The (ir)reality of the MingKwai typewriter, part 2
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In part 1 of this post, "The (ir)reality of the MingKwai typewriter" (10/17/25) and many preceding, related posts (see "Selected readings" and the links to which they lead), we saw what a boondoggle and fiasco the Chinese typewriter (especially Lin Yutang's MingKwai) was. Yet people are still glorifying and extolling the clumsy, clunky, cumbersome Chinese typewriter as though it were leading the IT revolution (when the reality is quite the contrary). So much hype and sensationalism about the retrograde Chinese typewriter!
The following bilibili video, although in Chinese, will show how complicated and expensive to replicate such a device is:
Remarks by Xinyi Ye:
I just saw this behind-the-scenes video of HTX Studio's Chinese typewriter production. In another interview video, HTX said their studio was experiencing a financial deficit last year [when they made the video attempting to replicate Lin Yutang's MingKwai]. Probably not as bad as what happened to Lin Yutang [who went bankrupt building the MingKwai], but again shows how much investment goes into doing something like this!
It behooves all those who preach the gospel of the MingKwai and related Chinese typewriters to read and take to heart the scholarly critiques in the bibliography below.
Selected readings
- "The (ir)reality of the MingKwai typewriter" (10/17/25)
- "Chinese Typewriter" (6/30/09)
- "Chinese typewriter, part 2" (4/17/11) — with memorable photos
- "The many myths about the Chinese typewriter" (9/7/25)
- "Chinese typewriter redux" (11/5/16) — this and the preceding two posts all talk about my favorite M. C. Hammer performance, "Chinese Typewriter Dance" ("U Can't Touch This")
- "Another chapter in the history of the Chinese typewriter" (8/14/21)
- "The many myths about the Chinese typewriter" (9/7/25)
- "The impact of phonetic inputting on Chinese languages" (12/9/19)
- "The Chinese Computer: Competition or Cooperation?" (3/1/26) — David Moser's lengthy critique of hypography, QWERTY, and other mistaken notions related to Chinese typing.
- "Triple review of books on characters and computers" (8/23/24) — by J. Marshall Unger
번하드 said,
March 19, 2026 @ 1:26 pm
In Korea, the history of the typewriter is deeply entwined with the history
of changing writing system usage, e.g. orientation change and 한자 becoming
much rarer.
A nice overview: https://youtube.com/watch?v=UenaIex_ZXY
The first practical typewriter was developed by 공병우(1906-1995) who was
a very interesting person, he also opened the first eye clinic in Korea
and in his late years he influenced early hangeul work in computing.
https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EA%B3%B5%EB%B3%91%EC%9A%B0
https://namu.wiki/w/%EA%B3%B5%EB%B3%91%EC%9A%B0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAqx3xLQ5rE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBrLucvWOuc
Philip Taylor said,
March 20, 2026 @ 3:28 am
I found the video absolutely fascinating ("totally impractical, but nonetheless a work of genius" is how I would describe the device portrayed) but my Chinese was inadequate for the task of following the narration, even when assisted by the subtitles, so for the benefit of those who (like myself) really want to follow the video, I have placed a transcript (in subtitle format, *.srt) at https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/yao705h58patmnocut90l/Subtitle_Last-week-we-releas…e_1773968426862.srt?rlkey=b0gucs4gv4csikkwp4cwz30sd&dl=0.
The video with the subtitles overlaid is available at https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vocpxo783j1vgk4usobjw/Subtitled-video.mp4?rlkey=jahu5tkn86idlf6rgmi7avxcm&dl=0
My very sincere thanks to a good Chinese friend, "ZR", who made this possible.
Philip Taylor said,
March 20, 2026 @ 3:33 am
It looks as if the site infrastructure is not up to the task of correctly hyperlinking the first URL, so I have created a copy (eliminating the multiple periods in the filename) which I have placed at https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/yao705h58patmnocut90l/Last-week-we-released-a-video-of-a-Chinese-typewriter-subtitles-only.srt?rlkey=b0gucs4gv4csikkwp4cwz30sd&dl=0 — I hope that this URL survives embedding …
Philip Taylor said,
March 20, 2026 @ 5:58 am
I had thought that my earlier comment, presumably having been auto-moderated because of the embedded URLs, might have been re-instated by now, but as it has not, I have done my best to paraphrase it from memory below —
I was extremely impressed by the contents of the video (the Chinese Typewriter depicted is surely a work of pure genius, even if totally impractical) but lacking the necessary Chinese language skills to follow the narration (even with the assistance of the subtitles), I asked a very good Chinese friend, "ZR", if he could assist. He very kindly did so, created English-language subtitles, and embedded them in the video which can now be found at https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vocpxo783j1vgk4usobjw/Subtitled-video.mp4?rlkey=jahu5tkn86idlf6rgmi7avxcm&dl=0
Philip Taylor said,
March 25, 2026 @ 3:49 am
My sincere thanks to Victor for drawing my (and perhaps our) attention to the existence and life of Lin Yutang) — inspired, intrigued, and wanting to learn more, I purchased a copy of Lighting a candle and cursing the darkness by Ryan Murray, where I read (on page 37) :
OK, Iranians are neither yellow nor black, but their predominant skin colouration ("light olive to medium brown") could well be described as somewhere in-between, in which case I think that Lin was demonstrating quite remarkable (and worrying) prescience …
Sadly, a few pages further on we learn that Lin invested over USD 100 000 [about USD 1 350 000 today] into his Chinese typewriter project "but it was a flop. By his own admission, the project had brough him down to his last cent". I still think it was a work of genius, but totally impractical for the time of its invention.