Thomas S. Mullaney

The Chinese Computer

A Global History of the Information Age

About the Book

How can Chinese — a language with tens of thousands of characters and no alphabet — be input on a device with only a few dozen keys? In The Chinese Computer, Thomas S. Mullaney resolves this paradox, discovering that the solution gave rise to a new epoch in the history of writing — a form of writing he calls "hypography."

Based on fifteen years of research, this pathbreaking history charts the beginnings of electronic Chinese technology in the wake of World War II, through a network of American academic and military outfits including MIT, the CIA, the U.S. Air Force, the RAND Corporation, and IBM, and into the hands of a burgeoning network of Chinese, Taiwanese, and Japanese computer scientists from the 1970s onward.

Along the way, Mullaney introduces a cast of brilliant and eccentric personalities drawn from the ranks of IBM, MIT, the CIA, the Pentagon, the Taiwanese military, and the highest rungs of mainland Chinese establishment.

Part of the Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University series.

Praise for The Chi­nese Computer

“Mul­laney’s spir­it­ed nar­ra­tive, half detec­tive sto­ry, half his­to­ry of tech­nol­o­gy — a sequel to his equal­ly fas­ci­nat­ing book on the inven­tion of the Chi­nese typewriter.”

— For­eign Affairs

“An infor­ma­tive and enjoy­able his­to­ry. Geeks will enjoy the com­put­ing conun­drums and Sinophiles will love the his­to­ry; lay­men, too, will learn plenty.”

— The Econ­o­mist

“A superbly-researched and orig­i­nal tale. There’s no short­age of books out there on Chi­na, but Thomas Mul­laney’s The Chi­nese Com­put­er real­ly is some­thing different.”

— Engels­berg Ideas

“Clev­er­ly con­ceived and exquis­ite­ly researched, The Chi­nese Com­put­er is a triumph.”

— Vic­tor Seow

“Mul­laney’s grip­ping nar­ra­tive, brim­ming with his­tor­i­cal and tech­no­log­i­cal insights, makes the bold claim that Chi­nese-lan­guage com­put­ing has already changed the very nature of writ­ing itself.”

— Zev Han­del

“This won­der­ful book chron­i­cles events that would have oth­er­wise been lost.”

— Ken Lunde

“The book unveils a cap­ti­vat­ing his­to­ry of inven­tions for Chi­nese com­put­er input, pre­vi­ous­ly unknown to even experts in human-com­put­er interaction.”

— Shumin Zhai, Prin­ci­pal Sci­en­tist and Direc­tor of Gboard, Google

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