26 replies to this topic

[kaiselin]

So a Kai sibling is more like an informal adaption that the parents children must live with whether they like it or not.
My friend would be a Yi, We are often mistaken as sisters, even though the only similarity we have is that we are both tall.
I have a second friend who is almost a yi to me, and the odd thing is that she has an unusual name that is the same as my older sister that died at birth.

[Mok]

So a Kai sibling is more like an informal adaption that the parents children must live with whether they like it or not.

Actually, the "ceremony" where a child is formally "kai'ed" is quite traditional and even superstitious. And as for living with it...yeah, I guess.

[kaiselin]

Actually, the "ceremony" where a child is formally "kai'ed" is quite traditional and even superstitious. And as for living with it...yeah, I guess.

Can you discribe what is done in the ceremony?

[Liu]

Did some searching and found this:

Thanks Kaiselin for this interesting information.

女书 in nushu characters

Nushu is not a language but a way to write Chinese (Mandarin) in an incomprehensible way for men who didn't learn it.
There are not many writings in Nushu because the manuscripts were burnt or buried with their author.
A dictionnary of 1800 nushu hanzis have been just published by Zhou Shuoyi, the first man who learnt nushu
An exhibiting took place in Beijing in April 2004, displaying some nushu writings as well as handkerchiefs, aprons, scarfs, and many other objects decorated with nushu calligraphy...

Would be nice to find some pictures...

[kaiselin]

Would be nice to find some pictures...

Yes, it would be very nice to find some pics, I thought I had some examples in a picture I have of embroidery, but I am not sure not that I have seen the script.
I am still looking

[kaiselin]

Here is a coin that has nushu on one side and Chinese Characters on the other. ( found picture but do not know if this coin is a legit coin)



a nushu book and the writing inside


This isfrom: http://www.crystalinks.com/nushu.html

Some Nushu characters are taken from Chinese, while others appear to be invented, but all are rendered in a style much more cursive than written Chinese. In addition, the characters are "thinner" than Chinese characters, which tends to be square-shaped. Also, like Chinese, Nushu is written from top to bottom in columns, and the columns are written from right to left.
The following is an example of Nushu. The text on the left is Nushu, while on the right is the exact Chinese transliteration. I left the columns for both texts in the original right-to-left order.

The passage roughly translates as... "They taught her to apply makeup and comb her hair; on her head she was wearing pearls that are shining magnificently; she is sitting like Guanyin (a Buddhist goddess) out of a Buddhist shrine".
There are only a handful of women who can still read and write in this script. In essence it is a dying language. However, no official programs exist to preserve this incredible cultural heritage, and it would be a shame that such a symbol of women's resilience in an oppressive environment will be lost to future generations.

Edited by kaiselin, 20 June 2007 - 08:13 PM.

[kaiselin]

China: Last female-only Nushu language speaker dies
September 24, 2004 - China Daily
China's last woman proficient in the mysterious Nushu language, probably the world's only female-specific language, died at her Central China home earlier this week. She was in her 90s.
Yang Huanyi learned to read and write the language as a little girl. Chinese linguists say her death put an end to a 400-year-old tradition in which women shared their innermost feelings with female friends through a set of codes incomprehensible to men.
Yang was born in Jiangyong County in Hunan Province where many people believe the language originated.
She learned the language from seven sworn sisters in the county who were regarded as the most authoritative speakers and writers of the language. Yang became its only survivor by the end of the 1990s, after the seven had passed away.
Until her death Sept. 20, it remained a mystery as to how old Yang was. During an interview with Xinhua in 2002, she said she was 94. Authorities in her hometown, however, said she was 98 when she died.
The letters, poems and prose Yang wrote were collected and compiled by linguists in Qinghua University into a book published early this year.
Although some linguists are trying to learn the female language, experts say Yang was more authoritative and unaffected by mandarin Chinese, in which she was totally illiterate.
None of Yang's children and grandchildren inherited her proficiency in the unique language.
Nushu characters are structured by four kinds of strokes, including dots, horizontals, verticals and arcs.

http://www.crystalinks.com/nushu.html

[kaiselin]

[Mok]

Can you discribe what is done in the ceremony?

Hmm...well, I think it varies from family to family, but one common element of the ceremony would be for the adoptee to pay respects at the ancestral altar, then to his new godparents, then to his elder godsiblings.

[kaiselin]

Hmm...well, I think it varies from family to family, but one common element of the ceremony would be for the adoptee to pay respects at the ancestral altar, then to his new godparents, then to his elder godsiblings.

Thanks Mok

[kaiselin]

“Beside a well, one won’t thirst; beside a sister, one won’t despair.”
— line from a NüShu verse

[Mok]

Thanks Mok

You're most welcome. Feel free to ask more!