Stil jete

Nüshu, the secret writing of women not to be understood by men

Nüshu, the secret writing of women not to be understood by men

Centuries ago Chinese women created their own way of not being understood by men. They invented the 200-character Nushu script.

Literally writing nüshu means "women's writing" and is not a real language. is a graphic channel through which spoken language is expressed. In other words, Chinese women created an alphabet, which translated into graphic syllables,

was used to spread traditional poetry among women who had been barred from education because they were considered unworthy of teaching: these were written on various handkerchiefs and fabrics.

Sometimes nüshu writing was used to congratulate mothers on their daughters on the occasion of marriage: girls were given a kind of secret diary with them to write in the nushu way, or to read in it the story of the oppression of Chinese women and women of the family.

Now nushu is taught at Tsinghua University in Beijing and exhibitions on this topic are held all over the world (one of them in Venice).

* Source Roba and Donne