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Nushu (女书)
Nushu is a syllabic script created and used exclusively by women in Jiang Yong Prefecture, Hunan Province, China. The women were forbidden formal education for many centuries and developed the Nushu script in order to communicate with one another. They embroidered the script into cloth and wrote it in books and on paper fans.
Nushu was mainly used in the creation of San Chao Shu or "Third Day Missives", cloth-bound booklets created by mothers to give to their daughters upon their marriage, or by woman to give to their close female friends. The San Chao Shu contained songs written in the Nushu script expressing hopes and sorrow, and was delivered on the third day after a woman's marriage.
The last proficient user of Nushu, Yang Huanyi, died on 20th September 2004 at the age of 98. More details
Recently there has been a revival of interest in Nushu and a number of women are studying it and using it again. More details
Notable features
The Nushu script consists of between 1800 and 2500 characters, many of which are variant forms.
Nushu is written in vertical columns running from top to bottom and from right to left.
Many Nushu characters are based on Chinese characters, while some are modelled on embroidery stitches and designs.
Nushu characters are represent pronunciation, unlike Chinese characters, which represent pronunciation and meaning.
Nushu was taught to women by their mothers or grandmothers.
Used to write
Chéngguān (城関), a dialect of Minnan spoken in the area where Nushu is used.
A selection of Nushu characters and their Chinese equivalents
Sample text in the Nushu script with Chinese translation |
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发表于 2006-6-16 16:24:42
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