Nüshu 女書 (女书)

nǚshū · from Chinese

What is Nüshu?

Nüshu is a syllabic script used exclusively by women in Jiangyong County, Hunan, to write their local Chinese dialect.

Women used it for letters, songs and autobiographies, often embroidered on fans or cloth. Its slanted, thin characters partly derive from standard hanzi but represent syllables, not words. The last fluent traditional writer died in 2004, and it is now preserved as heritage.

Examples

女書 nǚshū (women's writing); third-day missives (三朝書 sānzhāoshū) given to brides

Kungfucius says: A secret script, by women, for women, and remarkably unbothered by men for centuries.