Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 583 An Encounter at the Airport
June 5, Hongqiao Airport.

Inside the waiting area, Zhou Yali held Chen Fan's arm tightly, her eyes brimming with tears. "Brother, I can't bear to part with you."

Jiang Lili and Jiang Tiantian watched her from the side, their expressions somewhat strange.

Even if they are cousins, isn't this a bit too intimate? Or is this just the prevailing social norm in America?

Chen Fan coaxed him like a child, "Separation is for reunion. Look, summer vacation is just around the corner, and then..."

Then Zhou Yali's eyes suddenly lit up. "That's right, the US is different from China. Our summer vacation starts at the end of May or the beginning of June. School is already on summer vacation now, so I don't have to go back. And school doesn't start until the beginning of September. I have three months."

She then turned to Zhao Wanru and asked, "Mommy, can I not go back?"

Zhao Wanru smiled slightly, "No."

He paused for a moment, then added, "Although school is on holiday now, you still have a lot of homework to catch up on, otherwise you know the consequences."

Zhou Yali's face immediately fell. "Alright then."

Zhao Wanru smiled and said, "If you can catch up on your studies and pass the social practice course smoothly, making Mommy happy, I promise you, you can come and play with Xiaofan again before the start of the fall semester."

Before coming here, she was worried that the conditions were too harsh and that her daughter wouldn't be able to adapt.

When the time came, wow, my nephew was living an incredibly carefree life. He had cars to drive around in, meat to eat, and villas everywhere. It was a world of difference from what some newspapers had reported.

She felt even more at ease, especially given the security situation in China.

In all these days, she had neither seen nor heard of any security incidents. Although many militia members had guns, they were used to defend against invaders, which was completely different from the freedom of gun ownership in the United States.

She wasn't worried at all when her daughter came to see Xiaofan alone.

Hearing her mother's promise, Zhou Yali immediately perked up and confidently raised her fist, "No problem!"

Chen Fan clicked his tongue and silently sighed, "They're really rich."

The regular flight route from Kyoto to Tokyo currently only operates twice a week. Tickets are priced in foreign currency, with business class costing 87,350 yen and economy class costing 62,400 yen.

Then, a flight from Tokyo to the United States costs around $3000. A round trip costs nearly 6000 RMB, which would take an average worker in China 15 or 6 years to save up, while the wealthy can fly whenever they want. It's truly enviable.

Oh, I have money too? That's alright.

Chen Fan turned around and saw Zhou Zhengdong still writing and drawing in his notebook. He couldn't help but say, "The Chinese character system is actually not complicated. The most important thing right now is to solve two problems: one is display, and the other is retrieval."

I've already provided a suggested approach—using Pinyin input method will suffice. So, the most important thing now is for you to go back and find suitable researchers to solve the problem of how to display Chinese characters.

A Chinese typewriter is one thing, while a Chinese computer is another. Besides the crucial Chinese character retrieval function, a computer has an additional feature compared to a typewriter: a monitor.

In early computers, text was displayed using a character set, with each character represented by a 9 x 14 pixel dot matrix. These pixels were displayed in a 4KB monochrome graphics card, with fixed color and size.

Then, by inserting a 16KB color graphics card into the computer, the color and size of these characters can be changed. In this way, the originally single Latin letters can be transformed to form different words, thus enabling the display of English.

Chinese characters have very different shapes and forms. There are thousands of commonly used characters alone, but they cannot be freely combined like English characters. Otherwise, the resulting characters would not necessarily be normal.

This determines that the storage capacity of Chinese characters is hundreds of times that of a character set, and requires more video memory and system memory.

Furthermore, if Chinese characters are to be displayed, the original pixel array is definitely not enough. At least a 16*16 pixel array is needed to meet the requirements of simple Chinese characters, and a larger pixel array is needed for complex Chinese characters.

This is just a display issue.

As for input, how to retrieve the required Chinese characters from the character database as quickly and accurately as possible has been a problem that has persisted for decades.

Zhou Zhengdong closed his notebook, frowned, and said, "In 1919, Shu Zhendong, an engineer at the Commercial Press, conducted research and innovation based on the work of his predecessors and invented the first Chinese typewriter with practical significance. However, due to its inefficiency and high cost, it could only be shelved in the end."

In 1947, Lin Yutang announced the invention of a Chinese typewriter, which he named the "Mingkuai Typewriter". It used a radical combination method and could type a character in as little as three keys. However, this typewriter, which cost Lin Yutang thirty years of effort and $120,000, could only be sold to the American Morgenthora Typesetting Machine Company for a low price of $20,000.

The Morgan Sora Typewriter Company, however, concluded that the machine had no market because of its overly complex and sophisticated structure, high cost, and tendency to malfunction. After a brief study, they abandoned it, clearly indicating that the typewriter was not mature enough.

Eisenhower then issued a statement saying he would release a Chinese typewriter as a gift to all Chinese people. Unfortunately, nothing more was said after that.

In 1947, IBM also invented a Chinese typewriter. This machine contained 5000 Chinese characters, and the keyboard consisted of four rows of number keys from 0 to 9. To retrieve the corresponding character, four number codes needed to be pressed simultaneously. However, memorizing these character codes was a massive undertaking, and although some geniuses could memorize such a large number, it was not widely adopted.

(IBM Dianhua Typewriter, Dianhua means electric Chinese)
He turned to look at Chen Fan, his face full of confusion. "After more than half a century, countless talents and capital have been invested in countless efforts, yet the problem of Chinese character input has not been completely solved. Is it really as simple as you say?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "This isn't a question of whether it's simple or not, but rather a difference in perspective."

Previous researchers studying Chinese character input methods all relied on searching through radicals and shapes. However, Chinese characters are incredibly diverse and fundamentally different from Western keyboards. As a result, even if a machine as practical as the 'Mingkuai Typewriter' were invented, few people would be willing to continue improving and promoting it.

My current approach is to utilize the already mature 'Pinyin' system for searching Chinese characters. Since Pinyin letters are identical to English letters, this means it can be directly integrated into the increasingly sophisticated microcomputers, eliminating the need for massive investment in research and development like starting from scratch.

Another advantage is that the expandability of microcomputers makes this integration feasible.

Therefore, as long as the problem of how to display Chinese characters on the screen can be solved, and a 'Chinese character expansion card' can be developed, it will be possible to type Chinese characters on a computer.

After saying that, he spread his hands and said, "But I can only offer ideas. As for how to solve the specific problem, you will need to find someone to study it after you return to the United States."

Yesterday he heard that the Apple II could expand its memory and had eight expansion slots, and at that moment he thought of one thing: a Chinese character card!

The emergence of the Chinese character card stemmed primarily from two points. Firstly, early computers lacked user-friendly operating systems, and their built-in programs were only in English. This made it virtually impossible for Chinese users to process documents on a computer, yet there was a real need for this service. So what could be done?

Then I'll make it myself.

By integrating the Chinese character system onto an expansion card and connecting it to a computer, you can use Chinese characters to process documents.

Another advantage of this expansion card mode is that it minimizes the use of the computer's own memory space, thus not affecting the computer's performance and efficiency. After the emergence of Chinese character cards, they have almost become standard equipment for computers in China. If someone buys a computer and doesn't get a Chinese character card, it's like buying a pot but not a spatula—they can only stare blankly at the computer screen.

Until the mid-90s, the performance of 486 microcomputers "skyrocketed," and with the addition of the Windows 3.2 operating system, they could support Chinese character processing very well, without the need for Chinese character cards or any additional costs. Only then did Chinese character cards disappear from the historical stage and become part of the memories of old relics.

If Chen Fan hadn't heard his professor talk about this in college, he, a post-95s generation, would have had absolutely nothing to do with Chinese character cards, let alone come up with ideas to help Zhou Zhengdong find someone to research them after returning to the United States.

Now, the natural approach is to adopt what's readily available; it all depends on whether my uncle is willing to help.

Zhou Zhengdong was still a little unsure. Although English letters and Pinyin letters are the same, Pinyin does not represent English. If he wanted to use the Pinyin input method, he would still have to learn Pinyin again.

However, since it was the first and only thing his nephew had asked him to do, he naturally agreed without hesitation.

At the same time, he also knew in his heart that if his nephew's idea was correct and he really developed the Chinese character card, then his nephew could become a billionaire just by having this one thing.

Besides mainland China, including Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, there are as many as 40 to 50 million overseas Chinese. Even if only one-tenth of them need this, how valuable would it be?!

Is it worth hundreds of millions of dollars?!

Moreover, these electronic products are consumables; once they break, they need to be replaced, providing a steady stream of income—like a hen that lays golden eggs.

Oh, by the way, my nephew also has an idea for a Western fantasy novel, which is another golden goose.

Wow, they're going to set up a chicken farm!
Chen Fan has great confidence in the Pinyin input method.

How did the Wubi input method disappear in later generations? It's because Wubi requires memorizing character roots, while anyone who has learned Pinyin can use the Pinyin input method with a keyboard.

Besides, is learning Pinyin really that difficult? Even elementary school students as young as a few years old can learn it in a few days, so how long would it take an adult?
If you can learn a set of pinyin in a day or two, you can use simple and convenient Chinese computer software. What else do you need to consider?
Zhou Zhengdong made a final note in his notebook, saying, "Since it's a Pinyin input method, it definitely needs someone who understands Pinyin. I'll see if I can find one in the United States. If not, I'll just have to study it using the Xinhua Dictionary."

Furthermore, traditional Chinese characters are used overseas, while simplified Chinese characters are used in mainland China, so two separate character sets will need to be developed.

Chen Fan nodded and then added, "The Xinhua Dictionary I gave you still uses the first-simplified characters. The second-simplified characters are currently used in China. The second-simplified characters are not yet mature, so you don't need to consider them when making the character set. Just use the first-simplified characters directly."

Zhou Zhengdong nodded and closed the notebook. "I've got it."

Time flew by, and soon it was time to board the plane.

Chen Fan waved goodbye to Zhou Zhengdong and Zhao Wanru.

When it was Zhou Yali's turn, the girl hugged him tightly with tears in her eyes, saying, "Brother, I can't bear to part with you."

Chen Fan's face darkened. "Hey, I'm telling you, if you keep hugging like that, the security guards will come and take us both away."

This isn't America; it's inappropriate for men and women to hug and kiss in public.

Zhou Yali wrinkled her nose and gave a soft hum, "How annoying."

However, he finally let go of her hand, then ran to the two sisters and gave them each a hug.

Only then, carrying the small cage of the gyrfalcon in one hand, did she pout and wave goodbye to him and the Jiang sisters. (I had previously looked up a photo of an American girl in the 70s holding her pet dog on an airplane, but I forgot to save it and can't find it now. So, back then, it should have been possible to bring pets on board.)
Only after their figures disappeared at the boarding gate did Chen Fan let out a long breath, turn around and shrug at the two sisters, "Finally, they're gone."

Jiang Lili chuckled and whispered, "If your cousin hears that, she'll give you a hard time again."

Jiang Tiantian nodded in agreement.

They haven't had a good time these past few days either. Zhou Yali is too clingy, not just to Chen Fan, but to both of them as well.

Zhou Yali's personality is such that she is polite and maintains social distance in front of strangers, but is very intimate with people she likes in private. Having never interacted with overseas Chinese before, they were quite unaccustomed to it.

Chen Fan shrugged helplessly. "That's why I'm scared."

Then he waved his hand and said, "Go home."

The two sisters smiled at each other, then held hands and followed behind him.

After exiting the waiting hall, Chen Fan looked around at the entrance and then prepared to go to the parking lot to find the sidecar he had ridden.

Just then, a voice came from not far behind, "Teacher Chen?"

Chen Fan turned around and looked around, then exclaimed in surprise, "Old Gao?"

Standing behind him, Jiang Lili couldn't help but open her mouth slightly. Why was Lao Gao here?

Jiang Tiantian looked at the person walking quickly towards her with a puzzled expression and asked in a low voice, "Who is this?"

Judging from his appearance, he was clearly an old farmer, but he was wearing a well-fitting shirt, trousers, and leather shoes, and a big gold watch on his wrist. He looked like a nouveau riche.
(In Chapter 53 of The Scholars, there is a record that says, "They are just those nouveau riche families. If it were my family, how dare they be so bold!" Therefore, the term "nouveau riche" existed in the Qing Dynasty and was not created later.)

Jiang Lili squeezed her hand and whispered, "He is a member of Team 9 in Lujiawan."

Jiang Tiantian tilted her head, "Hmm?"

Jiang Lili lowered her voice again, "He is the orphan of Xiaobenzi. I heard Xiaofan mention it last time. In April, his uncle from Xiaobenzi went to Xiaobenzi and took him there. I didn't expect him to come back."

Jiang Tiantian suddenly realized, "Oh, that makes sense now."

When Lao Gao walked up to him, Chen Fan's first words were, "Why are you dressed like this?"

Old Gao tugged at his shirt awkwardly, then lowered his head sheepishly and said, "I didn't want to dress like this, but my aunt insisted, so I wore it."

Chen Fan chuckled dryly twice, then looked at Lao Gao's wife who had followed closely behind, raised his hand in greeting, and then looked to the side, "Where's Xiao Gao?"

(End of this chapter)