Chen Yulu is a self-proclaimed ambassador of a script once known only to a small number of women in southern China. Nüshu started centuries ago as a writing practiced in secrecy by women who were barred from formal education in Chinese.
A worker arranges books at a bookstore specializing in nüshu, a centuries-old secret script, in Chengdu in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, March 17, 2024. Lu Sirui, a 24-year-old working as a marketer, talks about nüshu, a centuries-old secret script, that she has learned from online feminist groups, in Beijing , March 18, 2024.
Today, nüshu can be found in independent bookstores across the country, subway ads, craft fair booths, tattoos, art and even everyday items like hair clips., but there’s little consensus on when it originated. Scholars estimate the script is at least several centuries old, from when reading and writing were deemed male-only activities. So the women developed their own script to communicate with each other.
Xu is also the founder of Third Day Letter, a nüshu studio in Beijing named after a centuries-old practice by the script’s practitioners. The third-day letter is a hand-sewn book presented in farewell to a woman in Jiangyong on the third day after her marriage, when she’s allowed to visit the childhood home she left.
Chen wanted to make a documentary about feminism and came across nüshu in her online search. When she realized the script originated from Jiangyong, just a few hours from her hometown, she immediately knew that she had found her graduation project’s topic. He comes from Jiangyong and says she was forced to marry a man she didn’t want to be with, who physically abused her and tore up photos from nüshu meetups and workshops she attended. She did not feel that the script had made her life materially better, according to Chen’s first-person account, published on social media.
“At first I just knew that it was a women’s inheritance, belonged only among women,” Lu said. “Then, as I got to know it better, I realized that it was a kind of
Gender General News International News Lifestyle Photography Beijing L World News Entertainment World News
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Meet the American who popularized Chinese food in the US: immigrant chef Joyce ChenJoyce Chen escaped from Beijing in 1949 ahead of the communist takeover of China. She carved out an unexpected career in the United States by popularizing Chinese food.
Read more »
Hong Kong is more Chinese, but don’t call it ‘another Chinese city’As expats leave, officials say they’re unconcerned — but their reaction to criticism says otherwise.
Read more »
China issues rare praise to Philippine president for his ban on Chinese online gambling operatorsChina has issued a rare compliment to the administration of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for his order banning widespread and Chinese-run online gaming operations.
Read more »
China issues rare praise to Philippine president for his ban on Chinese online gambling operatorsChina has issued a rare compliment to the administration of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for his order banning widespread and Chinese-run online gaming operations. Marcos has accused some of them of venturing into crimes, including financial scams, human trafficking, kidnappings, torture and murder.
Read more »
China issues rare praise to Philippine president for his ban on Chinese online gambling operatorsChina has issued a rare compliment to the administration of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for his order banning widespread and Chinese-run online gaming operations.
Read more »
Amid tensions with China, some US states are purging Chinese companies from their investmentsSome U.S. states are scrapping investments in Chinese companies amid tensions between countries with the world's largest economies
Read more »