Chinese Typewriters: a Century of Chinese Character Breakout

This book takes Chinese typewriters as the object and traces the history of Chinese language adapting to modern information technology. Since modern times, Chinese characters, as non-alphabetic scripts, have encountered many obstacles from alphabetical centrism in the process of technological language modernization. One of them is the inability to adapt to Western typewriters. By telling the invention of the Chinese typewriter, this book shows the mechanical revolution in the Chinese-speaking world and explores the history of Chinese seeking to survive, adapt and influence technological changes. The book describes the various attempts and failures or success stories of Chinese users in the process of inventing the Chinese typewriter for nearly a century. It reflects how the Chinese language broke through the hegemony of alphabetic characters and integrated into the global information age, regaining its unique status.