A review by dukegregory
Kingdom of Characters: The Language Revolution That Made China Modern by Jing Tsu

3.0

Yes, it offered a succinct, informative, readable summary of the modernization of the Chinese script throughout the 20th century, including the ingenuity needed to adapt typewriters and typefaces and keyboards and computers and catalog systems to the unique parameters Chinese's long list of characters requires. The dilemma is that Jing Tsu's style isn't much of a style, and it reads like more of a collection of profiles rather than a cohesive, internally structured history. There are even moments of redundancy and overexplanation that possibly reveal Tsu's cracks: this was probably originally written as separate essays and then compiled and edited as a book. At least, it feels that way in an unsatisfying way. So, all in all, worth it for the names (oh, side note, this book relies too much on a Great Men consideration of historical development) and facts but not as thrilling as a literary text.