《The Chinese Typewriter》"Revolutionizing Typewriting in China"

The history of commodities always comes up with global communication and comparative studies. Thomas S. Mullaney offers me an inspiring account of the Chinese typewriter. It doesnt only follow the traditional structure to write the creation and dynamic change of the Chinese typewriter, filling the gap of understanding modern Chinese character reform. Mullaney puts the typewriter as a seed, merging with issues like linguistic supremacy of the alphabetic system, modernity, orientalism, nationalism inside a commodity, etc. I am impressed with the fusion of grand social, cultural, and technical backgrounds in writing a specific device. The typewriter is not purely a tool to enhance efficiency in writing; it also represents an approach to modernity and offers access to social progress. In this carrier, we could find how linguistic supremacy existed within a seemingly neutral technical language and Kanji cultures efforts to be a part of the "modern world."

The description of collapsing ethnolinguistic imagination (p.50) is also a great point inside the book. When global communication became more intensive in the 19th century, the quest for universality and the singular imagination of modernity constituted the spiritual core of emerging commodities. The Chinese typewriter and Chinese itself as a case prove the evidence. We could take this method to examine other items to see their roles in diffusing Western values and imperialism. On the contrary, just like so many categories of localized Chinese typewriters, we could make a commodity as a lens to view the counteraction towards them.