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Nu Shu was a secret writing system created by women in Hunan, China, due to their inability to learn to read and write. It was used in communication, art, and literature for women only. The Chinese government suppressed its use during the Cultural Revolution but now seeks to preserve it as a cultural treasure.
Nu Shu is a Chinese primer created by women in the Chinese province of Hunan. Women were discouraged from learning to read and write and developed their own method of communication in response. The primer was kept secret from men and used in a variety of communications and works of art. During the Cultural Revolution, Chinese women were encouraged to learn alongside men and the use of Nu Shu began to disappear. In 2004, the last proficient user of the language died at the age of 98.
While Nu Shu and conventional Chinese writing are obviously related, the two systems are very different. Nu Shu is strictly a syllabary, with each character representing a specific sound. It is also written in a cursive style and very fine lines are appreciated, as opposed to the thicker strokes of traditional Chinese. Seen side by side, Nu Shu looks like a long, delicate version of Chinese script.
Women wrote letters to each other in Nu Shu and also used their syllabary in embroidery and artwork. Novels and poems for distribution among women only were composed in Nu Shu, and women also used their secret writing technique to pass knowledge on to each other. Chapbooks with information relevant only to women were often given to women upon marriage or childbirth, and this information was passed down through multiple generations.
Nu Shu first gained attention in the West when it was featured in several novels about Chinese women in the early 2000s. Western novelists were very intrigued by the idea of a secret and ancient writing method that could be used to communicate information in a way Safe. Indeed, documents written in Nu Shu were sometimes used to accuse women of being spies, as male investigators could not read the text and assumed it was a secret code designed for a sinister purpose.
While the Chinese government initially suppressed the use of Nu Shu during the Cultural Revolution, in the 1990s, the government began to realize that this secret primer was a cultural treasure. Rather than allow the use of Nu Shu to become extinct, the government has sought to preserve it with written records and has encouraged scholars to study Nu Shu so that the syllabary can be passed on to future generations. Attempts to preserve Nu Shu will also ensure that documents written in this secret language can be read in the future, which could be useful for historians.
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