Jiangyong Nvshu (women's script) Image Art Gallery is opened. (Photo provided by the organizer)

 

A group photo. (Photo provided by the organizer)

 

On December 22 and 23, experts and scholars from Wuhan University, Sun Yat-sen University, South Central University for Nationalities, Hunan Normal University, Hubei Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Association, and other institutions gathered in Jiangyong County, the birthplace of Nvshu, to discuss its inheritance and innovation.

 

Nvshu (simplified Chinese:女书; traditional Chinese:女書; pinyin: Nǚshū [nỳʂú]; literally: “women’s script”), is a syllabic script derived from Chinese characters that was used exclusively among women in Jiangyong County in Hunan province of southern China. Nvshu has been included in the Unicode Standard since June 2017. It has been listed in the “China Archives Literature Heritage List”, “Guinness World Records”, and “China's first batch of intangible cultural heritage list”. It has important value in the study of women's culture and the origin of civilization.

 

He Yuejuan, the event initiator and a Nvshu calligrapher, said that in the future, a planned “International Female Art Exhibition" will invite more famous female artists to participate in, and attract more attention to Nvshu. She also intended to cooperate with local government to organize a biennial “International Female Culture Forum”. The world leading female elites will be invited to discuss female culture development. “The Nvshu culture is a typical representative of female culture. It is Jiangyong’s unique identity card,” she added.

 

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government. www.enghunan.gov.cn.

 

Translator: Yu Jiangjiang

 

Chinese source: hn.chinanews.com