Nushu: The female-only Chinese written language
China isn’t just the home to the Great Wall of China or world’s largest population. It also has a rich culture and heritage. This also includes the world’s only woman- centric language called Nushu. Nushu literally translates to “woman’s writing” in Chinese. This secret language that is presumed to have originated in the 20th century and then disappeared in between (until recently discovered), actually has much older roots. Come, let us delve deep into it.
Birth of Nushu
Nushu was coined in the hands of peasant women in the 19th century Hunan Province (yes, the same place where Covid-19 originated) and was thoroughly used by people in Jiangyong County of the province. The aim was to offer a freedom of speech and expression to the women of ethnic tribes such as Han, Yao and Miao.
However, historians often believe that the roots of Nushu can be traced all the way back to 3000 years during the Shang Dynasty or following the Song Dynasty (960 to 1279 AD). In fact, it is thought to have passed down generations from peasant mothers to their daughters. They, in turn, spread it among their sisters and friends, especially in the feudal China, when women were often deprived of basic rights, such as equal educational opportunities.
So, we can say that Nushu is not only the world’s only language used exclusively by women, but it is also created by them. How cool is that!
Decoding Nushu
While it is popularly regarded as a language, Nushu is more a writing system or a script. In fact, the spoken dialect of Nushu is the same as that of Hanzi, that is often used by men of the region.
Okay, so what exactly is Nushu comprised of? Just like any other Chinese character, Nushu too is written in columns, with the text running from top to bottom within each column while the columns are placed from right to left. There are approximately 1000 to 1500 characters including punctuations and operators in this language. However, what’s remarkable is that, while most Chinese scripts represent ideograms (ideas of words), Nushu is based on phonograms (sounds of words). In addition, four kinds of strokes are usually followed to draw the characters: Dots, horizontals, verticals and arcs.
Interestingly, Nushu is widely featured in embroidery, calligraphy and handicrafts made by Chinese women. It is also found on letters, hand-written poetry and home decors. Women who made the items are often buried with the same.
Present-day discovery of Nushu
Believe it or not, for thousands of years, this discreet, woman-only language was restricted within the Hunan province and the world practically had no clue about its existence. However, in the 1950s, something extraordinary happened. A Chinese linguistic professor named Yan Xuejiong and a teacher named Gog Zhebing chanced upon the script while researching about Chinese calligraphy. As soon as they realised what it was, they came in touch with Nushu users and even tried to convince them to share it with the world. There was also another man named Zhou Shuoyi who, in the 1980s, found Nushu characters in a poem dating 10 generations back and eventually discovered what it was.
However, it wasn’t until the 1990s that Nushu got its much-deserved attention when Japanese professor Orie Endo and linguistic researcher Toshiyuki Obata were studying ancient languages in China, and chanced upon the script. Since then, the duo has been studying Nushu and had even interviewed many women who could read and write the language. Endo even published a research paper in 1999 called Endangered System of Women’s Writing from Hunan China and made a documentary in 2011 titled The Chinese Women’s Script for Writing Sorrow.
In 2003, China established the Nushu Culture Research Centre realising its sudden popularity. They even published a Nushu dictionary containing 1800 characters. But it was only in 2004 that the Chinese government officially unveiled Nushu in front of the entire world. Since then, more than 100 Nushu manuscripts have been discovered even outside China. Isn’t that fascinating?
Bonus fact: In 2006, Nushu became National Intangible Cultural Heritage of China.