1. Introduction

From the mid-19th century until the late 20th century, the women of Jiāngyǒng 江永 county in Húnán wrote letters, narratives, and songs in a script known as “Women’s Script” or Nǚshū 女書 (Idema 1996:7, 19). The script was mostly used in Shāngjiāngxūxiāng 上江虛鄉, in the northern part of the county, and its immediate surroundings (Chiang 1995:1).

While the men of Jiāngyǒng were taught the standard…