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Tom Mullaney Profile picture
@tsmullaney
Jul 21, 2021 • 9 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X
Scrolly
In China, suburban garages don't factor in the lore of computing history the way they do in the U.S. But prisons do – at least, one particular prison in which a Chinese engineer was sentenced to solitary confinement for thought crimes against Mao /1

psyche.co/ideas/how-a-so…
His name was Zhi Bingyi and, during long and anxiety-ridden days, months and years of solitude, he made a breakthrough that helped launch China’s personal computing revolution: he helped make it possible to type Chinese with a QWERTY keyboard. /2

psyche.co/ideas/how-a-so… Image
Unsure if he would ever see his wife again, and with no work to occupy his mind, Zhi filled the long hours staring at an 8-character poster on the wall:

坦白从宽，抗拒从严
‘Leniency For Those Who Confess, Severity For Those Who Resist’

psyche.co/ideas/how-a-so…
By the 100th reading – perhaps the 1,000th – Zhi began to explode these characters in his mind. The first character (坦), for example, could be readily divided into two distinct parts: 土 and 旦, and then further still into + and −

psyche.co/ideas/how-a-so…
Zhi managed to get hold of a pen, but paper was impossible to find. Instead, he used the lid of a teacup, which his captors provided him to drink hot water. When turned over, Zhi discovered, the lid was large enough to fit a few dozen Latin letters.

psyche.co/ideas/how-a-so… Image
Sino-US normalisation brought was an influx of US-built computers and computing equipment into the PRC, personal computers in particular. US companies regarded China as an immense, untapped market for the ‘personal computing revolution’.

psyche.co/ideas/how-a-so… Image
Suddenly, Zhi and his teacup hallucinations took on immense real-world applications. The ‘spelling’ system he made might be the key to cracking the code of QWERTY-based Chinese computing.

psyche.co/ideas/how-a-so… Image
Zhi came on the radar of engineers and technologists in the PRC, as well as two foreign organisations – the Olympia Werke company, a towering presence in the history of German precision engineering, and the Graphics Arts Research Foundation in the US.

psyche.co/ideas/how-a-so… Image
Zhi was sitting in a darkened cell, with long stretches of boredom punctuated by moments of dread, tracing out ephemeral alphabetic codes on the underside of a teacup, and eventually dreaming of a fully mature Chinese-language information environment.

psyche.co/ideas/how-a-so… Image

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More from @tsmullaney

Tom Mullaney Profile picture
Mar 20, 2023
Symbolic centralization suggests that Beijing Time was a way for the government to symbolically centralize power. /9
Symbolic secession suggests that Beijing Time was a way for the PRC to differentiate itself from the rest of the world, by having its own unique time zone. Each approach leaves a number of questions unanswered. /10
While the origins of Beijing Time may be shrouded in mystery, but its impact on daily life in China is undeniable. /11
Read 7 tweets
Tom Mullaney Profile picture
Mar 20, 2023
Despite spanning over 60 degrees of latitude, China has only 1 time zone, "Beijing Time" (UTC+8).

The unification of time in the PRC is a fascinating topic that has not been explored nearly enough in the literature. /THREAD
(Before beginning: Yes, I know about Urumqi Time in Xinjiang, the one exception, which is two hours behind (more on this shortly) /2
While scholars have explored the standardization of time in a Euro-American context, little attention has been paid to China's trajectory. China was not represented at any major events related to global time, & the origins of Beijing Time remain somewhat shrouded in mystery. /3
Read 15 tweets
Tom Mullaney Profile picture
Mar 17, 2023
Ever wonder how Morse code works in Chinese? Telegraphy nerds, you've come to the right place.

THREAD ImageImage
The first thing to know is: Morse code as originally conceived has only a small number of code spaces, enough for English but not for Chinese. /2 Image
In 1871, a Danish mathematician and French harbormaster invented the 4-digit Chinese telegraph code. /3 Image
Read 8 tweets
Tom Mullaney Profile picture
Mar 14, 2023
They "couldn't really tell the difference between whether I was Chinese or Japanese or Korean or if I even spoke English. They would talk very loudly and very slow."

A thread re: #MichelleYeoh & how 1 barometer of Anti-Asianism is the portrayal of Chinese-language technology /1
Before Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Yeoh's early U.S. film debut was with the James Bond franchise. Yeoh later revealed how depleting/damaging the experience was for her.

screenrant.com/james-bond-mov… /3
What I recall, because of my work on Chinese IT history, was the strange cameo made by a Chinese computer, in which the presumed otherness/alterity/strangeness/absurdity of Chinese IT was on display /3
Read 9 tweets
Tom Mullaney Profile picture
Feb 16, 2023
I just asked ChatGPT for 100 words that end in -stat.

Feast your eyes...

THREAD /1
Acrostat
Agamostat
Agnostat
Airblaststat
Ammoclepsidraulostat
Angiostat
Angiostomatosis
Anostat
Anthostat
Apneumatostat
Asthenostat
Audiostat
Autogiroservoinductostat
Autosynstat
Avionostat
Balancostat
Baryostat
Blastostat
Bulbostat
Calostat
Capsulostat
/2
Cardiostat
Cephalostat
Chromostat
Chronostat
Clinostat
Colostat
Colorstat
Compressostat
Conductostat
Conidiosporostat
Conostat
Coulombstat
Cryostat
Cyclonostat
Cytostat
Diagnostat
Dialysatostat
Dilatostat
Dispergostat
Distomatostat
Drainostat
/3
Read 6 tweets
Tom Mullaney Profile picture
Feb 16, 2023
Just when I worried if "Where Research Begins" appeals to researchers outside the Humanities, a @UTAustin grad workshop quieted all concerns.

Chris and I just led a hybrid in-person/virtual seminar for 100+ registrants, hailing from... 59 DIFF DISCIPLINES

Here they are! /1
Here are the departments of the students who attended...

Accounting
Aerospace Engineering
Anthropology
Applied Learning and Development
Art Education
Art History
Asian Cultures and Languages
Biology
Biomedical Engineering

/2

cc @mitpress

amazon.com/Where-Research…
Business Administration
Chemical Engineering
Chemistry
Civil Engineering
Communication Studies
Community and Regional Planning
Computational Science, Engineering and Mathematics
Computer Science

/3
Read 7 tweets

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