Hidden Letters

Two Chinese millennial women must save an ancient treasure: A secret language used by generations of Chinese women.

Women in China were historically forced into oppressive marriages and forbidden to read or write by their households for thousands of years. To cope, they developed and shared a secret language among themselves called Nushu. Written in poems or songs with bamboo pens on paper-folded fans and handkerchiefs, these hidden letters bonded generations of Chinese women in a clandestine support system of sisterhood, hope and survival.

Spanning between past and present, from sunken rice fields and rural villages to bustling metropolitan cities, Hidden Letters follows two millennial Chinese women who are connected by their fascination with Nushu and their desire to protect its legacy. As young women in a patriarchal society where woman’s subservience to men is a central social aspect, the two women find inspiration and strength in the secret, ancient women’s culture.

The screening on Friday March 10th, 13:00 will be introduced by Dr Yunyun Zhou.

Dr Yunyun Zhou is a feminist researcher, a political sociologist, a Chinese Studies scholar, an ethnographic filmmaker, and associate professor based at the University of Oslo, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages