On the other hand, Zhong Shao and Yu Cheng, along with other members of the project, travelled to J County under the jurisdiction of H City. Their destination was four villages planned as the "Nvshu Primitive Ecological Protection Area."
Nvshu (女书) is the only existing female-specific script in the world, mainly passed down among women in the Xiaoshui River basin[1]. It is neither an official nor a religious script but a genuine folk script. The users and creators of Nvshu are ordinary peasant women who did not receive formal education.
Over the past millennium, women have used Nvshu to express their thoughts, emotions, moral values, and worldviews, paving a unique path for women.
Despite the cultural trajectory of "generation - prosperity - destruction - disappearance" throughout history, few women can still read and use these characters today.
Upon arrival in J County at nightfall, the group settled in the county area.
Following the recommendation of a local guide, Zhong Shao and Yu Cheng tasted some local specialities. As it was not yet late when they left the restaurant, the two took a stroll along the streets, observing the nightfall after the local lights went out. Many street signs were named after Nvshu, and numerous related cultural
and creative works stood tall in the commercial district, catching their attention. They left their mark in front of the landmark logo of "I Love Nvshu."
The following day, a group arrived at the Nvshu Museum located on Easter Island. They were welcomed by staff from the J County Cultural and Broadcasting Bureau, the museum director, and a guide.
Surrounded by water on all sides, Easter Island is not only the former residence of many Nvshu, but also the central location for the inheritance of Nvshu.
The Nvshu Academy, as the main body of the museum, serves not only as a data centre for documenting and storing female literary culture but also as a work and study centre for many Nvshu inheritors[2].
Among the accompanying guides was the youngest female literary inheritor named Ajie, who had just turned 17. Despite her young age, Ajie did not show any timidity. She took on the role of "gatekeeper" admirably, displaying a thorough knowledge of the history of each piece of female literature and injecting her own understanding into the recognition and comprehension of existing artefacts of Nvshu.
In the most turbulent decade of the last century, a large number of Nvshu's works were destroyed. Starting in the 1980s, Nvshu culture attracted scholarly attention and discussion for the first time. However, the characteristics of "passing on to females and not males" and "cremation after death" in the inheritance of Nvshu have made Nvshu's artefacts extremely rare [3]. Therefore, the origin and creator of female literature remain unknown. The earliest discovered and known physical evidence of "female literature" is a Taiping Heavenly Kingdom copper coin inscribed with "All women in the world are sisters."
In 2004, as the last female natural successor of Nvshu passed away, Nvshu culture entered the "Post-Nvshu Era.[5]" Among the current eight successors, seven have been officially recognised as inheritors according to the criteria set by the "Regulations on the Selection and Management of Nvshu Successors," while one remains a non-material cultural inheritor of Nüshu.
Regardless of the form in which Nvshu successors exist, they are well aware that their duty is not only to faithfully imitate and preserve the original form of Nvshu but also to utilise the social platformization to further explore clues and traces of physical Nvshu artefacts nationwide. This includes establishing professional and up-to-date measures for the protection of Nvshu and its cultural industry, ensuring the continued transmission of Nvshu as a gender-based written system.
On the wooden desks lie study materials for Nvshu, while the blackboard still displays the Nvshu characters from yesterday's lesson.
Nvshu characters, derived from Chinese characters, take the form of slanted, oblique diamond-shaped characters written from top to bottom and right to left, without any punctuation marks.
Zhong Shao and Yu Cheng pulled out a long bench and sat down, the desks and chairs appeared somewhat cramped for the two men who stood over 1.8 meters tall, yet they paid no mind to the discomfort.
Yu Cheng browsed through the incomprehensible teaching materials and then focused on the Nvshu characters on the blackboard, asking, "Ajie, what does the line of characters on the blackboard mean?"
"It says 'All women in the world are sisters,' " Ajie replied, "It's the text found engraved on the copper coins of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom that were inscribed with Nvshu."
Scholars from various fields have never considered women's involvement in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement, one of the largest wars in Chinese history and one of the deadliest civil wars in world history, whether in praise or criticism. However, it was the countless unseen women who rose in the name of women, promoting female consciousness and ideas during this anti-imperialist and anti-feudal movement.
Zhong Shao moved his lips, as if silently murmuring, his dark pupils seemingly reflecting the clear shouts of the woman coming over the mountains. Subsequently, he gently asked Ajie, "Ajie, why do you want to become Nvshu's inheritor?"
Ajie was stunned for a moment, then smiled brightly and asked back, "Zhong Shao, why do you want to be an actor?"
Ajie was not unfamiliar with Zhong Shao's identity as an actor. Although she did not grow up watching Zhong Shao's works, she had seen some of them. The ambivalent roles he portrayed deepened the complexity of the characters, revealing the intricacies of human nature. Because of this, she wanted to know why Zhong Shao, an actor who started his career around the same time as her age, chose to appear in front of the public as an actor.
"This question, Yu Cheng has asked before." Zhong Shao smiled and glanced at Yu Cheng, "At that time, I said that being an actor is just a job for now. It's not that I don't love acting anymore, it's just becoming harder to find a passion for drama. No, that's not accurate enough. The last film I worked on with Yu Cheng was so exhilarating." Zhong Shao stood up, then squatted down to meet Ajie's eyes, "In fact, there is another reason why Zhong Shao has been an actor all this time."
"What is it?"
"I have achieved some success in performing, and these achievements have given me some influence. Thanks to this influence, I can make certain things seen in other aspects, and allow some impacts to be influential."
Ajie had never known about Zhong Shao and WAT or others, but this did not stop her from deconstructing her own understanding of Zhong Shao's words.
"Such as letting more people understand and protect Nvshu?"
"Yes."
This answer was deep yet resolute.
"Thank you."
Sparkling stars shone in Ajie's eyes, and she displayed a pure smile that a seventeen-year-old girl should have, giving her the courage to speak.
"I grew up in a very immersive environment of Nvshu. My mother is the named inheritor, my grandmother and great-grandmother are natural inheritors. The lullabies in my childhood were sung in Nvshu style; before I could even read, my mother wove those Nvshu characters into my childhood toys; when I was old enough for school, Nvshu became my secret because none of my classmates recognised them; as I grew older, I felt it was no longer just about keeping secrets I didn't want others to know, I felt like a bridge, responsible and obligated to tell more girls that in the old society, we still pursue freedom, unity, optimism, self-esteem, and empowerment through the wisdom of female civilization. Later, this idea became deeper and firmer. I want to continue to protect this unique cultural heritage with my mother and let more people know that representing women is not just a simple word, but an unstoppable force."
"Ajie, thank you for safeguarding Nvshu culture." Yu Cheng squatted down beside Zhong Shao, one hand resting on Zhong Shao's shoulder, "The world will see the power of women."
The next morning, Zhong Shao and his team officially entered the village for filming, with Ajie as the special invited translator.
The first typical Nvshu village they entered was on 'Eastern Island', the village was directly named "Sister Village", and the villagers were all surnamed 'Hu', yet subjected to multiple ethnic groups. Ajie explained that the Nvshu transmission area is a Yao-Han mixed area. Since the Qin and Han dynasties, the southern barbarians and their descendants have lived and multiplied here, with successive dynasties stationed troops and set up administrations, while the Central Plains Han people have continuously migrated in. The Yao and Han ethnic groups have influenced each other, gradually integrating to form a dual culture, which also contributed to the development of female book customs and culture[6].
The Sister Village has not only produced many natural inheritors of Nvshu, but also many named inheritors from the village. These inheritors are not only proficient in reading, singing, writing, and embroidering Nvshu, but also after moving the female book academy into the female book garden, they use weekends and agricultural off-seasons to teach local women Nvshu and traditional handicrafts. The two named Inheritors in Sister Village are the main interviewees of today's filming.
A group of individuals arrived at the former residence of Fei Xian, where one of the female calligraphy heirs, Hu Gu, had been waiting for some time. The residence, belonging to the natural successor of female calligraphy, Fei Xian, is a typical "swallow house" with its exterior walls decorated in the style of the Ming and Qing dynasties, intertwining with memories of the past. Sitting on a wooden stool, the timeless female songs sung here transcend time and space.
Currently, the residence is inhabited by Hu Shan, the son of Fei Xian, while the artefacts left by Fei Xian regarding female calligraphy are being collected by her granddaughter, Hu Gu.
"My parents belonged to an era of arranged marriages and little communication. My mother only knew how to speak Nvshu and the local dialect, having almost no common interests with my father and a distant relationship with me," Hu Shan responded in the dialect to the director's team. "I never understood the words she wrote or spoke throughout my life. It wasn't until after she passed away that my niece translated the things she left behind for me to understand a bit about my mother's life."
Hu Gu arranged the artefacts left by Fei Xian on the table one by one - including scarves with Nvshu on yellow handkerchiefs, Chinese characters with corresponding Nvshu, scarves embroidered in collaboration with others, photocopies of embroidered patterns of NVshu, as well as grass shoes and straw hats.
Zhong Shao sat behind the camera, his voice echoing through the tunnel of time as he inquired, "Could you please share with us some stories from these objects?"
Hu Gu sat on a wooden stool by the table, a beam of light shining through the window enveloping her in a halo of light.
She ran her hand over a row of objects near the table, stating, "Apart from being written on folding fans and pieces of paper, Nvshu's writings were often embroidered on clothing, handkerchiefs, or woven into decorative sashes as symbols, serving as their autobiography." Hu Gu pointed to a sleeve, a sun hat, a skirt hem, a handkerchief, and a bellyband, explaining, "These depict the daily life of a seamstress - the women usually sat together in the courtyard in the afternoon, embroidering and chatting about their marriages and families; the sun hat bears a riddle song that her old companion used to sing; the skirt hem showcases blessings from her friends before grandma's marriage."
Suddenly, Hu Shan's voice interjected, "What about the handkerchief and the bellyband?"
While the relics of the Immortal Fei Xian were preserved by Hu Gu, the women's writings left behind were also accounted for by Hu Shan.
"There are still the handkerchief and the bellyband." Hu Gu retrieved a red silk brocade box from her bag, its appearance aged but well cared for. She had not intended to reveal the contents of the box to the public, but decided to bring it along before leaving the house today.
In the dappled light, the handkerchief and bellyband inside the brocade box met the sunlight once again. "These are the handkerchief and bellyband left by my grandmother..." Hu Gu paused for a moment before continuing, "...they are embroidered with secrets shared between my grandmother and her Laotong."
Zhong Shao and Yu Cheng both seized upon the hidden stories beneath Hu Gu's moment of silence.
In the context of Nvshu culture, two or more girls born in the same year with similar temperaments become sworn sisters, weaving and working together, keeping warm, expressing their friendship through female literature, and calling each other Laotong, or "old companions". When females are minors, the act of becoming Laotong is mostly decided by their parents, who choose an auspicious day to hold the ceremony of becoming sworn sisters. Upon reaching adulthood, individuals can, based on their own preferences, no longer be restricted by age similarity and can choose any desired female to become old companions[7].
Hu GU chanted the Nvshu written on the handkerchief, these seven-character poems that seemed like narratives and songs, condensed into a comforting utopia and heavy longing, following the sunlight all the way forward.
The praise did not stop at the end of the poem, as Zhong Shao and his group, guided by Hu Gu, walked on corn cobblestones to the Sisters' Hall.
The Sisters' Hall is a typical four-sided house, with historical anecdotes and emotions about Nvshu carved on the beams of the front hall and back house.
In the front yard under the boundless clear sky, a circle of women sat, dressed in blue shirts and black pants, with a fan on their knees, chanting Nvshu and occasionally exchanging glances with each other.
Ajie and Hu Gu explained that the Sisters' Hall is where the Sisters' Village carries out the customs of singing halls, congratulating the newlyweds, and becoming sworn sisters related to Nvshu, benefiting from the protection and restoration of the cultural ecology of Nvshu by the J County Cultural and Tourism Bureau. It has formed a "three-five" inheritance protection work model, ensuring the continuation of Nvshu culture, passing it down from generation to generation[8].
The activities of Zuo Tang Ge (坐歌堂) and 'He San Chao (贺三朝)' are both related to the friendship between the newlyweds and their old companions. The former refers to the three days before the bride's marriage, where friends and relatives sing and chant with handkerchiefs containing female literature, reciting blessings for the newlywed bride and guidance for her married life[9].
"The red paper ties the egg to report the day, the man's family is happy, the woman's family is worried, sister doesn't cry, sister doesn't worry, go to his house to build a tall building, the front is smooth and shiny, the back is the walking horse building." Hu Gu translated and sang the content, "This is the 'Wedding Lament,' which expresses the reluctance of a young girl about to be married as a wife."
"Do these rituals still take place during weddings now?" Yu Cheng asked.
"In our few typical villages, these rituals still exist, but they are rare. It is not like traditional attire culture that can be popularized nationwide, the popularity of Nvshu and Eastern Zhejiang traditional marriage customs are limited to regional culture." Following the chanting changes, Hu Gu replied, "My wedding was a Nvshu ceremony, on the third day after getting married was the 'Three Morning Ritual,' where the elders will bring a specially bound book, with newlywed blessings written in Nvshu and the bond between themselves and the bride, called 'Three Morning Book,' along with pastries and fruits to the bride's family for the 'He San Chao (贺三朝)' ceremony, then bringing the bride back to her parents' home, staying together for a few days [10]."
"So, the ceremony of becoming sworn sisters is also still preserved?"
"Yes! I just had my Laotong half a year ago!" answered Ajie, "Nowadays, even minors can decide to become sworn sisters. It's not much different from close friends, just that we have an additional ceremony, using Nvshu as a symbol to convey small secrets we don't want others to know."
Zhong Shao remembered hearing the singing of Nvshu in the women's hall, the light and cheerful feeling contrasting with the current sense of lingering reluctance, like the two sides of Nvshu, one facing the sun, the other lamenting. Regardless of the emotion expressed, they all embody a fervent desire for freedom and equality.
In the old society of male superiority and female subservience, where women were bound by customs, they never succumbed to the hardships of life and societal pressures. They used Nvshu as a shared language of culture, emotions, and wisdom, making "her" a form of expression and empowerment.