Hou-Kun Chow (), a mechanical engineer in Shanghai, is credited with inventing the first Chinese typewriter in 1916. His typewriter typed 4,000 characters. He had studied in the United States like several other Chinese who also contributed to the development of Chinese typewriters. Chow first thought about the practicality of a Chinese typewriter in Boston, while he was inspecting American typewriters as a student of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His efforts were initially hindered by a lack of technical assistance in Shanghai.