Ep. 154 | The Secret Nüshu Script
In this shorter than usual episode, Laszlo introduces a little piece of culture taken from the southern portion of Hunan Province. Generations of illiterate women from a single county on the Hunan-Guangxi border, denied education, created their own writing script.
Men never learned it and so it was used by these women to communicate with each other and to record their secret thoughts and inspirations. Almost lost to posterity, Nüshu has made somewhat of a revival and today others are learning it and keeping it alive.
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Terms in Episode
| Pinyin/Term | Chinese | English/Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Chengguan Tuhua | 城关土话 | The dialect in and around Shangjiangxu Town |
| Cun | 村 | Village |
| Guangxi | 广西 | Province in China |
| Guangxu Emperor | 光绪帝 | Qing Emperor during the painful last years of the dynasty |
| Guilin | 桂林 | City in Guangxi |
| Hunan | 湖南 | Province in China |
| Jiangyong County | 江永县 | Where much of this episode takes place |
| Jiangyong Xian | 江永县 | Jiangyong County |
| Jiebai Zimei | 结拜姊妹 | Sworn Sisters |
| Laotong | 老同 | “Old Same” A very close relationship arranged between two girls that lasted a lifetime |
| Nüshu | 女书 | The secret women's script |
| Nüshu wenhua | 女书文化 | Nüshu Culture |
| Putonghua | 普通话 | Mandarin (language) |
| Puyi | 溥仪 | The Last Emperor |
| Sanzhao | 三朝 | A custom followed on the third day after marriage or after birth |
| Sanzhaoshu | 三朝书 | The Third Day Book |
| Shang Dynasty | 商朝 | The Shang Dynasty |
| Shangjiangxu Town | 上江圩镇 | Ground Zero for Nüshu culture, located in Jiangyong County |
| Shen Nong | 神农 | You all remember him from the Tea Series, right? |
| Xianfeng Emperor | 咸丰帝 | Qing Emperor during the painful last years of the dynasty |
| Xiangnan Tuhua | 湘南土话 | The local dialect of southern Hunan |
| Yang Huanyi | 阳焕宜 | The last person who actually lived the Nüshu Culture |
| Yang Yueqing | 杨月清 | Canadian Film maker |
| Yao People | 瑶族 | The Yao minority people, also called the Dao in Vietnam |
| Zhou Shuoyi | 周硕沂 | Researcher who did much to revive Nüshu Culture |
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