AJ's grandma was a typist in an elementary school.
When AJ was a little kid, computer had not been very common in Taiwan.
Nearly all the official documents need to be performed by stereotype print.
AJ had ever seen grandma manipulates a portable typewriter before.
The lead Chinese characters and English letters were all produced by Ri-Xing Type Foundry.
This foundry is near Taipei Train station for about 10-15min walk, so it is very convenient to get here.
It is secretly hidden in one of the small alleys and it has already been fun to discover this small type wonderland!
There are 2000-3000 common Chinese character type (鉛字) in the workshop!
Other than that, some other special characters are also preserved.
Not only variation of characters, the types also have different sizes and font.
Take a look and be amazed by the beauty of Chinese characters.
English letter in different fonts and sizes are also available.
Nowadays, computer technology has brought us to a new era.
We just need some simple clicking to finish a half day work with stereotype in the old days.
Many traditional techniques are also gone with those old day memories.
Ri-Xing Type Foudry now just run by few business order; mostly open for exhibition.
If you would like to know further about the history of movable type, you can go downstairs for the workshop owner.
He is just like a “Living History of Type”. Have fun!
Please note:
(1) Because the aisles are very narrow, before entering the workshop, please put your personal bags on the shelves at the right hand side.
(2) If you take one of the character type out of the shelf, it would be considered as BUYING it, so think before you act!
Thanks a lot for barku's nano cache.