Writing Secret Language

I recently finished reading a novel based on the factual lives of women in China during 1820 to 1850, the years of Emperor Daoguang. The book, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See, describes in detail the lives of women, their relationships to each other, their superstitions, religious practices and forced acceptance of worthlessness.

The novel centers around Yao women, descendants of the Yao ethnic tribe who settled in Yongming county region during the Tang dynasty after fleeing Mongol armies in the north. The two main characters, Snow Flower and Lily, record their friendship and lives in Nu shu from ages of five, young adult hood, marriages and death.

Nu shu is a written language, used by Chinese women for over a thousand years, and kept hidden from men. It had been invented by women who were forbidden to learn to read the writing and classics taught to men. Nu shu does not represent a specific word. Characters are phonetic, representing sound. Each character may represent more than one word if they sound the same. Context usually makes the meaning clear, but much care must be taken not to misinterpret the meaning.

During the last half of the 20th century, Nu shu nearly became extinct since the reason for using it no longer existed. Few Nu shu documents, whether letters, stories, weaving or embroideries have survived since most were burned at grave sites for metaphysical reasons. In the 1930s Japanese soldiers destroyed many that had been kept as heirlooms. During the cultural revolution in China, Red Guards burned more texts.

Lisa See, author, of the book, relates an incident in her research notes about the hidden writing. One day in the 1960s, an old lady fainted in a rural Chinese train station. Police, searching her belongings in an effort to identify her, came across papers with writing they thought might be a secret code. She was arrested on suspicion of being a spy. Scholars, who deciphered the writing, quickly realized it was the written language used by women and hidden from men for over a 1000 years. The scholars were sent to labor camps.

Currently the Peoples Republic is making an effort to keep the language alive by opening a Nu shu school in Puwei, a village of Tongkou. The last remaining woman who used and spoke the language died a few years ago, but several of her students and various international scholars who are members of societies that study and preserve ancient languages are also trying to preserve and collect samples of Nu shu.

In the rules governing Nu shu: it can be used to write letters, stories, autobiographies, songs, lessons on womanly duties, prayers to goddesses and popular stories. It is written with a brush on paper or a fan. It can be embroidered on handkerchiefs, or woven into cloth. It can and should be sung before an audience of women and girls. It can also be something read and treasured alone. Two most important rules are: Men must never know it exists, and men may not touch it in any form.

The movie, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, made by a Hong Kong film maker, starring the famous actress, Li BingBing, was released in the United States in 2011.

"Nüshu" written in Nüshu (right to left).