Nüshu character fa44

It is a Nüshu sound sign, read fa44.

fa44 labels a syllable from Jiangyong’s local Chinese dialect, not a Mandarin or English gloss. Most Nüshu signs represent spoken syllables; one sound can match several words.

How old is Nüshu?

Its exact beginnings are disputed.

Nüshu adapted slanted forms of Chinese characters to write Jiangyong speech. Many rural women had little access to schooling in standard Chinese writing; they used it for letters between women joined as sisters by choice, wedding wishes, poems, songs, and life stories, often sung aloud.

The earliest known object is a coin with a message about women as one family, often dated to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851–1864), though scholars dispute its date. Since Nüshu’s rediscovery in 1982, it has also been studied and preserved.