21 7.
Parents are covetous. They think small feet are pleasing and will command a high price for a bride.
The practice of footbinding had already been banned by Manchus in the beginning of Qing Dynasty 1644-1911. They had threatened practitioners with
severe penalties. Fairbank stated “The Manchu emperors many times inveighed against it in hortatory edicts, but to no avail.” p. 69. The scholars, both Chinese
and Western also disagreed with the practice of footbinding. Though the women had to obey the Confucian women’s rule, they did not have to bind their feet so
that they would be kept safely in the household. Then, anti-footbinding movements showed up at the beginning of the twentieth century. Jackson noted
that after the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, the Republic of China’s government under the leader Sun Yat Sen increased the pressured to prohibit the
practice of footbinding. That was the end of the footbinding era in China.
5. Sociological Review of Chinese Women’s Secret Writing
Nu Shu
Like footbinding, women’s secret writing or commonly called nu shu was Chinese women’s business. The book Origins of Chinese Language 2009, p. 52
defines nu shu as the women’s secret writing from Jiangyong county in the Hunan province of southern China created by the Yao people. Nu shu was developed a
thousand years ago. It appears to be the only written language in the world to have been created by women exclusively for their own use. Nu shu was passed down
the generations from a woman to another woman. It was carefully guarded from men.
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22 The creating of this women’s secret writing was still mysterious.
Nevertheless, it appeared in the feudal era before the twentieth century. Nu shu was created because at that time, the separation of men and women deepered
gender difference in the society. Men had more chances to learn so there was no need for them to create a new form of writing. They used the existing writing.
Local women in Jiangyong county created their own writing. They wrote it on paper, handkerchiefs, and a fan. They even embroidered the characters in cloth. Its
purpose was as a communication tool between women to share their knowledge and their lives with other women.
Nu shu reflect women’s joy and sorrow. In “Recording Women’s Feeling”, it is stated that nu shu is used to record Chinese women’s beauty and ugliness in
their lives. Women were not allowed to both receive education and take part in society. They did not have power or status as men in the home. Many Chinese
women were abused and exploited under strict control by their husbands and mothers-in-law after marriage. That is why, nu shu helped them to stay in touch
with their female friends and discuss their feelings. Through the letters, they complained about oppression and yearn of sexual liberation.
In “Nu Shu” which features writing systems and languages of the world,
there is some information about nu shu: 1.
The Nu shu script consists of between 1000 and 1500 characters. 2.
Nu shu is written in vertical columns running from top to bottom and from right to left.
3. Many nu shu characters are based on Chinese characters, while some
are modelled on embroidery stitches and designs. 4.
Nu shu characters represent pronunciation, unlike Chinese characters, which represent pronunciation and meaning.
5. Nu shu was taught to women by their mothers or grandmothers.
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23 In
addition, Nu shu faces extinction now. The last original writer, Yang
Guanyi, was died. She died in September, 2004. Today, most of the young women in Jiangyong County do not want to learn nu shu because they regard it as useless.
C. Theoretical Framework
