by Carolina Uribe

Created on: October 03, 2008   Last Updated: December 24, 2009

Nushu, originally meant 'women language', it's believed to be the last remains of a four thousand years old language spoken in China: Henzi. The Oracle Bone script, found in 1899, is the most ancient form of this type of language. The inscriptions show a well-developed writing system belonging to the Shang Dynasty period (1200-1050 BC).

China has traditionally been a male-dominated society, where men were allowed to take decisions of every aspect of life and woman were relegated to household duties. In this context, women taught themselves how to write simply by watching over their husbands, brothers and sons, while they were practicing calligraphy. They memorized some characters and noted them down giving them their own meaning and deforming them in the process, thus creating a totally new language.

Conceived originally as a written language; Nushu soon evolved into a more complex oral idiom. This happened mostly because, while men were labouring the farms, the females used to be kept together and, while performing household duties - among which sewing textiles, making shoes, embroidery, etc., were but just a few-; they also sang songs of joy, sorrow and farewells, composed poems, talked about politics and to taught each other the language that was secretly being passed on among women.

At first, Nushu had about 550 characters, but it grew as it spread to other provinces and was influenced by other dialects, totalling an amount of one thousand and five hundred characters. It's written in columns and it reads from top to bottom and from right to left. Forms of written Nushu have been found in skilfully and colourfully decorated paper fans, in handkerchiefs and in booklets with beautiful flower patterns. These texts covered every subject except finance; from which it is understood that was a status that didn't allow her to handle.

When girls came of age, they were forced to marry men they've never met before. However, in order to help young brides in moments of despair, the Third Day Missives, small booklets made out of cloth, were given to the wives in the third day of their marriage by their mothers and their Jiebai Zimei or sworn sisters. Sworn sisters were very close friends with strong bonds in their special friendships that normally would last throughout the lifetime; exchanging correspondence often, secretly, by the means of the little books, fans, handkerchiefs, when they had a chance to gather together in public events like village festivals. The Jiebai

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