A List Of Chinese Pen Brands

[Seele]

As someone whose primary interest is Chinese-made pens - a somewhat arbitrary decision before jumping in at the deep end - I picked up a fair bit of information through my strolls through this internet thing! One of the first things I noticed is that there have been many more brands in that country than what most people realized; at one point in Shanghai only, there were no fewer than 76 individual fountain pen manufacturers. So I started a list of brands a little while ago: it is nowhere near exhaustive as long-forgotten makers and brands keep turning up, not to mention new ones.

 

Of course, most of the information are from seeing actual examples in my own meagre collection, and even in photographs only. This does not always indicate much beyond the country of origin and the brand name on the pen itself, this explains why so many of them have scant information. Without further ado here it is.

 

- - - - -

 

Chinese Pen Brands

 

Anda 安達

Not much is known about this marque, one identified model used a Sheaffer-type nib, likely built by Wing Sung.

 

Angel

A Wuhan-based maker.

 

Baoer 保爾

See Jinhao.

 

Chang Hong, or Rainbow 長虹

A defunct Tianjin-based maker started by a team from Hero. The original factory was acquired by Sea-Gull watches and built the original 1963 Air Force chronograph; the later factory ground is now a housing development.

 

Changjiang 長江

A brand based in Chongqing, even the English name is conjectural, but it means "Long River" literally, and refers specifically to the Yangtze River. Among other pens it's one of the firms which made the classic Type 28 design.

 

Crocodile 金鱷

It is not known if this marque is related to the one of the same name which is still extant.

 

Crown 皇冠

Not much is known about this marque.

 

Da Gong, or Dagong 大公

A brand by the Wuhan Pen Factory.

 

Danyutu 丹玉兔

Little is known about this marque.

 

Diamond, or Zuanshi, or Zuan Shi 鑽石

See Heilongjiang.

 

Dibao

Little is known about this marque.

 

Donghong 東虹

Literally "Rainbow of the East", not much is known about this marque; known examples are fitted with "Iridium Point Germany" nibs.

 

Dongsheng 東升

Little is known about this marque.

 

Dong Yi 東藝

A Shanghai-based marque, identified models show a liking for Lacque de Chine finish.

 

Duke 公爵

A Shanghai-based modern manufacturer.

 

Farn

Little is known about this marque.

 

Fenghua 豐華

Primarily a Shanghai-based ballpoint pen factory but still made some fountain pens.

 

Flight

Little is known about this marque.

 

Flourish 金利

A brand by the Wuxi-based firm of Jinli, it is not known if it is related to the firm making the Angel brand based in Wuhan.

 

Golden Dragon 金龍

Possibly a sub-brand used by Dandong, see White Feather. The Golden Dragon brand included a model with a flip-over nib similar to the Parker 180, and a model with a brush head instead of a regular nib.

 

Guangli 廣利

A relatively modern Shanghai-based marque.

 

Guangrong 光榮

This is a brand from Nanjing, probably a sister brand to Tianwen.

 

Guanleming, or Wm. K. Rockman 關勒銘

Originally a US maker from New York City, the firm moved to Shanghai in 1929 and settled there, thus becoming the second manufacturer in that country. The English name remained "Wm. K. Rockman" but after the war, a transliteration of its Chinese name was used instead, as "Guanleming". The brand is now owned by Hero and for many years based at the Changsu works along with Jinrong.

 

Guhwa 古華

A smaller Shanghai-based maker.

 

Guiguan 貴冠

A Hero sub-brand, based at Hero's iridium point factory in Shanghai, some models signed "SIPF"

 

Guoyi 國益

The first pen manufacturer in China, established in 1926. It changed its name to "Doctor" later and was acquired by Guanleming, and then by Hero. The Doctor brand is still occasionally used by Hero.

 

Haiping 海平

Little is known about this marque.

 

Hangzhou 杭州

Most probably based in the city of the same name, only one model was identified, so it's probably a short-lived maker. Said model is not signed externally, but signed on the Aerometric housing instead.

 

Haobang 豪邦

Little is known about this marque.

 

Haolida 好利達

A relatively new marque about which little is known.

 

Heilongjiang 黑龍江

A maker based in the far north-east, best known for flat-top Type 28 pens; its signature was having a stone set to the clip. It also owns a sub-brand called Diamond for more modern style pens, such as combined hooded nib and ballpoint pens.

 

Hongjiang 弘羌

A still-active maker of colourful plastics school pens with ergonomic designs.

 

Hong Qiang 宏強

Little is known about this marque.

 

Huafu 華孚

Huafu was established in 1931 in Shanghai; it was probably some time in the 1960s that it changed its name to "Hero", its product brand name. However, Hero still uses the Huafu name on some of their pens.

 

Huahong 華宏

A Shanghai-based brand, probably related to Hero; the nibs are signed with the brand name.

 

Huanqiu 環球

Little is known about this marque.

 

Huashi 華士

Little is known about this marque.

 

Hu Guang 滬光

A marque used by a Shanghai maker.

 

Huwen 滬文

A marque used by a Shanghai maker.

 

Ihua

Little is known about this marque; identified models used an unusual transparent feed.

 

Jiangjun, or General 將軍

See Youlian.

 

Jingang 津港

Not much is known about this marque.

 

Jingwen 京文

A Beijing-based brand making low-cost student pens.

 

Jinhan

Little is known about this marque.

 

Jinhao 金豪

Along with Baoer, Jinhao is a brand used by the very active Shanghai Qian Gu Stationary Co Ltd; where Baoer is reserved for the more popularly-priced models.

 

Jinhua 津華

Made by a Wuxi-based firm who also made footballs; only one model by this maker is confirmed, which is not marked conspicuously, only "J 707" on the cap.

 

Jinlu 金路

Probably related to Hero, the one model identified - 720 - bears a resemblance to the "new type" Hero 329.

 

Jinrong 金榮

A brand owned by Hero, who operated out of their Changsu facilities along with Guanleming (aka Wm. K. Rockman).

 

Jinxing, or Kin Sin, or Golden Star 金星

Originally a Shanghai maker started by three Korean brothers in 1932; a Beijing factory opened in 1952, and later still the Shanghai works stopped making pens, making it a Beijing-based brand. Their classic black Type 28 is the most iconic model and carried on being made for many years.

 

Jinyan 金燕

A smaller and probably short-lived maker based in Jinan, Shandong province. Only one model has been identified, and not marked conspiciously, it's a Parker 51 derivative but the collector is not functional as it is solid, without capillary fins.

 

Jixiang 吉祥

Little is known about this marque.

 

Jonna

Little is known about this marque.

 

Junwu

Little is known about this marque.

 

Kunshilai 昆士萊

A brand used by the Kunshan City Pen Factory, and probably moved to Suzhou subsequently.

 

Lanbaoshi 藍寶石

The brand name is literally "Sapphire", little is known about it.

 

Lap.Kwan

Little is known about this marque.

 

Leibo, or Shanghai Leibo 雷博, 上海雷博

Little is known about this marque; identified pens were Parker 45 derived.

 

Leqi 樂奇

A maker whose fountain pens were always sold paired with ballpoint pens in presentation boxes.

 

Lingnan 鈴蘭

A Hero sub-brand.

 

Longfeng 龍鳳

A Shanghai-based marque.

 

Lucky 幸福

A brand owned by Wing Sung.

 

Luoshi 羅氏

Apparently a relative newcomer in the pen making industry, also see Weilong.

 

Luye 綠葉

Literally "Green Leaf" and supplied with a leaf-shaped swing tag, it's a Shanghai-based brand and probably owned by Hero.

 

Mingxing, or Star 明星

Little is known about this marque.

 

Moon Orchids, or Yuelan 月蘭

Little is known about this marque, who branded at least some of its pens with both English names concurrently, Moon Orchids on the barrel and cap, and Yuelan on the Sheaffer-style nib.

 

Nanjing 南京

Likely to have been a brand based at the city of the same name, it is not known if it was related to Xinxing or Tianwen.

 

Paide 派迪

A Hero or Wing Sung sub-brand, model such as 756-3 uses a steel Sheaffer-type nib

 

Paili 派利

Little is known about this marque.

 

Parkson

Not much is known about this brand, known examples are fitted with "Iridium Point Germany" nibs.

 

Peacock

Little is known about this marque.

 

Picasso 畢加索

A modern Shanghai-based maker.

 

Poppenex 伯翰

Little is known about this marque.

 

Qiangsheng 強生

Little is known about this marque; the nibs used were branded "Qiangsheng".

 

Qingdao 青島

Named after the city in which they were made. Known examples are simply built, a Parker-style model -812- has non-functioning collector which is solid, without capillary fins.

 

Qunying 群英

Little is known about this marque; identified models were Parker 45 derived.

 

Regent Bird, or RB 火烈鳥

This appears to be a relatively new brand, and uses "Iridium Point Germany" nibs.

 

Sanhe

Not much is known about this marque.

 

Sanle 三利

Little is known about this marque.

 

Sanxing, or San Xing, or Threestars 三星

Identified examples of pens bearing this marque used Sheaffer-style nibs; mechanical pencils bearing this "San Xing" brand are confirmed as by the Second Chinese Pencil Factory, in Shanghai.

 

Scoria

Not much is known about this marque.

 

Shang Hai 上海

A known example has a steel Sheaffer-style nib which is characteristic of Wing Sung, and might be one of the firm's sub-brands.

 

Shen Hua 振華

A Shanghai-based marque.

 

Shenxing 申星

Literally "Star of Shanghai", it's possible that it's a minor sub-brand used by Hero, as known models are identical to some Hero-branded models.

 

Shuang Ling 雙靈

A Shanghai-based maker.

 

Shuangrong

Little is known about this marque.

 

Shule 書樂

Little is known about this marque.

 

Shunda 順達

Little is known about this marque.

 

Shuyiwen 書億文

Another relatively small maker.

 

Sihua 四花

A brand based in Tianjin.

 

Star

See Mingxing.

 

SWL 斯威利

Apparently a small and relatively new maker.

 

Ta Tung 大東

A brand owned by Wing Sung.

 

Tiantan 天壇

See Youlian.

 

Tianwen 天文

A brand used by the Nanjing Pen Factory.

 

Vens 文士

This manufacturer was recorded to be in existance prior to the mid-1950s.

 

Wanbao 萬寶

By the appearance of known examples it is likely to be related to the Jinrong and Guanleming models built at Hero's Changsu facilities, even though the nibs are signed "Wanbao".

 

Weibao 威寶

Little is known about this marque.

 

Weilong 威龍

A brand used by Luoshi, some nibs used are "Iridium Point Germany".

 

Weiwen 偉文

Little is known about this marque, apparently it has a sub-brand called "Little Doctor".

 

Wen Da 文達

Little is known about this marque.

 

Wen Feng 文豐

Little is known about this marque; known examples have nibs marked "Iridium Point Wenfeng".

 

Wenfu 文孚

Little is known about this marque.

 

Wenhua 文華

Little is known about this marque.

 

Wenneng 文能

Little is known about this marque.

 

White Feather 白翎

A brand used by the defunct Dandong Pen Factory, it is possible that some pens were only branded as "Dandong". Also see Golden Dragon.

 

Wm. K. Rockman

See Guanleming.

 

Wing Sung 永生

This Shanghai-based maker started in 1950 under the name Xinhua as the main branch of a stationary shop of that name acquired a lesser pen factory. After subsequent rounds of acquisitions it became one of the most prolific makers, but now ceased production.

 

Wobo 沃博

Little is known about this marque.

 

Xianhe 仙鶴

A brand used by the Xian Pen Factory, meaning "Red-crowned Crane" , also see Yanhe.

 

Xinhua 新華

See Wing Sung.

 

Xinxing, or Nova 新星

A minor maker in Nanjing; the English name is conjectural. Only one model, the Parker 51-inspired 884, has positively been identified.

 

Xue Shan 雪山

Little is known about this marque, but on the box the trademark bears a resemblance to Yunshan, so they could be related brands by the same maker.

 

Yalun

Little is known about this marque.

 

Yanhe 延河

A brand used by the Xian Pen Factory, after the river in the Yanan district. Also see Xianhe.

 

Yongjiu 永久

A defunct but respected maker in Shaoyang.

 

Youlian 友聯

The Youlian (Alliance) brand was based in Harbin in the far north-east it was founded in 1950, by acquiring the assets of Guanleming of Shanghai, along with a number of staff members. It also owned the Jiangjun (General) and Tiantan brands.

 

Youth 青年

A brand from Guangzhou.

 

Yiren 依人

A relatively new maker who is seeing some commercial success.

 

Yunshan 雲山

Little is known about this marque, but on the box the trademark bears a resemblance to Xue Shan, so they could be related brands by the same maker. The pens under this brand ranged from Lacque de Chine metal ones to all plastic novelty pens.

 

Zhenhua, or Zhen Hua 振華

Little is known about this relatively modern marque.

 

Zhonghu 中滬

Even though the "hu" in the brand name is short for "Shanghai", the brand was actually owned by the Zhongnan Pen Factory in Wuxi.

 

Zhongshan 鍾山

Little is known about this marque.

 

Zhongzhou 中州

Little is known about this marque, identified models appear to be inexpensive, all plastics, small student pens with the name in Chinese signed on the nibs.

 

Zhongyuan 中原

A brand used by the Chengzhou Pen Factory.

 

Zhuangyuan 狀元

Another less known marque.

Edited February 16, 2013 by Seele

[suexilin]

Wow!

 

Very well researched list! :clap1:

 

If I happen on information on some of these brands on the Chinese forums, i will contribute too.

[basterma]

How much of these are actual factories? Is it possible that some of these are just names for a line of pens from a factory rather than separate brands?

[basterma]

Beifa is one brand you forgot as well as Li Qin.

[Seele]

suexilin,

 

Thanks for your appreciation, it's just some of my nerdiness showing, if nothing else. I actually do not really plan to maintain this list, but just as something I let out to the wild and allow it to take on a life of its own.

 

basterma,

 

As I stated it is a list of brands, not factories, and indeed many factories used multiple brands. I would estimate that there must have been between two and three hundred individual pen manufacturers within China over the years, some went under, some got amalgamated, and since the 1990s or thereabout, plenty of them popped up and many went under just as quickly.

 

It is also possible that some of the brands were short-run private labels as well, but without much information at my disposal it is way beyond my ability to check.

 

The lack of interest in studying their own industries among Chinese collectors is intriguing, the small discoveries I made when examining secondary sources were considered major achievements there. When all is said and done, it leaves an opportunity for me to look into what are basically witnesses to a substantial industry, and that is, to me, quite a bit more interesting than acquiring the next "big name" item for the sake of the "big name".

[iamchum]

Fantastic! Good to know Thanks for the research

[basterma]

I will update this with my pens as they work through my rotation as I have quite a few ones from smaller brands.

 

It would really help us if a member fluent in Chinese could help read the pictures we post. Many pens just have Chinese branding on the converter or barrel. We also need to find out if some factories bought the nibs from Hero or others like brands buy from Jowo or Schmidt.

 

Thanks for starting the list.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Indeed!

[Seele]

basterma,

 

You have just mentioned one of the trickiest aspects in the compilation of a list like this.

 

Very often the Chinese makers switch between different versions of their names rendered in Latin alphabets. For example, "Jinxing" was a relatively late rendition of the brand name where "Golden Star" and "Kin Sin" were more commonly used, and the latest incarnations of the gold-nibbed Type 28 were actually marked "Gold Star" instead.

 

Guanleming is another example: the firm was established in NYC and most likely under the name "Wm. K. Rockman Inc", but its name in Chinese was totally different. After its move to Shanghai, and after the war, the Chinese habit was to ignore its English name altogether, and render the Chinese name in Pinyin; therefore the firm never wanted to be known as "Guanleming" but somehow they found themselves under that name.

 

The problem is further compounded when a pen is found with only Chinese or English markings, or none of the known packaging materials show both together. In the former situation what I could do was to convert the Chinese name into Pinyin, even though it may or may not be identified as such. For example, one brand which was active prior to the mid 1950s and then inherited by the First Shanghai Ballpoint Pen Factory was "Vens", some examples are often found on eBay too. If I only look at the name "Vens" and try to look for its Chinese name I would draw a blank; but I would be in the exact same predicament if I knew the Chinese name and then look for its English name. It was the discovery of a picture of a retailer's pack featuring both names, and the FSBPF markings, which positively identifed it.

[basterma]

Seele, do you read Chinese? Because if you do, then I have a bunch of pen inscriptions you could translate...

[WaskiSquirrel]

Nice list, and something I was wondering about. The length of the list surprises me. In a communist country I just didn't expect so many businesses.

 

I own a Crocodile and one not on your list, a Huashilai.

 

They're both attractive pens. The Crocodile took a few weeks to get writing, and some of the gold color flaked off the nib, but it does now write nicely. The Huashilai looks expensive and feels expensive, but the writing doesn't thrill me.

[Seele]

basterma,

 

I can read Chinese and type in Traditional Chinese rather than Simplified Chinese as used in mainland China. I will see what I can do.

 

By the way I also just found that Lingnan is often marked "Lily" as well.

 

Waski_the_Squirrel,

 

The Crocodile brand is active now but I cannot tell if it is the same as one which was active a little while ago. I am also aware of Huashilai, it is one of the plethora of newer startup brands whose quality can vary enormously.

[Interapid]

Thanks for this list! I'm definitely going to refer to this in the future.

[Bennett]

What about Kaigelu, the Chinese pen with the kangaroo as its brand mark? I didn't see it listed. Today I was using their 368 model, an impressively smooth writer.

[Hoovy]

Not to nitpick, but it seems that although you've mentioned Hero several times in this rather exhaustive list, you forgot to actually include an entry for the brand :embarrassed_smile:

[richardandtracy]

Bookworm is a brand name used by Yiren.

 

I too had noticed the omission of Kaigelu.

 

I have seen a Guang Ming - it was rubbish!

There is a 'Leonardo' Brand too.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

 

 

I wonder if this list could be pinned somewhere...

[cuza]

Some other possibilities I found in my collection:

 

Kaiduoli

Dikawen

Camel

He Tian

Haolilai

Wing Sheng

Fuliwen

Huashilai

Huashi

 

cuza

 

PS: Appreciate your efforts. Good luck as you continue listing.

Edited February 20, 2013 by cuza

[subbucal]

I own a pen called "Qibao"; recent brand from the makers of Jinhao and Baoer is Seagem

[Pufferfish]

Agree with Mint. Hero 英雄 is one of major brands in China. One thing I need to say, about twenty years ago, there iare some small fountain pen manufactories had produced some ffine quality pen by using German nibs without brand name and logo. I got one many years ago as a gift from my friend. I can read/write chinese.

[vivisay]

You don't know the DUKE ?