pens in shanghai?

[penmanila]

i'm off to shanghai with my wife in a little over a week. i've been there twice before (20 years ago and then again last year) but never really looked for pens the way i do now (was too busy last year to really get around). i did see a lot of gorgeous fakes (MBs, mostly) sold along with fake bags and watches off nanjing road. none of that for me.

 

would anyone have any leads abut where i might be able to find good pens both old and new? i don't particularly fancy the new chinese pens (i find them generally too blingy--like some parts of shanghai across the river) but i'm open to serendipitous discoveries. (i also saw that bamboo pen in one thread here that looked interesting.) it would be great, of course, to step into a place chock full of antiques.... and old pens--but i doubt if that'll happen thanks for any tips!

[penmanila]

i'm in shanghai now, and thanks to some tips from FPN, i realized that our hotel (the westin bund center) was just a couple of blocks away from the street where all the bookstores and stationery shops are--that's fuzhou road (or "book street", as i think some people call it). it's a pretty short street lined with shops selling chinese brushes, papers, art supplies, books, and, yes (within those shops) pens. i was on the lookout for a bamboo duke, a kaigelu 316, and a red army long march pen, previously reviewed in FPN.

 

most shops carried one or two brands, but there was one--sorry, i forgot if it had an english name, and i don't speak or read chinese so i can't figure out the name from my receipt now--that had nearly all of them (except kaigelu). i didn't find the 316 and the long march pen; i did see the bamboo duke. impressive heft, and not a bad price (180 yuan, about $26), but as relatively simple as it was, it was still too blingy for me, and that was my problem all day--for the life of me, i couldn't find a big pen that didn't look too showy in one respect or another. (i have to say that i have very basic--or boring--tastes in pen design: the parker vac, the duofold, the MB 149/146, the F-C classic, and the pelikan souveran are about it for me.) i looked and looked, and couldn't find anything i could be truly happy with, but i finally settled on taking home a hero 829, probably the most sedate chinese pen out there. it has very clean lines, good heft (like a pelikan M800, though smaller), an aerometric filler, a parker 45-style semi-hooded nib writing a smooth fine line. picked it up for 42 yuan (a little over $6).

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3291/3125048438_a655d9264a.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3210/3124225245_11aaec91ff.jpg

 

and oh, yes--i also couldn't resist getting a 10-pack of almost-perfect "parker 51" lookalikes also by hero, for 90 yuan the pack (or $1.30 per pen). will make nice presents for pen friends back home.

 

i'll probably pay the street and the store another visit before flying home in a few days; might see a pen in literally a different light. but this is all for now, and i'm leaving this note to the FPN file for the next one of us who might be visiting china and shanghai.

 

(ps--by the way, forget about picking up bargain parkers or pelikans there--everything foreign was priced about twice what they would cost elsewhere.)

 

[Dr.Grace]

Thanks for the report! I agree that most Chinese pens are much too ornate. Tasteless, really. It's surprising, given the rich artistic history of China, and especially the emphasis on simplicity and the balance between content and space, that they don't seem interested in designing a simple, elegant fp that's well balanced in the hand. The Hero 100, 616 etc. are some of the few in that category, but the design came from Parker originally.

 

When you get a chance, give us a review of your 829!

 

 

[penmanila]

you're welcome but if you see shanghai's skyline today (or much of the rest of modernizing china, for that matter) and observe what i can only describe as the disneyland-esque character of modern chinese architecture (neon lights zooming up and down facades, crowns adorning spires, etc.), you'll understand why their pens display such eclecticism.

 

one more curiosity i noted was a hero pen with a nib that had its tines bent outward. i thought it had been dropped, and asked for another one--only to see the same nib. the saleslady cheerfully demonstrated its use--apparently, it was their version of a broad nib! i wonder if it was meant for calligraphic purposes.

Edited December 22, 2008 by penmanila

[Dr.Grace]

Yes, that kind of nib is meant for Chinese calligraphy, because you can make brush-like strokes, if you vary the angle of the pen with respect to the plane of the paper as you write the stroke. It writes a thin line when held near vertical, and a very broad line when held almost parallel to the paper. It's not really for Western-style writing, although I guess you could use it for that, in a pinch, or for highlighting if you hold it at a low angle. I have a Sailor pen in that style. If you look carefully near the end of the Chinese film "Lust, Caution", you'll see the male lead writing with a pen like that.

[penmanila]

many thanks for the clarification

[Titivillus]

i'm in shanghai now, and thanks to some tips from FPN, i realized that our hotel (the westin bund center) was just a couple of blocks away from the street where all the bookstores and stationery shops are--that's fuzhou road (or "book street", as i think some people call it). it's a pretty short street lined with shops selling chinese brushes, papers, art supplies, books, and, yes (within those shops) pens. i was on the lookout for a bamboo duke, a kaigelu 316, and a red army long march pen, previously reviewed in FPN.

 

 

Oh book street :notworthy1:

 

There is a Parker/ Waterman store that is very tiny but has the Asian LE Duofold as well as PENMAN INK!

 

If you want the duke pens there is a store just down from the Parker/ Waterman store that has a full cubby area of them.

 

 

[penmanila]

ah, that's good to know (about the penman ink), thanks. i saw that parker store but didn't bother looking at the pens, having seen the prices around here compared to, say, ebay, but the ink might force me to go back tomorrow (in sub-zero weather ). i did go to the store with all the major pen brands, but again, came out with just the hero 829.

Edited December 22, 2008 by penmanila

[penmanila]

here's the big store on fuzhou road (book street) with the most pens: wen hua store (there's a small parker store in the distance).

 

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll296/penmanila/DSC_8905.jpg

 

inside, cases full of dukes:

 

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll296/penmanila/DSC_8895.jpg

 

and heros:

 

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll296/penmanila/DSC_8890.jpg

 

my booty of "doctor" ink and japanese-made pilot 78Gs:

 

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll296/penmanila/DSC_9022.jpg

 

 

 

 

[Titivillus]

here's the big store on fuzhou road (book street) with the most pens: wen hua store (there's a small parker store in the distance).

 

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll296/penmanila/DSC_8905.jpg

 

 

Yep that's the one. And if you look to the far bottom left there is a tan building with a black sign which is the Parker Waterman store- very tiny but as I walked out of the one you showed I looked to the right and saw the sign!

 

[penmanila]

i was going to check out the parker store to see if they had any penman inks, but then i scooped up eight bottles of doctor ink in wen hua, and skipped the penman i saw the penman inks in other stores as well, but didn't ask how much they cost. the packaging is in chinese, and i could be wrong but the bottle also looked different, more oval-shaped, unlike my penman bottles from the very first time it came out.

[Titivillus]

i was going to check out the parker store to see if they had any penman inks, but then i scooped up eight bottles of doctor ink in wen hua, and skipped the penman i saw the penman inks in other stores as well, but didn't ask how much they cost. the packaging is in chinese, and i could be wrong but the bottle also looked different, more oval-shaped, unlike my penman bottles from the very first time it came out.

 

 

They are more oval than the original round versions. The one I bought was in English, Actually I admit to buying a few bottles of ink in Carrefour for about $0.50 each- a very nice blue

 

Kurt

[penmanila]

thanks, kurt, didn't know they were that cheap, will keep an eye out for them as well today--my last day in shanghai.

[Titivillus]

thanks, kurt, didn't know they were that cheap, will keep an eye out for them as well today--my last day in shanghai.

 

I'm going back in February so if there is any pen sites I need to visit please PM! I'm going to try to see the jade Buddha this time!

 

Kurt

 

[penmanila]

this is the kind of story i shouldn't really enjoy telling but i must have a masochistic streak so here goes:

 

it was our last day in shanghai yesterday and so my wife and i took a last swing around the shops on fang bang road ("old shanghai street), mostly full of shops selling the usual tourist t-shirts and trinkets and pricey jade. i was just muttering to my wife about the strangeness of NOT finding some old pens in a city that had a thriving colonial bureaucracy when we walked into a row of stalls inside a building and i began picking up signs that this place had more than jade, sung dynasty ware, and dinosaur bones to offer--old electric fans, 20th century ephemera.... something closer to... pens. and sure enough, i saw some at a window, including a big sheaffer lifetime flattop in jade green (my kind of jade!) of such a perfect hue that it made me weep to realize that the store was locked, the owner was nowhere to be found (this wasn't like US antiques malls where one guy holds all the keys), and we had a few hours left before our flight.... you can't see it in this picture, but somewhere on the left were also two gorgeous vacumatic dip pens, one in brown, and the other in burgundy with a gold band....aaaarghhh! i reconnoitered the area and found a few more shops selling pens, but nothing as worthy as this big green sheaffer (the smaller one had lost its lever):

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3285/3135490956_6bae4a480d.jpg

 

(bleep), all yours in february. corner of fangbang road and a major street whose name escapes me now, but i'll PM it to you when i check the map. (hope all goes well with your father, by the way.)