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Liu Xinwen 刘欣雯 - Nüshu：a letter that belongs exclusively to women

Nvshu：a letter that belongs exclusively to women

Abstract Nvshu, also known as Jiangyong Nvshu, is a letter circulated in Jiangyong, Hunan Province, China, which is only used by women. As an intangible cultural heritage, Nushu has high value in various fields. This article gives a brief overview of the basic situation, status and value of Nvshu.

Keywords Nvshu; Intangible cultural heritage; Language

Brief Introduction to Nvshu

The origin of Nvshu

"Nvshu", also known as "Nvzi", is a letter that is only circulated among women in Jiangyong County, Hunan Province and the around areas, so it is also called "Jiangyong Nvshu". Nvshu is unique among all kinds of scripts in the world, and it can be called an unparalleled female script symbol system.

Records of Nushu

Regarding Nvshu, the earliest documented record is the "Investigation Notes of Hunan Counties" (Volume 1) (《湖南各县调查笔记》上册) which was printed by Heji Printing Company and edited by Zeng Jiwu in July of the 20th year of the Republic of China (1931). "(Yongming County) Huashan Mountain is at the foot of the ridge. The stone is as exquisite as a flower. It is said that the sisters surnamed Tan in the Tang Dynasty learned Buddhism and practiced truth. (Temple) worship it... Every year in May, women from all townships burn incense and worship, hold singing fans and sing at the same time to mourn him. The small characters written on the fan are like Mongolian. No men in the county can understand this kind of characters”. According to subsequent textual research, “Written on the fan” is what we now call “Nvshu”, and “Small Characters” are “Nvzi”.

Form of Nvshu

The shape of Nvshu is peculiar, similar to deformed Chinese characters, but distinct from Chinese characters. Its appearance is in the shape of an oblique rhombus slightly inclined to the left, with the left part low and the right part high, resembling the character "多"; its strokes are uniform, the lines are slender, and there are four strokes: dot, vertical, oblique and arc. There are single characters. There are also combined characters. She is free and beautiful, like the wind blowing through willow leaves, also as the tip of a dancing knife--light and sharp, elegant and tough.

Voice of Nvshu

The language recorded in Nvshu is a distinctive dialect in the place where Nvshu is popular; it has unique means and methods of marking language, which can be used for homophonic borrowing, and more than a thousand characters of seven-character rhyme can be written with only more than 400 characters. According to experts' research, there are only about 500 single characters in Nüshu sorted out from original Nvshu works, arts and handicrafts, and it is said that there are at most about 2,000 characters in Nvshu. Female characters are similar to syllable characters, one character corresponds to one syllable, and corresponds to one or several Chinese characters with homonyms but different meanings in the local dialect. But there is not a one-to-one correspondence between female characters and syllables, and there may be multiple characters corresponding to the same syllable.

The meaning of Nushu

Status of Nvshu

Nvshu has distinctive regionality, uniqueness, endangerment, and important research value for many fields of humanities. Nvshu has become a bright pearl in the cultural heritage of mankind.

In April 2002, Nvshu was included in the "List of Chinese Archives and Literature Heritage" by the State Archives Administration; in October 2005, Nvshu was selected as the most gender-conscious writing candidate in the world by Guinness World Records; on May 20, 2006, The State Council announced the first batch of 518 items on the national intangible cultural heritage list, and "Nvshu custom" is impressively listed; in 2007, Nvshu became one of the "Memory Project" projects of the Ford Foundation in the United States; in 2008, Nvshu was declared as a The only representative work in Hunan Province of "Masterpieces of Human Oral and Intangible Heritage" is submitted to the national cultural department, and is expected to sprint for world-class intangible cultural heritage.

The value of Nvshu

Nvshu reflects the pursuit and practical exploration of talented and intelligent women to express their thoughts and enrich their spiritual world under the patriarchal system. From the content point of view, Nushu works have distinct characteristics of the times, regions and genders, and can be divided into three types: self-created, recorded and translated. For example, the Three Dynasties and biographies are self-created works composed of local women's own words and sentences. Nursery songs, folk songs, weeping wedding songs, riddles and other recorded works, as well as Nvshu texts translated from works such as "The Flower Girl". These all present the real life and rich spiritual world of local women, and reflect women's independent consciousness of pursuing individual freedom and sound personality. In terms of function, Nushu is not only a communication medium for local women to seek friendship and meet their own social interaction needs, but also a lubricant to enhance emotions and exchanges between women. In the common life field, women in Jiangyong County communicate and communicate with Nvshu, realize self-education imperceptibly in sharing knowledge and wisdom with each other, and then complete the individual socialization process, which reflects the profound education of Nvshu significance. In short, Nvshu, as a tool of expression, closely connects women living in different fields and spaces, and serves as a cultural bridge and a medium for exchanging information between sworn sisters. At the same time, Nushu portrays the awakening of women's self-awareness, embodying women's spirit of breaking through cultural confinement and pursuing freedom and equality.

Inheritance of Nushu

Inheritance of Nushu

Nvshu culture takes women as the carrier, and is inherited by singing female songs, reading Nvshu, writing Nvzi, and being a female celebrity. Nvzi, Nvshu, and Nvshu culture are dynamically passed down from generation to generation among female groups. Nushu is handed down from generation to generation in the form of family inheritance and teaching from relatives and friends; it is closely integrated with women's unique folk activities such as marriage, festivals, temple fairs, etc., and fully demonstrates its function and value. Every Nvshu work not only inherits the collective wisdom condensed in words and writing, but also contains individual innovations in thought, emotion and language. In a specific geographical space, in a specific female group, relying on a specific ecological environment and folk traditions, Nvshu has been passed down from generation to generation and is endless. The world is independent, but it is closely related to the people who were born and raised here. The users of Nushu are all women. In the patriarchal society, they have equal status and similar fate. They are sisters in the same disease emotionally. For them, Nushu is a "common discourse" for exchanging feelings and pouring out their hearts, and it is an equal tool and resource for every member. There is no more "authoritative" or "superior" font version.

The Inheritance Value of Nushu

Nvshu, as a secret means of communication between women, has become a thing of the past, but the vitality of Nvshu will not cease. The radiation of Nvshu culture itself has gone far beyond the scope of small groups who worship sisters. In terms of belief, the incense is very strong. Every year, women in villages and even towns far and near bring Nvshu manuscripts to pray to the goddess; in terms of customs, using Nvshu couplets and Nvzi patterns to decorate homes, and the transformation of Nvshu has been handed down from the land. In terms of industrial development, the trademark of Nvshu has been preemptively registered and the craftsmanship of Nvshu is constantly innovating, and the art of Nvshu and Nvshu tourism are hot; In terms of academic research, philology, linguistics, folk literature, history, and archaeology , Folklore, Anthropology, Sociology, Feminology, Ethnic Culture History and other disciplines have explored and studied Nvshu one after another.

The situation of Nushu

However, the inheritance of Nvshu’ situation is not optimistic. With the passing away of the last natural inheritor, Yang Huanyi, Jiangyong Nvshu once fell into a crisis of inheritance fault. And now there are voices of doubt denying that Nvshu is a female-only language, denying its group uniqueness and gender characteristics, and even denying that it was created and inherited by women, claiming that its inventor is a man, and that the official name of Jiangyong Nvshu should be changed to "Long-legged text" is not only a kind of cultural deprivation, but also a kind of alienation of history. Jiangyong Nushu is not optimistic in terms of the inheritors or the current inheritance situation. The precious educational value contained in the Nushu culture also needs to wait for an opportunity to revitalize.

Conclusion

Nushu is the only text created and used by women in the world. It is the resistance of women in the face of the social discipline and the traditional concept of suppressing women, and the efforts to seek self-breakthrough and independent growth. As an intangible culture and production, Nushu has important social and historical value as well as cultural and artistic value, and its protection and inheritance are worth people's efforts.

Terminology

archaeology n. 考古学，古物 rhombus n. [数] 菱形；[数] 斜方形Question Intangible Heritage 非物质文化遗产 natural inheritor 自然传承人

Question

1.What is the shape of Nvshu? 2.Which year was Jiangyong Nvshu listed as an intangible cultural heritage? 3.What is the functional value of Nvshu?

Answer

1. Its appearance is in the shape of an oblique rhombus slightly inclined to the left, with the left part low and the right part high, resembling the character "多". 2. 2006. 3. In terms of function, Nushu is not only a communication medium for local women to seek friendship and meet their own social interaction needs, but also a lubricant to enhance emotions and exchanges between women.

References

[1]He Xianghua何华湘. 非物质文化遗产的传播研究[D].华东师范大学,2010.[ Research on the dissemination of intangible cultural heritage] [2]Zhang Yueming章悦茗.江永女书及其文化传承[J].新疆艺术(汉文),2023(01):114-120.[ Jiangyong Nvshu and its cultural inheritance] [3]He Yan何研.江永女书传承人制度探析[J].文化遗产,2021(03):48-55.[Investigation and analysis of Jiangyong Nushu Inheritor system] [4]Shan Xiaoting. Introduction to Jiangyong Nvshu[J]. Translating China,2017,3.0(4.0).   女书：独属于女性的文字

摘要： 女书，又称作江永女书，是在中国湖南省江永一带流传的，仅被女性使用的文字，作为非物质文化遗产，女书在多种领域具有极高的价值。本文对女书的基本概况和地位、价值进行简单概述。 Abstract Nvshu, also known as Jiangyong Nvshu, is a letter circulated in Jiangyong, Hunan Province, China, which is only used by women. As an intangible cultural heritage, Nushu has high value in various fields. This article gives a brief overview of the basic situation, status and value of Nvshu.

关键词： 女书；非物质文化遗产；语言 Keywords Nvshu; Intangible cultural heritage; Language

女书的简介

女书的起源

“女书”，也被称为“女字”，它是只流传在湖南省江永县及其近邻一带妇女之间使用的文字，故也被称之为“江永女书”。 女书在世界各种文字中具有独特性,堪称举世无双的女性文字符号体系。

女书的记载

关于女书，目前最早的文献记载是民国二十年(1931年)7月由和济印刷公司印刷、曾继梧编的《湖南各县调查笔记》(上册),其中永明部分的“花山”条载道:“(永明县)花山,在层岭之麓,石玲珑若花然,相传唐时谭姓姊妹,学佛修真,人山采药,相与坐化于此,土人于山巅立(庙)祀之……每岁五月,各乡妇女焚香膜拜,持歌扇同声歌唱,以追悼之。其歌扇所书蝇头细字,似蒙古文。全县男子能识此种字者，余未之见。”根据之后的考证，“其歌扇所书”就是我们现在说的“女书”,“蝇头细字”就是“女字”。

女书的形态

女字形体奇特,类似变形的汉字,但与汉字又有鲜明的不同。其外观形态呈向左微倾的斜菱形，左部低右部高,形似“多”字;其笔画均匀,线条纤细,共有点、竖、斜、弧四种笔画，有独体字,也有合体字。她自由而美丽，像轻拂过柳叶的风，又如起舞的刀尖。柔美而锋利，飘逸而坚韧。

女书的语音

女书记录的语言是女书流行地的与众不同的方言；它标记语言的手段和方法奇特，可以同音借代，用仅有的四百多个字符可以写出千余字的七字韵文来。 据专家考证，从女书作品、艺术手工品等原件中整理出来的女书单字只有五百个左右，据说最多总共有两千左右女书字符。女字类似音节文字，一个字符对应一个音节,对应当地方言中的一个或若干个同音不同义的汉字。但是女字和音节之间并非一一对应的关系同一个音节也可能存在多个字符与之对应。

女书的意义

女书的地位

女书具有鲜明的地域性、唯一性、濒危性,以及对于多个人文学科领域的重要研究价值,女书成为人类文化遗产中一颗璀璨的明珠。2002年4月,女书被国家档案局列人“中国档案文献遗产名录”;2005年10月,女书作为世界上最具性别意识的文字人选吉尼斯世界纪录;2006年5月20日,国务院公布第一批国家级非物质文化遗产名录518项，“女书习俗”赫然在列;2007年,女书成为美国福特基金会“记忆工程”项目之一;2008年,女书作为申报世界“人类口述和非物质遗产代表作”的湖南省唯一代表作品上报国家文化部门,有望冲刺世界级非物质文化遗产。

女书的价值

女书反映了有才华、有智慧的女性在父权制度下对表达思想、充实精神世界的追求与实践探索。 从内容上看，女书作品具有鲜明的时代、区域与性别特征，可以分为自创、记录与翻译三种，例如三朝书、传记等由当地女性自行遣词造句而成的为自创作品，儿歌、山歌、哭嫁歌、谜语等记录作品，以及《卖花女》等著作翻译而成的女书文本。这些都呈现了当地女性真实的生活与丰富的精神世界，体现女性追求个性自由与健全人格的独立意识。 就功能而言，女书既是当地女性寻求友情、满足自身社会交往需要的传播媒介，又是增进女性之间情感与交流的润滑剂。在共同的生活场域中，江永县妇女们借助女书进行交往、沟通，在互相分享知识与智慧中潜移默化地实现自我教育，进而完成个体的社会化过程，体现了女书深远的育人意义。 　　总之，女书作为一种表达工具，将生活在不同场域、不同空间的女性紧密联结，是维系结拜姐妹之间的文化桥梁与互通信息的媒介。与此同时，女书刻画了女性自我意识的觉醒，体现了女性勇于突破文化禁锢、追求自由与平等的精神。

女书的传承

女书的传承方式

女书文化以女人为载体，以唱女歌、读女书、写女字、做女红为传承方式，女字、女书,以及女书文化,在一代代女性群体之间动态传承。女书采取家传、亲朋相教的方式世代相传；它和妇女特有的婚嫁、岁时节日、庙会等民俗活动紧紧融合在一起，充分表现了自己的功能和价值。 每一份女书作品既秉承了凝聚在文字和章法间的群体智慧，又包含了思想、情感和语言上的个体创新。在特定的地理空间，在特定的女性群体,依赖特定的生态环境、民俗传统,女书代代传承,生生不息。遗世独立,却又与生于兹长于兹的一方水土戚戚相关。女书的使用者皆为女性,在男权社会,她们地位平等,命运相仿,在情感上同病相怜,互为姊妹。女书在她们这里,是交流感情、倾吐心声的“共同话语”,是对每一个成员平等的工具和资源,不存在比较“权威”或比较“优越”的字体版本。

女书的传承价值

女书作为女性之间秘密的交流通讯方式已经成为过去，但女书的生命力并不会终止。女书文化自身的辐射已经远远超出结拜姊妹的小群体范围。在信仰方面,香火旺盛,每年都有远近村庄甚至城镇里的妇女携了女书文稿去向女神祈愿;在习俗方面,用女书楹联、女字图案装点家居、化已是女书传地的普遍风尚;在产业开发方面,女书商标连遭抢注,女书工艺不断创新,女书艺术、女书旅游炙手可热;在学术研究方面，文字学、语言学、民间文学、历史学、考古学、民俗学、人类学、社会学、女性学、民族文化史等等学科领域对女书的探索和研究此起彼伏。

女书的传承现状

但女书的传承并不容乐观，随着最后一位自然传承人阳焕宜先辈谢世，江永女书一度陷入传承断层危机。并且如今有质疑之声否认女书是女性的独属文字，否认其群体独特性和性别特质，甚至否定其由女性创造传承，称其发明者为男性，认为江永女书官方名当改为“长脚文”，这不仅是一种文化剥夺，也是一种对历史的异化。江永女书无论是在传承人还是当下的传承情况方面都不容乐观，女书文化中蕴含的宝贵育人价值也需要等待一个焕发生机的契机。

结论

女书是世界上唯一由女性创作和使用的文字，是女性面对社会固存的规训和压抑女性的传统观念的反抗，是努力寻求自我突破与独立成长。作为非物质文化与产，女书具有重要的社会历史价值和文化艺术价值，其保护与传承值得人们为之努力。

Question问题

1. What is the shape of Nvshu? 女书的形态是什么样的？ 2. Which year was Jiangyong Nvshu listed as an intangible cultural heritage? 女书在哪一年被列入非物质文化遗产名录？ 3. What is the functional value of Nvshu? 女书有什么功能价值？

Answer回答

1. Its appearance is in the shape of an oblique rhombus slightly inclined to the left, with the left part low and the right part high, resembling the character "多". 其外观形态呈向左微倾的斜菱形，左部低右部高,形似“多”字 2. 2006. 3. In terms of function, Nushu is not only a communication medium for local women to seek friendship and meet their own social interaction needs, but also a lubricant to enhance emotions and exchanges between women. 就功能而言，女书既是当地女性寻求友情、满足自身社会交往需要的传播媒介，又是增进女性之间情感与交流的润滑剂。

References参考

[1]He Xianghua何华湘. 非物质文化遗产的传播研究[D].华东师范大学,2010.[ Research on the dissemination of intangible cultural heritage] [2]Zhang Yueming章悦茗.江永女书及其文化传承[J].新疆艺术(汉文),2023(01):114-120.[ Jiangyong Nvshu and its cultural inheritance] [3]He Yan何研.江永女书传承人制度探析[J].文化遗产,2021(03):48-55.[Investigation and analysis of Jiangyong Nushu Inheritor system] [4]Shan Xiaoting. Introduction to Jiangyong Nvshu[J]. Translating China,2017,3.0(4.0).