China's first "Women's Culture Museum" is particularly meaningful. 

In the modern English language, many have come to interpret "history" as originating from the words "his story," since so often the past is only used to illuminate the dominance of men. This interpretation is actually linguistically incorrect, since "history" derives from the Greek word "analysis." Be that as it may, this questioning of history's motives reflects an overall promotion of gender equality, in studies both historical and otherwise.

China is a nation with a strongly rooted conception of male superiority, a virulent growth which especially prospered during a feudal period of 2000 years. This current cultural status made the 2002 establishment of China's first "Women's Culture Museum" particularly meaningful. Therefore, today let's follow Yan Yinan into this unique museum to learn something more about Chinese women.

Yang Huanyi was China's last woman with proficiency in the ancient system of Nushu writing, but she died on 20 September, 2004. With her passing, a women-specific writing system of over 700 characters became a dead language, but did not disappear. Nushu had been studied and documented by several researchers since the 1990s, and there is even hope for a future revival of this exceptional language.

One of those researchers was Qu Yajun from the Women's Culture Museum, which can be found on the campus of Shaanxi Normal University, in Xi'an. A scholar in women's literature, Qu Yajun is also the curator of this museum, which is the first of its kind in China. As the curator put it, this museum has preserved many precious cultural relics connected with Chinese women's culture, of which Nushu is just one part. However, since Yang Huanyi's death last year, the museum's collection has become increasingly significant, in terms of both academic research and public awareness.

Hopefully, members of the public will visit the museum for Nushu, but stay to observe a broad range of exhibits. Curator Qu Yajun introduces us to some of the sections of the museum.

"We have 'Women in History,' which collects some materials related to the Chinese women of the 20th century and 'Wedding Clothes', which displays the colorful wedding dresses of the 56 ethnic groups in China. We also have 'Women's Craftwork', including embroidery, paper-cuts and the brocade, and lastly, 'Reproductive Culture.'"

According to Curator Qu, reproductive culture covers a unique area, which is of quite obvious importance to women. This is not a simple examination of the procreation of men and women, but rather covers a wide range of aspects, such as the worship of procreation, and the tradition of reproductive taboo. In China, we use the word "yuezi", to describe the month of confinement traditionally imposed upon women after childbirth. The museum already has displays for the many "yuezi" customs of different ethnicities and different areas of China, but the search still continues for further additions to the collection.

Women's Craftworks is another significant category found in the museum, as one which demonstrates the cleverness and deftness of Chinese women. Yet Qu Yajun explains that there is more to these handiworks than just their aesthetic beauty and demonstration of skill.

"We can detect that the craftworks of embroidery, brocade and paper cutting come mainly from the hands of women, while those of wood carving and stone sculpture are mostly made by men. Although some overlapping does exist, men and women are, basically speaking, doing different craftwork. For example, it's rare to see a man doing embroidery, right? The reason behind this should be attributed to the division of work between men and women since the early days of human civilization. Usually, males went outdoors to hunt while females stayed at home to look after their children. So when you think about it, it's natural that the 'women's crafts' of embroidery, brocade and paper cutting are all done indoors."

Qu Yajun says that the establishment of this museum owes a great deal to the efforts of Professor Li Xiaojiang, a renowned scholar of women's studies in China. In 1997, Li Xiaojiang came to Shaanxi Normal University as a guest professor and carried out a series of projects on women's studies. During this time she collected many items concerned with women's culture, including the aforementioned "Nushu" writings. However, it was not until 2002, after Professor Li had left Shaanxi Normal University, that the museum was finally opened to the public.

Currently, there are nearly 800 exhibits on display in this small museum. The good news is that the museum will soon move to a much larger space of about 1,500 square meters. This new building will also include improved illumination and other display-related equipment. Moreover, the museum has recently received a donation of 500,000 US dollars from a US fund. Good news indeed, but Qu Yajun can still recall the many unexpected difficulties which they encountered at the beginning.

"When the idea to establish such a museum was first revealed, it was much welcomed and applauded within the circle of women's studies. However, as soon as you want to put it into practice, you encounter a great number of obstacles. Most of them came from a lack of public awareness as to the meaning of women's studies. They simply don't think it necessary to establish such a museum."

The curator says that some people wonder why someone would open a special museum dedicated to women's rather than men's culture. Maybe this is not a sexist assumption, but instead arises from the fact that women's culture has been almost completely assimilated into mainstream culture. At the same time, people are paying more and more attention to gender equality, but old concepts of male dominance do still exist in China. In Qu Yajun's mind, the establishment of this museum will promote and highlight the culture of women, as well as bring better balance to mainstream culture.

Qu Yajun says that visiting the museum will help you gain a better idea not only of the changes experienced by Chinese women, but also of those experienced by the whole country.

Here is an example. One of the museum's American visitors was surprised to see some posters in the museum displaying the images of female tractor drivers, female model workers and female engineers in the 1950s and 60s. Such images were totally different to the experiences of Western women in that era. This women's historical difference was down to the global history of the Second World War, when women had taken previously belonging to male soldiers now out on the battlefield. Following the war, there was a trend in the West for these women to leave working society and return to their homes.

If you are a careful visitor, you may discover more major historical events behind the stories told by these exhibits. Here's hoping that more people can visit this museum, and help keep women's studies in China with a foothold in the present rather than as a footnote of the past.
 
Editor: Catherine