China’s ‘Generation Z’ injects youthful vitality into Jiangyong Nyushu
2023-08-09
Nyushu originated in Jiangyong County, Yongzhou City, Hunan Province, and was passed down among the women in Shangjiangwei Town and its nearby areas. It is the only existing gender script found by mankind so far. It has been included in the Chinese Archival Documentary Heritage List and the first batch of the Intangible Cultural Heritage List in China, and in the “Guinness Book of World Records” as “the world’s most distinctive writing with gender characteristics”.
Confined to the inheritance mode of “from mother to daughter”, Jiangyong Nyushu once faced the predicament that few people know about it. Fortunately, the increasing application of social media and the growing cultural confidence of young groups have given Nyushu culture new possibilities to break the predicament.
“I first encountered Nyushu when I was traveling in Jiangyong, but I was deeply impressed by it on the video media platforms,” said Hu Wenxin, believing that in order to make intangible cultural heritage alive, it should be integrated into modern life. With a wide coverage and a fast dissemination speed among young people, social media is undoubtedly a good choice.
As the project leader of the school’s Nyushu innovation and entrepreneurship team, Hu Wenxin visited the birthplace of Nyushu and the famous Nyushu inheritor Hu Meiyue, and demonstrated Nyushu on video platforms such as Douyin, which attracted a large number of young people.
“Phoenix has the meaning of nirvana and rebirth, and elements such as pearls and the moon can reflect the tenderness and tenacity of women.” A member of the team Xiong Zi introduced her latest design of the series of ornaments to reporters. In her view, inheriting Nyushu should inherit not only knowledge, reading, singing and writing, but also the spirit of self-esteem, self-improvement and independence of women contained in the culture of Nyushu.
At present, the team has designed dozens of cultural and creative products in 12 series with Nyushu elements such as stationery, digital products and clothing, and has set up offline display stores in Changsha. “We will donate part of the sales proceeds to the primary schools in places where Jiangyong Nyushu originated for the development of education and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage, hoping to sow a seed for the new generation of Nyushu,” said Xiong Zi.
In order to further expand the influence of Nyushu in the young group, Xiong Zi also worked with another “designer” He Liangsen in the team to develop the Nyushu digital person “Yumo” and the Nyushu digital collection. The digital person can “speak” by entering instructions.
“Young people love new things, so that I hope to attract them to know about Nyushu in this way.” He Liangsen introduced that in the next stage, the team will try to further enrich the model construction of the digital person and improve the human-computer interaction ability of “Yumo”, thus to enhance users’ sense of experience.
