International fast-food chain KFC on Tuesday launched a "Nvshu" themed restaurant in China to preserve this rare Chinese syllabic script used exclusively amongst women in certain areas.

The ancient Nvshu (women's writing) characters, poems written in this calligraphy and related books adorned the outlet in the city of Yongzhou, central China's Hunan province.

Nvshu made a worldwide stir on its first discovery in the 1980s. Normally painted on paper or embroidered into cloth, the intricate Nvshu characters, with a unique writing style, were supposed to illustrate female postures.

The restaurant also invited inheritors of this mysterious language to offer calligraphy lessons and tell its related customs to pupils on the spot.

"Nvshu is a gender-specific language peculiar to China, while KFC has a large number of customers. Their cooperation can help people better understand and appreciate Nvshu calligraphy," said Hu Xin, an inheritor of this art.

Nvshu, probably the world's only female-specific language, used to be popular in several townships of Jiangyong County in Yongzhou but was on the verge of extinction for lack of use.

In 2006, the age-old art earned a place on the list of national intangible cultural heritage.

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