A unique museum to showcase Nushu, probably the only female specific language in the world, is expected to be erected in 2007 in Jiangyong County, central China's Hunan Province, said an official with the provincial government Friday.
Sponsored by the US-based Ford Foundation, the museum, also the first of its kind in China, aims to preserve rare culture relics which can be traced back to more than 100 years ago.
The gracefully-written rhombic Nushu characters are structured by just four kinds of strokes, including dot, horizontal, virgule and arc, and can be spoken in a dialect to describe women's misfortunes and inner feelings.
With US$209,000 sponsored by the Ford Foundation, the museum, with the aim to build into a culture base for Nushu, will solicit over 80 pieces of Nushu manuscripts, 1,000 pieces of songs, and other articles which can vividly present the charm of a language on the verge of extinction.
Discovered in the 1980s in Jiangyong county in the southern part of Hunan, Nushu stunned the world by its uniqueness. With more Nushu descendants passing away, how to preserve the precious culture relics has become a focus of world's attention.
Cao Xuequn, curator of the museum, said that two parts will compose the museum. One is closely related with the environment, and tries to present the original living places and articles there as a whole; one is the information center to record and preserve the heritage of Nushu.
(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2005)
