Sounds even worse/better (depend on how you see it) than Japanese language. I think the maximum is around 50,000. But we also have 2 other sets of alphabets (Hiragana and Katakana).
We also have two standardized ones, Traditional and Simplified, now. Mainland China and some Chinese communities in Southeast Asia uses Simplified. Others like Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan uses Traditional. But, each place also developed some sub-variants characters.
Aside from that, there's quite a few different stroke scripts styles developed over the millennia. Also, there's variants of many characters used historically by different ancient kingdoms or for modern artistic purposes.
Because of history, of the more than 300 languages and dialects used in PRC now, a few, like Cantonese from Guangzhou, has its own regional usage of variant characters too.
1 Like
Except for ...electric typewriters 
PS: Can you actually write legibly with a pen and pencil these days. I acknowledge my handwriting is now appalling, due to lack of use.
2 Likes
I also have to ask the same question to @YukKevChuHau
Because I type all time and rarely write by hand, I am losing a memory of how to write some Chinese characters. Yet at the same time, I now can read way more Chinese characters.
Is it not funny that we lose some but we gain some.
I grew up, mostly, in the US, so I never had any official Chinese language lessons or anything taught in Chinese. Everything in Chinese reading and writing, and speaking/listening to Mandarin/Putonghua were self-taught.
My family speaks Cantonese and Shanghainese at home because of our background. We grew up enforcing it when we were still in the US. English is something we'll always learn in school then, so it's up to home to teach our ethnic roots and language.
So my real penmanship in Chinese is poopoo and worse than a normal elementary/primary school kid over here in HK. But, I'm alright with writing using old school computer handwriting tablets or modern tablets/smartphones. I see Chinese every day over here, so it's hard to forget it.
I learned cursive writing back in elementary school in NYC. But, with years out of practice, it's poopoo now. Regular block writing in English, and the limited High School Spanish, is okay and better than most people.
1 Like
Ah, I see.
I grew up in Japan and apart from what was taught at school (mainly grammars) my English is self taught.
They make the best plastic erasers too!
2 Likes
It's a good thing you did. The more languages you know the better advantage you have. Now that you're in France, so you should know some French too, right?
It's sad how I know some immigrant parents in the US force their kids to ignore everything about their original heritage. It's good to assimilate into where you're living, but you'll lose the advantage of understanding multiple cultures by ignoring your origins, especially in the modern age where globalization is still the norm.
2 Likes
I agree. They're the best and quite famous over here in HK.
1 Like
We love it so much and hate losing it all time, we got one for each room now 
This one is from my office.
1 Like
When I was at school we had these:
Monday afternoons after lunch at school was important to be first in the queue outside Typewriting class - to get on to the electric Adler machine (top photo nearest I could find), or the Olympia electric machine:
My dad refurbished one of these:
Not exactly the same - was an early model with a drop handle for carriage return (hung in front of face plate) and even managed to find a matching cover! Had to help my sister write her thesis on 'Under Milkwood' by Dylan Thomas.
When I worked for a catering company as an Accountant, I had to change roles as a Menu had not been prepared - had to telephone the typist on how to use one of these:
There were a number of golf balls with different typefaces - I had to change the one in the machine and was warned I had to be careful as they would crack if not handled correctly!
2 Likes
Nice find!
1 Like
My early colour printer - can't find original that was about 36 crayons in very long plastic popper stud case:
There's even a pencil museum here in the UK!
2 Likes
I wish to attend it...
The Cumberland Pencil Museum in Keswick is the home of the famous Lakeland pencil.
Never heard of it.
Visitors are treated to a fun packed day of interactive experiences and hands on activities.
With pencils?
Interesting exhibitions, a cafe and gift shop make this an ideal all weather attraction.
You can buy pencils in the gift shop.
It's probably not as goofy as it sounds, but they certainly get credit for creative writing to Market themselves.
I learned typing on one of those old an electric typewriters with ten fingers guess its called blind typing (typing without looking down for the buttons). I still do this while using a computer. I only look for down when I type a special character (shift key in combination with a number)
Now with the age of mobile phone, I hardly use a pencil or pen.
I see this with my children who were also educated to write the alphabet with those nice curls. But they are grown up and they hardly use a pen/pencil but their mobile phone or keyboard. And when they do write something down, I find it difficult to decipher.
And you shall continue learning new things as long as I am around. LOL Good stuff 
Finally got my cell phone hooked up so I can take photos .... it worked rather well .... anyway here is my Brother DCP T500W ... nothing fancy just printer and scanner ....
Years ago I used to buy them with all the bells and whistles but found out I didn't ever use but the printer and scanner never did use the Fax .... LOL ... I did get the extra large ink tanks those little cartridges seemed to run out at the most inopportune times .... LOL
2 Likes
Whats up Frog?
It looks like a Brother printer is up. It says, "Feed me some paper, and let me print something for you, ooooo, I like to print!"
Well, that escalated quickly, right into the paper shredder. 
And don't worry about it, nobody uses FAX anymore, the last time FAX was actively used was maybe early 2000's? Truth is, email pretty much replaced FAX, there just wasn't no need anymore. Then phones came out and replaced email lol.
7 Likes
Nope not mine I recycle my paper .... after all there is a whole other side that didn't get used .... LOL
1 Like