The Economist.
Sitting alone in my chamber, I take up my brush to address the revered aunts and deities in distant lands.
At least, that’s what I’m told she’s singing because I don’t actually understand her.
She’s singing a secret language, based on the local dialect,
and written and used by a tiny number of women from a remote corner of southern China.
Nestled among lush hills and winding rivers,
Jiangyong County sits at the meeting point of three provinces: Hunan, Guangxi, and Guangdong.
Its unique location has made it something of an island, tucked away yet culturally abundant.
Rich, layered, and quietly distinct.
Perhaps it was this very isolation that allowed Jiangyong to become the birthplace of Nüshu, the women’s script.
Celebrated as the world’s only writing system created and used exclusively by women.
Many scholars believe Nüshu dates back centuries to a time when women weren't taught how to read and write
and footbinding was common practice.
Its phonetic characters, slender, slanted, almost mosquito-like, were crafted with intention.
Easy to write, easy to embroider,
and discreet enough to trace in secret, pressed against the knee rather than a writing desk.
But while some women can write it fluently,
most Nüshu is sung, passed down orally from one generation to the next.
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China,
when women were finally allowed to attend school and learn Mandarin,