Peking University, Dec 1, 2018: Peking University has played an indispensable role in China’s development since the reform and opening-up. People’s Daily selected 40 representative reports to display the vicissitudes of Peking University, and the public and the media’s view on PKU’s development in the past 40 years.
The following is one of the chosen reports entitled “The Innovations of ‘Huaguang’ Laser Phototypesetting System”, which is originally published on People’s Daily, the 2nd edition on February 10, 1989.
As one of the four great inventions of ancient China, movable type printing was gloriously imprinted on human civilization. Nearly a thousand years later, Wang Xuan and his PKU colleagues surprised the world with the creation of “Huaguang” Laser Phototypesetting System, reputed as a revolution in Chinese printing technology.
"Huaguang" laser phototypesetting system was initiated in August 1974, presided by Professor Wang Xuan. In May 1985, the "Xinhua Newsletter" took the initiative to use "Huaguang II computer—laser Chinese character arrangement system". Millions of copies of Economic Daily, issued home and abroad, were printed using this system; and printing factories were innovated.
In 1988, after many years’ endeavor, four types of printing systems were available. The renewed system had neat layouts of typesetting in batches, convenient to handle and easy to learn. Equipped with diverse fonts and switchable sheets, it was the only system with two kinds of processing mechanisms, in which texts and pictures could be combined, making it suitable for various modes of presentation.
Fan Muhan, president of the China Printing and Equipment Industry Association, told journalists that the success of "Huaguang" system paved the way for the printing of Chinese characters, heralding a new era of printing in China. Fan also commented that the “Huaguang” system was the only printing equipment with homebred software and hardware and was the leading equipment in the world. More than 60 newspaper offices in China have adopted or were ready to adopt the "Huaguang" laser phototypesetting system. By the end of the century, newspapers and publishers across the country would implement laser phototypesetting; by then, lead printing in China would become historical relics.
Xia Tianjun, director of the Printing House of Economic Daily, said that they replaced the lead typesetting with the laser phototypesetting system, which not only improved efficiency and the working environment of staff, but also reduced the labor intensity, and improved the printing quality.
Written by: Yang Fan
Edited by: Wei Yunqi, Wang Qian
