The Mysterious Nushu Script

N�shu, literally translated as �women�s writing�, is the only writing system exclusively used by women ever discovered in the world. It was used by women in Jiangyong County in Hunan province of southern China. Its relatively recent discovery in 1983 stunned the international academic world.

The question of when N�shu emerged is still one of considerable debate and there are many different views on it, attributing its origin to a whole range of period from pre-historic to early modern.

• Some, based on the date of the earliest N�shu artifact found, estimate that it originated in late Ming or early Qing Dynasty (early to mid 17^th century).
• Some point out the many similarities between N�shu characters and those found on the artifacts of the Yangshao culture of the New Stone Age and they therefore push its origin to the much earlier 200 B.C. after the Qin Emperor unified the Chinese writing system.
• Some note that N�shu characters have some commonalities with the early Chinese oracle script � Jiaguwen or �shell bone script�, hence it could have originated during the Shang Dynasty (1600 B.C.).
• There are some who even argue that N�shu was actually the official writing system of the prehistoric Shun era (around 2000 B.C.) as both the structure and the strokes of the N�shu characters resemble those of the ancient writings found during that period.
• Based on the observation of some unique cultural traditions and characteristics of the Jiangyong area (e.g. the architectural style, the rice-based agricultural culture, and the culture of avian totem) and the pictographic characteristics of N�shu, there are some scholars who assert that N�shu is a remnant of the ancient Yue culture, one that was peripheral to the �Chinese proper� Huaxia culture, yet predominant in southern China and northern Vietnam before the sinicization of these two areas.
• Finally, some ethnoanthropologists link N�shu to the ancient Miao ethnic group in southwest China; the Miao used to have their own spoken language, but it has never been established whether they have their own writing system.

 

 

For more information on N�shu, go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nushu

Edited by flyingzone - 12-Nov-2006 at 14:08

This is not an article. It's my own writing based on my own research from different sources, including Wikipedia.  The original "article" written by me is actually much longer, and it includes association of Nushu with lesbianism among "sworned sisters", a practice very common in that area.

The layout looks alright to me. Maybe it's your computer???

Hi Flyingzone I am making a presentation for school about this incredible language of nu shu and I am amaze every time I find more and more people interested about this. I would like to see your entirely article because of course nobody specify the type of love or letters that these women wrote, but I am sure that from one extreme to the other nu shu was used, not only to express sadness or despair but love and desire. 

Woman's writing system? that's pretty interesting~