Traditional Chinese culture is male-centered and forbids girls from any kind of formal education, so Nushu (literally “women’s writing”) was developed in secrecy over hundreds of years beginning in the 15th Century. The characters are “thinner” and more cursive than traditional blocky Chinese. This style of writing came to the attention of Westerners only in the 1980s, becoming the only known language spoken by just one sex and adding a new twist to that age old question, what is language?