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03/18/2008: "Chinese Typewriter"

Chinese Typewriter made by Double Pigeon back in 1985. DHY-d Series.

This Chinese typewriter illustrates the uniqueness and complexity of Chinese typography. It does not have a keyboard, but instead uses a tray that contains over 2000 characters, arranged according to 214 groups of meaning classifiers (the building blocks, or boushou, of characters). Several thousand more would be available on a second tray. The typist first aligns the tray and then presses a key, which makes an arm pick up each desired character in turn and strike it against the paper, a time-consuming process.

This typewriter now sits in V&A Museum (London) as part of the China Design Now exhibit.