The Confrontation between Fidelity and Fertility:Nüshu, Nüge, and Peasant Women's Conceptions of Widowhood in Jiangyong County, Hunan Province, China

Abstract

These words were expressed by Gangzhen and Cizhu, two peasant women born in the early twentieth century who lived in two villages in Jiangyong County of Hunan Province in southern China. When confronted with the loss of their husbands, these women relied on local tools familiar to women in this area—nügeandnüshu—to articulate their thoughts and emotions.Nüge(literally, “female song”), which includes bridal laments and folk narratives, was widely practiced among peasant women in southern China, especially prior to the Liberation of 1949.Nüshu(“female writing”), in contrast, was used extensively by peasant women in Jiangyong. Moreover, it is one of the very few writing systems in the world that is mostly illegible to men. This male-illegible script,3which is semiphonetic compared to the ideographs of Chinesehanzi,4was used for centuries amonghanzi-illitetate women, but it remained basically undocumented and unknown to the outside world until the 1980s, just as it was becoming extinct. Prior to Liberation, Jiangyong women had usednüshuto write sisterhood letters, biographic laments, wedding literature, folk stories, and other narratives in verse form. Combined withnüge, they documented peasant women's experiences and gave voices to their existence.