First, from among the 36 keys composing the top three 

 rows of the keyboard, the operator selects and depresses the 

 key that represents the top (or top left) component of the 

 character to be typed. Thus, for the character fS {mate, 

 companion) the typist depresses the f key, and for the char- 

 acter ^ (blue), the ^^ key. This step isolates out all of 

 those characters having those particular tops. 



Second, from among the 28 keys composing the bottom 

 two rows of the keyboard, the operator depresses the key 

 that represents the bottom (or bottom right) component of 

 the character. Thus, for the character "fg , the typist 

 would select the- 12 key, and for the character £ , the — 

 key. This step acts further to isolate out from those char- 

 acters having the same top element all those characters 

 having the bottom element represented by this second key 

 that was depressed. 



With the depression of two keys, one from the upper 

 rows and one from the lower, a gi-oup of characters has been 

 isolated, all of which have similar tops and bottoms. Lin 

 Yutang has calculated that out of his selection of 7,000 char- 

 acters, there will never be more than eight with common 

 tops and bottoms. After this electronic process of elimina- 

 tion has taken place, this group of not more than eight char- 

 acters with common tops and bottoms appear on the "magic 

 eye" viewer located on the front of the hood. 



By a process of visual selection, then, the typist has only 

 to pick out of the group of characters, numbered from one 

 up to eight, the specific character that he wishes to type. 

 The most frequently used 900 characters are in position one, 

 making for greater typing efficiency. The operator then 

 merely depresses the corresponding square numeral key on 

 the keyboard, in this instance key number four, and auto- 

 matically the character 'fS is printed. Lin's novel system 

 of character division allows for greater typing efficiency, for 

 only three keys are needed to type a character, and the 

 jjeriod required for training is much shorter and simpler. 



The Mingkwai, as with the Electro-Automatic, is said 

 to be capable of producing 50 symbols per minute when 

 operated by a skilled typist. That number, though low by 

 Western typing standards, is superior to that generally ob- 

 tainable with a writing-brush, and there are the further 

 advantages of greater legibility and the availability of car- 

 bons. This last, it may be noted in passing, also is a factor 

 in the great popularity of the ballpoint pen in Eastern Asia. 

 Summary 



The three Chinese typewriters described above consti- 

 tute excellent examples of reinvention as a result of stimulus 

 diffusion. These character typewriters represent a situation 

 in which a basic invention, the Western typewriter, was 

 modified in both principle and structure to meet the de- 

 mands of a radically different system of writing. 



Because of historical and cultural factors these reinven- 

 tions have been but partially accepted into Chinese culture, 

 for the Chinese still depend almost totally on copyist and the 

 traditional writing-brush. There are several reasons for this 

 lack of general acceptance. One, China still predomi- 

 nantly is an agricultural country and not yet sufficiently 



needful of the typewriter as an element of common usage. 

 Two, the large population insures an abundant supply of 

 scribes, as all who have frequented government and business 

 offices in China will attest. Three, the narrow selection of 

 characters is a drawback, particularly in the case of the 

 Commercial Press model. Four, in the case of automated 

 models, maintenance and operation are factors, as well as 

 cost, for such models would require a corps of trained main- 

 tenance people and an even supply of electricity, still an ex- 

 ception rather than a rule in many parts of China. Finally, 

 there still is some conservatism as regards the mechanical 

 reproduction of characters. Just as the English courts for 

 many years refused to allow their records to be typed, so 

 also there has been some reluctance among the Chinese to 

 discard the brush and inkstone. 



Given the present state of China's culture and economy, 

 one can say with fair certainty that in the foreseeable future 

 the Commercial Press style of typewriter, in the form of one 

 of the new Japanese models, will satisfy such need as exists. 

 Should Chinese economic progress allow for some other 

 form of automated typewriter, such use would be very lim- 

 ited. Either way, the situation would be an example of 

 stimulus diffusion, through modification of the Western 

 typewriter to meet the demands of a character language. 



One other possibility should be considered. The com- 

 ments made here concerning the acceptance of the type- 

 writer have been predicated on the assumption that the 

 Chinese wovild continue in their traditional system of writ- 

 ing. It is within the realm of possibility that in response to 

 pressure from the non-character world, the Chinese ulti- 

 mately might adopt a system of phonetic or syllabic writing, 

 although such change does not seem likely, given the re- 

 markable tenacity of Chinese cultural tradition. Such a 

 shift thus would obviate the need for a character typewriter, 

 and the Western-style machine, already refined to a high 

 degree, then could fill the cultural need. In such a case the 

 result then would be a rejection of the reinvention in favor 

 of the original invention, the Western typewriter. Should 

 this alternative occur, the situation then in part would be 

 a case of the Chinese modifying their traditional native sys- 

 tem of writing to conform with one or another of those used 

 in the non-character world and to fit within the limitations 

 of the original foreign invention. Such a situation indeed 

 would constitute an interesting turn in the endless flow of 

 cultural change. 



• Kroeber, A. L. Anthropology (New York, 1948: pp. 368-69). 



• The Japanese, with whom the idea of the character-typewriter 

 seems to have originated, still actively produce and market such 

 typewriters which, although highly refined and, in some cases, 

 automated, are based on the same structural and operational prin- 

 ciples as the Commercial Press model here described. The Japa- 

 nese also manufacture a syllabary-typewriter, similar to a Western 

 typewriter, but with the keyboard modified to accommodate their 

 more numerous syllabary of kana symbols. 



' The 2,546 symbols include but a small portion of the total 

 corpus of Chinese characters. The selection is based on common 

 business usage, but even so is not always adequate. 



* "Two new Chinese typewriters," The China Magazine, vol. 17, 

 no. 8 (August, 1947), pp. 48-55. 



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