A New Perspective on the Cultural Interpretation of Jiangyong Nüshu in China

Abstract

Nüshu, as a folk practice with gendered characteristics, is often included in discussions of Chinese female culture. This article contends that so-called ‘gentlewomen’ (君子女) were an important group that spread traditional Chinese Confucian culture among rural women in Jiangyong County, Hunan Province. Women’s scripts and women’s oral composition of texts opened up a channel between China’s mainstream society and rural society, and between male-dominated society and female society, which undertook the function of providing rural education in Confucian culture and promoting the conscious acceptance of Confucianism by rural women.