Words of females back in the limelight

CHANGSHA — Ahead of Spring Festival, women from a remote village in Central China were busy sending their best wishes in Nyushu, the most gender specific language in the world.

Hanging new red couplets and the Chinese character for “fu” — happiness — on their doors is an important tradition to usher in a prosperous and happy new year.

But old customs have now come alive digitally.

As tens of millions of Alipay users across the world play the “fu”-scanning game to grab a digital red packet, Hu Xin, a museum employee in Jiangyong county in Hunan province, writes by hand.

“In every 12th lunar month of the past four years, I present ‘fu’ characters I write as a new year gift to those who like my handwriting,” Hu said. Over the past month, she has handed out 500 of them in Nyushu characters after posting a notice on her WeChat moments.