'Double Pigeon' Chinese Typewriter (Shuānggē) with cover, and typeset in box, made by Shanghai Calculating & Typewriter MFG Works, China, c. 1965-1975.

Typewriters have revolutionised and democratised the history of writing and writing technologies around the world. This example, known as the ‘Double Pigeon’ Typewriter (Shuānggē), is an object that illustrates the creative technologies employed in the challenge of developing rapid writing machines for logosyllabic languages and played a significant role in Chinese social history.

Rather than an alphabet or syllabary, the Chinese language uses a complex system of symbols and characters to express whole words or concepts. This means that there are easily over 100,000 characters given the division of the language into Traditional and Simplified character types and basic literacy demands the ability to recognise thousands of characters in different layouts. Therefore, a great deal was demanded of a Chinese language typewriter, a single machine needed to process thousands of characters and be adaptable to the demands of the individual typist. The Double Pigeon typewriter represents one solution to this challenge. Rather than a keyboard it sports a tray bed that holds over 2,000 individual characters with a section for special category characters such as numbers, weights, measures, and cardinal directions. Typists would drag the selecting arm to the desired place in the tray and activate a lever operated selection tool – lifting the correct character from the tray and striking it against the rotating paper on the cylinder. This was a time-consuming process, though the tray design allowed for extensive customisation. Typists were able to move characters as necessary and more commonly used characters could be grouped together for faster selection. It is likely that the common word groups created by typists using these machines influenced later word processing technology in China, paving the way for word prediction in Chinese language input methods for computers and predictive text messaging continuing to be developed today.

Though not the first example of a successful Chinese language typewriter, the ‘Double Pigeon' typewriter played a significant role in spreading the mechanisation of Chinese language to a broad audience as it was arguably the most recognisable and popular typewriter type in Maoist China (1949-1976). This example was produced by the Shanghai Calculator and Typewriter Factory around 1970. Training, access, and use of the 'Double Pigeon' were in high demand during this period, and regular recruitment drives were aimed at applicants of all genders. The pale green colour and distinctive logo of the 'Double Pigeon' were used extensively in Maoist propaganda and highlighted Chinese priorities in factory mass production, increased literacy, and rapid communication in an increasingly globalised world stage.