STENOGRAPHY IN CHINA TODAY AND THE DEVELOPMENT
Like the development elsewhere in the world, stenography in China has also taken a 2-steps path: from handwriting to mechanical; and from mechanical to electronic, or computerized. Since shorthand was first introduced into China in 1896, it had taken almost 100 years until the first electric stenomachine: the Yawei Chinese Stenograph was invented in 1994.
Since 1930s, many shorthand practitioners and specialists have contributed a lot in creation, research, education and application of new ways of handwriting shorthand. It resulted in a wide dissemination of the knowledge in the country.
And the government started to adopt it in recording and processing historical documents and files. Outstanding figures played important role at that time.
During 1950s and 1960s, many specialists started to work on the mechanical shorthand. However, due to the specific features of Chinese characters, all works ended without any practical result. Handwriting still dominated the stenography in China.
In early 1990s, in a background of rapid development and popularization of computers technology world wide, the stenography community in China felt the pressure to catch up with the world renovation of sciences and technology.
Upon the request of the Supreme Court of China, Beijing Stenography Association led by Professor Tang Yawei started to research on the computerized shorthand equipment in early 1993, which resulted the invention of Yawei Chinese Stenograph In 1994.
Up to now, Yawei Stenograph has been the only stenomachine and fastest Chinese input equipment compatible to PC in China. It can be connected directly to the PC, and the recording materials are processed through special software simultaneously.
Twin operation is also supported: when one operator typewrites the notes, the other one can do the proofreading and editing at the same time and they may exchange shifts from time to time. It makes it possible for the first time in China for a casual speaker to have his/her transcription right after his/her speech is over.
The software can be operated under DOS and WINDOWS systems and the one under LINUX system will be available soon to keep pace with the development of the technology.
In 2003, our hardware technicians improved the portability of Yawei Stenograph by adding a memory into the machine, which enables the machine to work without a PC, even in a mobile condition. In 2004, the wireless connection with PC is functioned to the machine. Signals can be transmitted to the PC at distance without the trouble of cabling. We will continue to work on low noise and/or mute Stenographs in order to meet special requirements of certain occasions. Our software programmers are also working on improving the system into more smart, more accurate and more convenient to the users.
The Yawei Chinese Stenograph was invented by Professor Tang Yawei based on years of consistent research of the mechanical shorthand technology and the development of computer technology. Under assistance of the China Society, Beijing Stenography Association and Xiaojun Office Equipment Company Ltd., worked in collaboration in carrying out this project. Over 50 technicians, either engineers or with doctor s or master s degrees, took part in the project from time to time.
In its debut in the China Computer Products Expo in 1994, the Yawei Chinese Stenograph attracted wide interests especially from the law courts and publishing houses where real time reporting, site reporting and frequent typewriting are required.
Yawei Chinese Stenograph s invention claims a landmark in the history of shorthand in China. It remarks a stride across from hand writing directly to computerization. By connecting with a PC or another stenograph, when one operator types in the speech, the other one can do the proofreading. While the transcript can be saved in the memory, printed into text or shared in large screen by projector or through internet.
The Yawei Chinese Stenograph has been widely recognized by all sectors of the society in China
In Nov. 1994, it was appraised as leading in the country and meeting international standard by the Ministry of Labors in a professional identification;
In 1995, the National Science Committee published document in popularizing the use of the machine and organized a display conference in Oct in Beijing;
In 1996, Beijing Municipal Government granted a Class B Prize for New Products;
Also in 1996, it was certificated as a project of the State s Torch Program;
In 1997, the Supreme Court drafted an official document in popularizing the use of Yawei Chinese Stenograph in the courts reporting, to meet the requirement of computerization in the court. In Nov. the same year, a contest was organized by the Supreme Court for the stenograph operators in the court system to compete for their skills. 48 competitors from 12 provinces participated in the contest. And the 2nd and 3rd contests were held in 1998 and 1999.
The score record ranged from 160 to 180 characters per min at the 1st contest, 180 to 210 at the 2nd and 180 to 230 at the 3rd, the time for dictation was all being 30 min. Up to now there are about 10,000 reporters working with Yawei Chinese Stenograph in about 3000 courts in the country.
In 2000, the National People s Congress set up its first team of stenographers for the real time reporting of the discussions and meetings in its Standing Committee. And the same team in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was set up this year.
Yawei Chinese Stenograph has become an indispensable facility at the press conference held by the State Council the National People s Congress, the Chinese People s Political Consultation Conference and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Some state officials also have stenographers in the delegations during their official visits.
In 2003, national professional criterion for stenographer was published by the Ministry of Labors and Social Protection.
The commercial service of Yawei Chinese Stenographs was launched in 1998. Nowadays, there are up to 1000 professional stenographers from 20 service companies in the city of Beijing and over 200 companies and schools for the sales and training of Yawei Stenograph as well as stenograph service in the whole country.
Computerized shorthand services are reaching all corners of the daily life. Governmental departments, big companies, tv stations, publishing houses and even websites are all customers of the service. Many colleges and universities have set up shorthand courses. National Judge College, National Prosecutor College, Shanghai Judge College, China Women University, Beijing Science and Technology University, Beijing Political and Legal Management Institute and Judge Schools in Guangzhou and Tianjin are some of them.
Almost all subtitles of the programs broadcasted by CCTV (China Central TV Station) are produced by Yawei performers. Log keeping and play discussion are recorded by shorthand. Some online chatting programs are also live broadcasted by Yawei performers.
More and more enterprises and individuals are adopting either stenomachines or stenograph operators in their daily works which not only enhances the efficiency but, also in some cases, leads to a change of working style.
To sum up, after years of development, Yawei Chinese Stenograph has moved China s computerized shorthand in a direction of professional and industrial development. In the mean time, we also realized that compared with our advanced overseas counterparts, we still have a long way to go to promote the technology in China. But that s also a motive driving us going forward.
Sincerely, we hope we can hold hands with our friends and colleagues all over the world in the academic and technological sharing, in order to enhance the role of computerized shorthand in the social and economical lives in China, and therefore advance the development of Intersteno in the world.
Thanks