Folding Fan with Inscription ‘Jie Xia Hao Qing Yi’ (Forging Sincere Friendship) in Nüshu Script of Jiangyong County

Folding Fan with Inscription ‘Jie Xia Hao Qing Yi’ (Forging Sincere Friendship) in Nüshu Script of Jiangyong County

Nüshu script; female friendship; women's writing; endangered script; Jiangyong culture

This folding fan is preserved by the Hunan Museum and features poetic inscriptions in Nüshu script, a unique phonetic writing system created by women in Jiangyong County. The text on the fan expresses a wish for enduring female friendship and is categorized as a traditional “missive of making friends.” Decorated with birds and floral motifs, the fan reflects feminine aesthetics and emotional resilience. Created during the late Qing dynasty, it represents the fragile yet enduring legacy of women’s expression in a patriarchal society.

Unknown

https://www.hnmuseum.com/en/zuixintuijie/folding-fan-inscription-%E2%80%98jie-xia-hao-qing-yi%E2%80%99forging-sincere-friendship-n%C3%BCshu-script

Hunan Museum

Late Qing (1644-1911)

Women of Jiangyong County; Nüshu practitioners

Educational use only; original object held by Hunan Museum

Related to CCTV News article on Nüshu fan (nushu-article-002); supported by Unicode Nüshu Character Chart (nushu-chart-003).

Folding fan; ink on paper; handmade artifact

Nüshu; Chinese

Physical Object; Manuscript; Cultural Artifact

nushu-fan-001

Jiangyong County, Hunan Province, China; Late Qing (1644-1911)