FEMALE FABRICATIONS: AN EXAMINATION OF THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ASPECTS OF NÜSHU Ann-Gee Lee A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 2008 Committee: Sue Carter Wood, Advisor Jaclyn Cuneen Graduate Faculty Representative Kristine L. Blair Richard Gebhardt ii © 2008 Ann-Gee Lee All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Sue Carter Wood, Advisor Nüshu is a Chinese women's script believed to have been invented and used before the Cultural Revolution. For about a couple centuries, Nüshu was used by uneducated rural women in Jiangyong County, Hunan Province, in China to communicate and correspond with one another, cope with their hardships, and promote creativity. Its complexity lies in the fact that it may come in different forms: written on paper fans or silk-bound books; embroidered on clothing and accessories; or sung while a woman or group of women were doing their domestic work. Although Nüshu is an old and somewhat secret female language which has been used for over 100 years, it has only been an academic field of study for about 25 years. Further, in the field of rhetoric and composition, despite the enormous interest in women's rhetorics and material culture, sources on Nüshu in relation to the two fields are scarce. In relation to Nüshu, through examinations of American domestic arts, such as quilts, scrapbooking, and so on, material rhetoric is slowly becoming a significant field of study. Elaine Hedges explains, “Recent research has focused on ‘ordinary women' whose household work comprised, defined, and often circumscribed their lives: the work of cooking, cleaning, and sewing that women traditionally and perpetually performed and has gone unheralded until now” (294). In my dissertation research, I examine Nüshu through public and private discourse as well as aspects of material rhetoric, which refers to cultural meanings that we give to everyday things. My research comprises real voices, collected data from previous researchers, and some iv Chinese history. A benefit of my proposed research for both western and eastern scholars in the fields of rhetoric and women's studies is that the interviews that I will conduct, particularly those with teachers and students of Nüshu, add individual practitioners to a body of scholarship that is characterized more by the voices of scholars than practitioners. The purpose of personal interviews is to see why they continue to study this ancient language and their ideas of women's place in history as well as Nüshu 's potential place in various disciplines. This research contributes to Western scholars' study of women's rhetorics and material culture, adding yet another literary practice through which to view the intersections of gender, culture, and language to a field where women's rhetorics and material culture have been studied extensively. And for the small emerging academic discussions of Nüshu, this study will help draw the attention of Western scholars to this interesting and unusual literate practice. v For my parents, Huey-Ying and Jiunn-Jyi Lee 謝謝﹐媽媽爸爸 and everyone who made this dissertation possible. You know who you are. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I know many have studied Nüshu and have also gone to Jiangyong County, Hunan Province, to find out more about Nüshu, but did not have the opportunities that I did. For that reason, I am eternally grateful to all of those who helped me make extraordinary discoveries along my path to studying Nüshu. I would like to thank my parents, Huey-Ying and Jiunn-Jyi Lee, who have always instilled in me a great appreciation for my mother culture, a strong work and study ethic, and an interminable love for learning. Without their emotional and financial support, my entire education as well as trip to China in search of Nüshu would not have been possible. I am glad you could accompany me on this trip, Mom, and experience China for the first time. I would like to thank my professors: Dr. Sue Carter Wood, my committee chair who introduced Nüshu to me, as well as Dr. Kristine Blair, Dr. Richard Gebhardt, Dr. Gary Heba, Dr. Barb Toth, and Dr. Shirley Ostler, for cultivating my knowledge and love for rhetorics of all kinds. Additionally, I would like to thank my colleagues and close friends, Yahui Zhang, Ruijie Zhao, Kang Sun, Wu Dan, and Lihong Yang, amazing scholars who always work with me on unearthing new aspects of the Chinese culture and spent vast amounts of time in assisting me with Chinese/English translations, as well as Elizabeth Fleitz for being my dissertation “buddy” and providing feedback and enthusiasm for women’s rhetorics. To all my friends and confidantes in Bowling Green who help me grow everyday: you know who you are. I would like to thank all the other Nüshu academics with whom I have corresponded and whose research I perused. I hope someday we may be able to meet in person and have more lively discussions regarding Nüshu and other related issues. vii Moreover, I would like to thank all of my connections in China, foremost Rong Huang (黄蓉), Zhi Hu (胡志), and their family and friends, whose contacts allowed me to find Dr. Zhebing Gong (宫 哲兵). Many thanks to all of those who agreed to take part in the interviews: Dr. Gong; his son, Butan Gong (宫 步 坦 ), who provided me with more resources and photographs; two genuine Nüshu transmitters/teachers (胡美月和何静华 ), who in their modest ways, allow Nüshu to live on in a world that does seem to need Nüshu; Qiangzi Hu (胡志强 ), who showed us the remaining works of his grandmother, Yinxian Gao (高仙银 ), one of the last of the Nüshu survivors; he even cooked us a delicious home-cooked meal; Renli Yang(杨 仁 里 ) a local Nüshu expert who accompanied us to Nüshu Garden); Xianglu Hé (何祥禄), a warm- hearted practitioner and scholar of Nüshu; Gongwei Tang (唐功伟 ), an elderly gentleman who was not in his best health but still took the time to tell us about his very first contact with Nüshu at the tender age of three; Lijüan Pu and Xüefeng Xü (蒲丽锋 娟和徐雪 ), students of Nüshu, and last, but not least, Tang Shifang (唐世芳) and her family. Shifang is definitely the best tour guide in Jiangyong and is a talented young lady with vast potential, with whom I felt a sisterly connection from the start. With Shifang’s willingness to take time away from her own studies, I was able to make that list of names into reality and was able to interview ten people in two days. Before the trip, we had known each other for a couple months. Now, we are Nüshu sisters for life. I feel a strong sense of relief in having decided to go to China because if I had only done my research via texts and not people, I would not have known about the endangerment and great lack of original Nüshu materials. I would not have known about the preservation project nor have been able to play a small part in helping them achieve their objectives. viii I hope Nüshu may rightfully find its deserved status in the world and that our dissemination of Nüshu can help us find other women’s secrets in other cultures so that women may rightfully find their place in history as participants of rhetoric(s). ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER 1: WOMEN & THE EVER-CHANGING DEFINITIONS OF RHETORIC 1 Defining Rhetoric ……………………………………………………………… 2 Overt and Covert Rhetoric ……………………………………………………. 3-4 Western Rhetoric vs. Eastern Rhetoric ……………………………………….. 5-11 Including Women into Rhetoric ……………………………………………….. 11-14 Feminist Historiography and Women’s Literacies ……………………………... 14-16 My Research ………………………………………………………………….. 16-26 Research Questions & Methodologies ……………………………... 26-27 Chapter Abstracts ……………………………………………………… 28-29 CHAPTER 2: ASSEMBLY REQUIRED: WESTERN WOMEN’S WORK AND NÜSHU AS PUBLIC DISCOURSE……………………………………………………. 30-31 Building Ethos: American Male-to-Female Advice …………………………... 31-35 Building Ethos: Chinese Male-to-Female Advice …………………………….. 35-42 Building Ethos: American Female-to-Female Advice ………………………… 42-48 Building Ethos: Chinese Female-to-Female Advice …………………………… 49-51 The Realities of Domestic Work for Western Women ……………………….. 51-56 The Realities of Domestic Work for Chinese Women ……………………….. 56-61 Defining Discourse …………………………………………………………… 61-62 Western Women’s Construction of Communities …………………………… 62-65 Nüshu Enclaves as Discourse Communities………………………………………. 66 Ritual Sisterhoods…..………………………………………………. … 66-69 Holidays for Females…………………………………………………... 69-70 Weddings ……………………………….……………………………… 71-72 x Examination of Nüshu Communities through Swales’ Definitions of Discourse Community ……………….………………………………………………… 72-73 1) It has a communality of interest (public goals) ………………… 73-75 2) It has mechanisms for intercommunication between members. ... 75-77 3) It survives by providing information and feedback. ……………. 77-78 4) It has developed and continues to develop discoursal expectations. 79-81 5) It has an increasingly shared and specialized terminology. ……… 81-82 6) Its members have suitable degree of relevant discoursal and content expertise…….…………………………………………..….. 82-83 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………. 83-84 CHAPTER 3: CLANDESTINE CRAFT: WESTERN WOMEN’S WORK AND NÜSHU AS PRIVATE DISCOURSE...……………………………………………… 85-86 Private Discourse Defined...……..…………………………………………… 86-87 Western Women and Private Discourse ………………………………………. 88-96 Nüshu Women and Private Discourse ..………………………………………. 96-98 Suku: “Speaking Bitterness” ………………………………………… 98-102 Expressing Dissatisfaction with Society ………………………… …. 102-105 Nüshu as Material Rhetoric………………………………………………….