Learn About Nüshu, a Special 19th-Century Chinese Writing System That Only Women Knew How to Write

In the 19th and 20th centuries, a small group of women used the script to write autobiographies, poetry, stories, and letters to one another. "Out of the thousands of scripts that are gender-specific to men, here we have one that we know is gender-specific to women," researcher Cathy Silber explained to Atlas Obscura. While the idea of a ~secret women's script~ is definitely sensational, Silber says that men were well aware of the script and could understand what it said if it was read aloud. Still, in a nation where women were historically denied access to literacy, Nüshu stands out. It allowed women to tell their own stories in their own words, giving modern researchers a rare peek into the lives of everyday Chinese women in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The last known woman to know how to write Nüshu died in 2004. In the 21st century, women in China may not need a special script of their own anymore.