The Chinese Typewriter: A Social and Rhetorical Impetus
for the Popularization of Computers as a Writing Medium in China
Much research has concentrated on the impact of writing technologies, especially that of computers, on our
culture, including our writing behavior. While such research is undoubtedly important, it is equally
important to investigate the impact of cultural and rhetorical contexts on the development and use of
writing technologies. A direct reason for such an investigation is that the development of writing
technologies takes different paths within different cultural contexts and that an understanding of what
accounts for such differences will enable us to better understand the cultural ideologies behind the design
of a particular writing technology and the direction of its future development and use. Such a topic,
unfortunately, has received little attention and is in dire need of critical investigation.
Unlike in western countries, where writing technology development went from the pen to the computer
through the typewriter, the Chinese culture experienced a direct leap from the pen to the computer by
skipping the typewriter link. However, the absence of this missing link has played a significant role in
providing a power impetus for the development of computers in China as a new writing medium. My study
aims to investigate how the Chinese typewriter, which had never achieved any significant status in the
history of writing technologies in China, functioned as a strong rhetorical exigency and thus one of the
contributing cultural and rhetorical factors that have shaped the development of the computer technology in
China. It was this very insignificance and the very impracticality of the Chinese typewriter that have led, at
least in part, to the popularization of computers in China.
Two factors have been directly responsible for the lack of popularity of the Chinese typewriter as a writing
tool. One is its sheer bulk and cumbersomeness. Because the Chinese language employs a character system
instead of the alphabet, each character is of unique shape and structure, unlike English words, which are
made up of combinations of different letters. Thus, while the English typewriter can function with the 26
letters and a few common punctuation symbols, the traditional Chinese typewriter has to literally use
thousands of characters, which are placed on plate after plate. With the main typing mechanism and all the
plates of characters added together, a Chinese typewriter can weigh over a hundred pounds. A second
factor is the special skills required to use such a typewriter. Unlike the English typewriter, which has the
letters and symbols in fixed places, on the Chinese typewriter, the characters are movable, and the typist
has to figure out the best combination of placement for the several thousand common characters. As a
result, it is almost impossible for a person without special training to learn to use the typewriter, let alone to
master it.
Such impracticality of the Chinese typewriter was at least one of the direct causes that expedited the
popularity of computers as a new writing medium in China since the computer can use the western alphabet
and the Chinese pinyin (pronunciation) system to produce characters with combinations of letters. Coupled
with other exigencies, political and economic, the Chinese typewriter is a telling story of how the unique
cultural context of China has effected the transfer and development of this new writing technology.
I believe such a presentation will be of interest to teachers and students of computers and writing who are
interested in the history of writing technology development, especially the ideological, cultural, and
rhetorical factors that have shaped such development.