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| image = | caption = | birth_date = c. 1909 | death_date = 20 September 2004 | birth_place = Jiangyong County, Hunan | death_place = Jiangyong County, Hunan | placeofburial = | placeofburial_label = | placeofburial_coordinates = | nickname = | birth_name = | allegiance = | servicenumber = | awards = | relations = | laterwork = | signature = }} Yang Huanyi (c. 1909 — September 20, 2004, ) a resident of Jiangyong County, Hunan province, was known as the last proficient speaker and writer of Nüshu script (women's writing). Many people believe the language originated in Jiangyong County. She was the last person who could natively recognize, read, sing and write Nüshu, meaning that, after her death, only researchers have these skills. When she was young, Yang learned Nüshu together with Gao Yinxian, the eldest of the seven sworn sisters who were the most authoritative speakers and writers of the female-only language, for three years. Before Yang got married, she and Gao already had become close friends. They cultivated a true and deep friendship and often corresponded with each other by Nüshu. Yang attended the National Academic Research Seminar of Nüshu in 1991 and the World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Her works about Nüshu have been collected by Zhao Liming, a professor of Tsinghua University and they were published in 2004.〔 The Jiangyong County offered Yang’s living expenses and employed a maid to take care of her daily life with the purpose of rescuing and preserving Nüshu. ==Biography== During her childhood, Yang Huanyi learned some traditional medical practices from her grandmother and specialized in curing pediatric measles. Her father Yang Shiyang was an open-minded country doctor. Considering that people who had studied Nüshu were more civilized and well-educated, he encouraged Yang Huanyi to learn it. At that time, one needed to pay to study Nüshu, so a fee had to be paid for learning every new word. Poor as she was, Yang never gave up learning; she earned money by working part-time jobs as well as picking beans and peanuts for others. "I was so happy first to learn how to sing the songs and then how to write," Yang recalled. At the age of twenty-two, she married a man who was two years older than she, as her parents demanded. After they had been married three months, her husband was bitten by a poisonous snake and died. Two years later, she remarried He Yuancun, who was a compulsive gambler. He was accustomed to leaving home and gambling day and night, taking no interest in his family's affairs and leaving everything to Yang Huanyi. Every time he gambled away his money, he would sell pigs and millet to pay back the debt. As a result, Yang's family was deeply indebted and had to struggle against poverty. Although Yang altogether had eight children, only two sons and one daughter survived infancy for lack of cure and medicines and her second husband died later.〔 Raising three children alone was difficult, and she would seek solace and distraction by writing and chanting Nüshu during her spare time. 〔 At that time, most females were illiterate and considered the property of men. Women who learned Nüshu could share their feelings and experiences with other women, with whom they communicated in their own language. "When I learned Nüshu, it was meant to exchange our thoughts and letters with friends and sisters," Yang told The Times in an interview two years ago, "We wrote what was in our hearts and our true feelings."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Yang Huanyi」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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