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UpdateWomen in China spread secret, female-only language nushu – it’s a bond of sisterhood
- Chinese women explain why they are learning nushu, a script created and used by women who were barred from formal education
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Chen Yulu never thought her home province of Hunan had any culture that she would be proud of, much less become an ambassador of.
But these days, the 23-year-old is a self-proclaimed ambassador of nushu, a script once known only to a small number of women in central China.
It started as a writing practised in secrecy by women who were barred from formal education in Chinese. Now young people like Chen are spreading nushu beyond the women’s quarters of houses in Hunan’s rural Jiangyong county, whose distinct dialect serves as the script’s verbal component.
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Today, nushu can be found in independent bookstores across the country, transport advertisements, craft fair booths, tattoos, art and even everyday items like hair clips.
Nushu was created by women from a small village in Jiangyong, in the south-central province where late Chinese leader Mao Zedong was born, but there is little consensus on when it originated. Scholars estimate the script is at least several centuries old, from a time when reading and writing were deemed male-only activities. The women developed their own script to communicate with each other.
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