Unique Spiritual Kingdom of Women
    Men becoming sworn brothers is a common phenomena in China. In ancient China, men dominated the political, economic, cultural and educational systems; women, meanwhile, were shoved to the bottom rung of society. But women fought, whether consciously or unconsciously, against that unfair system, and they challenged the male-controlled society in various ways ¨C sometimes by being meek, and sometimes by being determined and resolute.
    The women in Jiangyong County, like the men, customarily become sworn sisters.
    When two girls get to know each other, especially if they get along well and like each other, they might become sworn sisters. Generally, one will write a letter to the other proposing the idea. Her friend, if she agrees with the idea, will invite the girl to visit her home for a few days. The latter sometimes must think about the idea, and therefore needs time to respond to the proposal. In that case, she might receive a second letter, through which her friend pledges her sincerity. Once the two girls become sworn sisters, they will write to each other irregularly, and most of those letters will express their feelings of missing the other, and their desires to meet and stay in each other¡¯s dreams. Sometimes, the girls will send their letters by themselves. Sometimes, they will ask others to help them deliver their letters. Their helpers, however, must be females. If a girl asks a maleto help deliver a letter, she will be blamed and laughed at by the local women. If a sworn sister gets married, the other girl must write a letter of congratulations and it must be delivered on the third day after the wedding. Such a letter is called  “San Zhao Letter.” If bad fortune befalls one girl, the other must write a letter to console her. Sworn sisters like to get together to do Nuhong (the work of weaving, sewing, embroidery or spinning). They may also do some reading when they get together. Sometimes all the girls will sing together. Sometimes one girl will sing while the others listen.

            iii. RESCUING NUSHU

    For thousands of years Chinese        women were denied access to learning, so it is quite extraordinary that the women of Jiangyong County, Hunan Province created, through their own ingenuity, courage and intelligence, created an inclusive writing system for women. "It's the Bible of the world's women," remarked a French feminist.
    Reaching far and wide
    It can be supposed that Nushu -- Women's Language -- brought enormous pride and great happiness to the local women. According to the collections available today, Nushu was popular and prospered mainly in the east of Jiangyong County and south of Daoxian County in Hunan Province, although there is some evidence it spread farther afield. Recently, Nushu materials have been found in Zhongshan County, Guangxi Province, and copper coins, created during the Peasant Uprising of the ‘ing Dynasty (1644-1911), were found in the city of Nanjing in Jiangsu Province. Furthermore, it was reported that some handkerchiefs with Nushu writing on turned up in Enshi City, Hubei Province in the 1950s.
    Huashan Temple in Jiangyong County was once the centre where local women met to offer  sacrifices to a goddess in their own language.  Historic records say that from the Age of Jiaqing -- the title of the ’ing Dynasty Emperor of Renzong, who ruled  between 1796-1821 -- the women visited the temple on May 10th, in the lunar year, where they sang loudly and happily with handkerchiefs and fans in their hands. The sound of their celebrations could be heard far away in the mountains, stories record.
    Rise and Decline of Nushu
    Since 1982, the writer has collected tens thousands of Nushu characters, of which most were created in the late Qing Dynasty or during the early days of the Republic of China (1912-1949). Consequently, this period of time is regarded as the most prodigious for the language.
    Gao Yinxian began to learn the language in 1912 and she remembers that in every village of Jiangxu Town in Jiangyong County, a lot of women were expert at it.  She recalls how on the eve of the May celebration, they were usually paid to write in the language on handkerchiefs and fans in Huashan Temple, some of which were then sold at fairs.
    By the time I visited in the 1980s, only one or two women under the age of 60 could still read and write Nushu characters in Jiangyong and Dao counties. And it was evident that few women learned the language during the 1930s. But why did it become so popular in 1912, then fall into decline 20 years later?
    This may be attributed to the following factors: first, the anti-feudalism movement encouraged women to leave their sink-chained work and enter the society, putting an end to the enclosed state; second, more women began to speak official language and fewer could speak Nushu, the only local dialect; third, women began to receive education, not bound to think narrowly.In 1913, the first Women's School was established in Jiangyong County. Ever since, Nushu has been in conflict with standard Chinese. Yang Meixing, an old lady from the Yangs' Village in Jiangyong County, was born in 1913. She went to a women's primary school at the age of 10 and studied there for two years. She said that at that time girls studied Chinese characters in class and Nushu characters after. Girls from Jiangxu and Taochuan brought the Nushu scripts to school and all the girls learned to sing them. At the time, in the countryside, many girls learned both Chinese and Nushu characters. Ms Yi Nianhua was one of them. However, in the 1930s, primary schools were set up in each village and girls could no longer study in the Women's School, but allowed to study in any of them only if their parents and themselves liked, so the enthusiasm and opportunity to learn Nushu gave way to Chinese. Although older women still sang and wrote Nushu, subsequent generations were not learning it.
    The very existence of Nushu was predetermined by restrictions on normal communication between men and women under feudal canons. Women in Jiangyong County were for the most part confined indoors, where they passed many hours sewing and were known as the "Girls Upstairs." Custom dictated they returned to their parental homes three days after their wedding, where they lived separate from their husbands. After  giving birth to their first child, they returned to their husband's home where they spent much of their time sewing rather than labouring in the fields with the menfolk. This meant, therefore, women and men lived in two different worlds. Women only had contact with other women and the circle called Kingdom of Ladies was formed. Nushu was the spoken language of this feminine kingdom and functioned as not only a tool of communication, but recreation. But as more and more women left this kingdom, Nushu inevitably fell into disuse.