Giulia from Italy disseminates Nyushu around the world
2023-10-12
Born in the 1990s, Giulia, a translator, can speak Italian, Chinese, German, Portuguese, French, English and other languages. Over the years, she has insisted on introducing and disseminating Nyushu overseas, and published the monograph about Nyushu. She is the first young scholar in Italy who systematically and comprehensively studies Nyushu and tries to promote Nyushu culture.
Nyushu is popular in Shangjiangwei Town of Jiangyong County. It was included in the Guinness Book of World Records as “the world’s most gender specific language”, and was selected in the first national intangible cultural heritage list. Nyushu works mainly record all aspects of women’s lives, such as marriage, family, labor and social contact, expressing women’s happiness and sadness.
Giulia first learned about Nyushu from her Chinese teacher when she was studying translation at the University of Bologna. “My Chinese teacher, who is an Italian, didn’t talk much about Nyushu. She only told us that Nyushu originated in a small county in Southern China and is the only written language used by women in the world,” said Giulia.
After a Chinese friend gave Giulia a “Nyushu Chinese Dictionary”, she saw the beautiful and elegant Nyushu characters, and she instantly fell in love with Nyushu. Whenever she had time, Giulia searched information about Nyushu on the Internet.
Learning that Professor Zhao Liming of Tsinghua University is a well-known expert in studying Nyushu, Giulia wrote an email to her, but got no reply. Then she contacted the secretariat of Tsinghua University to express her intention. “Professor Zhao retired at that time, so I asked if I could contact Professor Zhao. Finally, I added her as a friend on WeChat, and came to China to study Nyushu with her,” said Giulia.
Giulia read a lot of literature about Nyushu, and also learned to write Nyushu. In order to understand the history and culture of Nyushu, she decided to go to Shangjiangwei Town in Jiangyong County for field research. In Jiangyong, Giulia formed a deep friendship with the staff of Jiangyong Nyushu Ecological Museum and Nyushu inheritors. “We are very happy when we write Nyushu and sing Nyushu folk songs together.” After studying Nyushu for several years, Giulia often introduced Nyushu overseas through live streaming and social media.
Some Italians sent her private messages, saying that they wanted to further deepen their understanding of Nyushu culture, and wanted her to bring Nyushu calligraphy works and related objects to Italy for exhibition.
Giulia curated an exhibition of Nyushu in an art space in Venice in June 2020, displaying dozens of Nyushu calligraphy works she collected, as well as some paper, books, fans and towels with Nyushu characters. The exhibition received a lot of attention from the Italian media and cultural circles.
In recent years, with the efforts of Jiangyong government, Jiangyong Nyushu has been displayed at the exhibition twice of the United Nations. The internationally renowned composer and conductor Tan Dun has also toured the world with the “Micro Film Symphonic Poem— Nyushu”. The clothing and jewelry designers have begun to present “Nyushu elements” at various fashion shows. Jiangyong Nyushu has become known by more people worldwide.
“To let more people around the world know and fall in love with Nyushu, we need to spread it in ways that young people like, such as integrating Nyushu into paintings, music, dance, and movies.” Giulia began to give lectures on Nyushu in universities and art institutions in Italy, Spain, Austria and other countries, and increased the dissemination of Nyushu on social platforms including Weibo and Instagram, continuously displaying Nyushu and Jiangyong women’s life scenes on fans, handkerchiefs, clothes and other items.
Giulia also translated Zhao Liming’s “Legendary Nyushu” into Italian and published it, which was named one of the “50 books worth reading in Italy” that year by the famous Italian magazine “Panorama”.
“Although Nyushu looks a little different from Chinese characters, I didn’t exaggerate its mysterious color. Instead, I introduced it as part of the daily life of oriental women, seeking the emotional resonance between oriental and occidental women.”
This year, Giulia has become a “daughter-in-law” of China, and she showed people on Instagram the “Sanzhaoshu” (a traditional and classic carrier of Nyushu), which is made by an inheritor of Nyushu and represents the deep friendship between the giver and the bride.
“An Italian netizen left a message on my social media account, saying ‘because of you, I learned about Nyushu, and I know that ‘Sanzhaoshu’ represents the deep sisterly love,’” said Giulia.
