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Nüshu, meaning 'women's writing', is a script used by women in Jiangyong county, in China's Hunan province, for letters, songs and life stories.

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LanguageHistory

The story behind the card

Nüshu grew up over several centuries among the women of Jiangyong, many of Yao heritage, at a time when few women were taught standard Chinese characters. Its slender, slanting signs developed from Chinese writing, but each of its roughly 600 to 700 characters stands for a syllable of the local speech, Xiangnan Tuhua, rather than for a word. Women used it for letters between close friends who had sworn sisterhood and for 'third-day books', cloth-bound booklets of songs given to a bride on the third day of her marriage, wishing her happiness and grieving at the parting. Scholars studied it widely from the 1980s. Yang Huanyi, thought to be the last woman who had learnt it in the traditional way, died in 2004 at 98; today the script is taught again in Jiangyong.

Türkçe oku
“Kadın yazısı” anlamına gelen Nüshu, Çin'in Hunan eyaletindeki Jiangyong ilçesinde kadınların mektup, şarkı ve hayat hikâyesi yazmak için kullandığı bir yazıdır.

Nüshu, birkaç yüzyıl boyunca Jiangyong'un çoğu Yao kökenli kadınları arasında gelişti; kadınların standart Çin karakterlerini öğrenme olanağının çok az olduğu bir dönemdi. İnce ve eğik işaretleri Çin yazısından türemiştir, ama yaklaşık 600–700 karakterinin her biri bir sözcüğü değil, yöre dili Xiangnan Tuhua'daki bir heceyi gösterir. Kadınlar bu yazıyı, kız kardeşlik yemini etmiş yakın arkadaşlarına yazdıkları mektuplarda ve “üçüncü gün kitapları”nda kullandı. Bunlar, gelinlere evliliklerinin üçüncü günü verilen, kumaş ciltli şarkı kitapçıklarıydı; içlerinde hem mutluluk dilekleri hem de ayrılığın hüznü vardı. Bilim insanları yazıyı 1980'lerden itibaren yaygın biçimde incelemeye başladı. Nüshu'yu geleneksel yolla öğrenmiş son kadın olduğu düşünülen Yang Huanyi, 2004'te 98 yaşında öldü. Bugün yazı Jiangyong'da yeniden öğretiliyor.

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