By adopting a comprehensive text analysis of the historical documentations, the paper follows a study of Hou-Kun Chow in the following aspects: (1) it schematically sorts out the track of Hou-Kun Chow’s lifetime and finds that there are two motivations for Chow to study western knowledge of science and technology, one for the rejuvenation of China, and the other for his own interest and career, especially in the later years studying abroad. (2) it focuses on an analysis of a piece of treatise containing Chow’s elaboration about his typewriter. This treatise also discusses three kinds of failure to invent a typewriter, among which Chow held in contempt to the attempt of tearing down Chinese characters. In contrast, Chow’s invention has a significant importance on protecting Chinese characters and developing Chinese language. However, Chow preferred himself to be memorized as one of the Chinese typewriter’s independent inventors rather than “The Father of Chinese Typewriter”. (3) the result of the analysis shows that the basis of Chow’s technological thoughts lies in the Chinese traditional ideology of Confucianism and Buddhism implicated in Chinese language and character. Based on it, this paper generalizes his theoretical and empirical opinions on technical invention and believes that they are quite enlightening even today, which are embodied in either the beginning, proceeding or post period of a technological study.

Chinese typewriter  /  Hou-Kun Chow  /  thought of technology  /  boxer indemnity scholars