62), and
He Jinhua (62). What if all
these old heiresses of the
script die one day? The
younger generation is not
eager to learn this script
since there is no use for
it, except for scholarly purposes.
Nushu has become a dead language,
The rescue made by the local
government has been tepid for 20
years until recently the Hunan,
Province government announced a
new plan to preserve this cultural
legacy. If it works, maybe this
precious script will be maintained. It
is sad to learn that nushu, the one
and only female script ever found in
the world, may become extinct
because of our ignorance.®
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