Nüshu 女书 was a women-only script used by Yao women in Jiangyong, Hunan province, China.
Nüshu works were a way for women to lament by communicating sorrows, commiserating over patriarchy, and establishing connections with an empathetic community. Typically a group of non-related women would pledge friendship by writing letters and singing songs in Nüshu to each other.
The exact origins of Nüshu and when it came into being remain uncertain, as no written records document the genesis of this script. Yang Huanyi, an inhabitant of Jiangyong and the last person proficient in this writing system, died on 20 September 2004, at the age of 98.
