Tracing the history of Chinese character typesetting

An interactive multimedia exhibition, entitled "China Through the Eyes of Typefacing," traces the history of printing through Huafeng, a modern type-making company.

Huafeng turned 110 on Friday, when the exhibition opened at the Yangpu Cultural Art Center. It was founded in 1915 as a small private firm of about 50 people specializing in Chinese character typesetting. After a series of agglomerations in the 1960s, it became the Shanghai No. 1 Typecasting Company, one of East China's largest typefounding companies.

Huafeng has played an important role in the casting of key varieties of Chinese characters used in printing across the country. Such typesetting has subsequently been mostly supplanted by laser composition, although Huafeng is the only surviving typefounding company, primarily engaged in printing for presents or packaging.

Huafeng was named China's Time-honored Brand in 2024, and its movable lead type printing method was recognized as a representative non-tangible cultural heritage item in Yangpu.

Visitors can have an immersive experience that highlights this invention as a cultural heritage. This journey will encompass the invention of Chinese characters (when it rained millet, and the ghosts were moved to tears), the inscriptions of characters on bones or tortoise shells from the Shang Dynasty (circa 16th-11th century BC), the invention of movable type by Northern Song Dynasty inventor Bi Sheng (972-1051), and the advancements in modern laser typesetting.

Visitors will have the opportunity to participate in a DIY typesetting activity, where they are tasked with locating the necessary types to create a small press.

During the exhibition, there will be forums featuring senior type designers who will share their insights on typecasting aesthetics and discuss the evolution of Chinese types across different eras from both cultural and daily life perspectives.

If you go:

Date: November 28-30

Venue: Yangpu Cultural Art Center

Address: 188 Zhongyuan Road, Yangpu District 杨浦区中原路188号