Chinese typewriters speak: the political power of writing machines in 20th-century China

Typewriters have long been recognized as potentially subversive tools. Alphabetic typewriters, in particular, have been regarded as political instruments—states such as the former East Germany and the Soviet Union restricted their ownership, requiring special licenses or banning them outright for ordinary citizens. In the Chinese context, developing a typing system for a character-based language was an enormously complex challenge, leading to the creation of a wide range of typing machines and systems. A remarkably diverse group of prominent figures in the 20th century, including social activists, businessmen, statesmen, literary celebrities, and technocrats, sought to meet this challenge.This dissertation explores the development of Chinese typewriters from the 1910s through the 1960s. The mechanisms of Chinese typewriters varied significantly from one another. Yet a Chinese typewriter was more than just a mechanism—it carried cultural, political, and linguistic significance in ways that alphabetic typewriters did not, and perhaps did not need to. Inventors came from a wide range of backgrounds, including writers, philosophers, linguists, statesmen, businesspeople, and international figures. This dissertation asks: Why, during this period, did such a wide range of Chinese typewriter mechanisms emerge? And why, during this period, did such a diverse array of individuals become involved in their invention? Thus, this dissertation is about the socio-political power of writing and information machines in the 20th-century China. It is not just about typewriters. This dissertation classifies Chinese typewriters designed in the 20th century into two kinds, rote-typing machines and intuitive-typing machines, and introduces a new and useful analytical method: memory burden, defined as the demand for rote memorization imposed by a machine that held no utility for the typist beyond its operation. Rote-typing machines imposed a heavy memory burden, requiring users to memorize the position or code of thousands of characters loaded in the machine. In contrast, intuitive-typing machines relied on human users’ intuitive abilities, such as recognizing geometric shapes, to reduce or even eliminate the need for rote memorization in operating the machine. This dissertation argues that the two major kinds of Chinese typewriters developed in the 20th century embodied distinct political orientations. Rote-typing adapted humans to machines, imposing a heavy memory burden and requiring formal training often regulated by the state. By contrast, intuitive-typing adapted machines to humans, drawing on innate cognitive abilities and minimizing the demands on memory. Rote-typing, exemplified by the devices of Shu Zhengdong and Gao Zhongqin, sought to integrate both typists and machines into the nation’s broader modernization goals. These machines emphasized personal sacrifice and subordinated both operators and technology to the authority of the central government. Intuitive-typing machines were made by Zhou Houkun, Gao Lu, and Lin Yutang. They were designed to be intelligible without formal training (buxue erneng), and they allowed users to function independently, eliminating reliance on training schools or specialized typists. These inventors prioritized personal autonomy and considered it fundamental to national prosperity.

Author dc:creator

• Yao, Miaofeng

• Chinese
• language technology
• modern China
• modernity
• typewriter
• writing

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/11299/278127

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:conservancy.umn.edu:11299/278127