Dynasty pens from Hongdian

2025-01-17T05:03:04Z

I was just talking to @Dan Carmell about the Qin dynasty pen of Hongdian.

We have a few pen enthusiasts from China here. What do you think/hope which dynasty pens should Hongdian make?

Wonder why they started with Qin? It is not the first one. They would have a long program if they do all of the Chinese dynasties.

Perhaps they just consider the most famous ones, if lucky, a few more than these.

Full list: Xia → Shang → Western Zhou → Eastern Zhou → Qin → Western Han → Eastern Han → Cao Wei → Western Jin → Eastern Jin → Liu Song → Southern Qi → Liang → Chen → Sui → Tang → Later Liang → Later Tang → Later Jin → Later Han → Later Zhou → Northern Song → Southern Song → Yuan → Ming → Qing

Main dynasties

Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC):

Significance: The first dynasty to unify China, establishing a centralized government and building the Great Wall.

Key Contributions: Standardization of weights, measures, currency, and writing system; construction of the Great Wall; Legalist philosophy.

Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD):

Significance: A golden age of Chinese civilization, known for its economic prosperity, technological advancements, and cultural achievements.

Key Contributions: Silk Road trade, expansion of the empire, development of Confucianism as the state ideology, inventions like paper and the seismograph.

Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD):

Significance: Another golden age, characterized by cultural brilliance, economic growth, and a cosmopolitan society.

Key Contributions: Flourishing of Buddhism and other religions, advancements in art, literature, and technology, expansion of the empire into Central Asia.

Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD):

Significance: A period of economic and cultural innovation, known for its advancements in science, technology, and art.

Key Contributions: Invention of gunpowder, printing, and the compass, development of neo-Confucianism, flourishing of literature and art.

Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD):

Significance: The last native Chinese dynasty, known for its maritime expeditions, cultural achievements, and economic prosperity.

I am really looking forward to those pens.

2025-01-17T22:37:00Z

I'm very happy you broached this question mke, as I've been thinking it myself.

It would have been fun to have a Zhou oracle bones themed pen, or even better, a big Shang taotie (饕餮), especially in Hongdian's occasionally bombastic pen design! Alas.

The Han edition will give us more of an indication if the series' design language will be ornamented and hefty like the HD Qin D5, but I hope for Tang they will go for something more subdued; the supremacy of Tang poetry is obvious, maybe some calligraphic renderings of Li Bai and Du Fu (i.e. obvious, famous, mass-marketable) paired with imagery, like the Hongdian 231 (in that case a facsimile of Jin-era painting depicting a Warring States personage, but the general gist).

Although I'll probably be waiting many years, I am most excited for the Song, my favourite Dynastic period; I greatly admire the literary work of Su Shi (苏轼) / Su Dongpo as he is better known in the West. There's a huge amount of Song visual art and motifs to draw from.

As for Ming, something Jingdezhen themed? None of these are intended to be realistic predictions - hefty and eye catching will probably prevail, just my wishes & musings!

Just speculating as I'd have loved to have a big Shang taotie-themed pen: although the Shang and Zhou are archaeologically evidenced (and last I checked there was some suggestion a site in Erlitou could be linked to the Xia but I don't know how far they are with concretising that), maybe there's less marketable appeal and fewer well-known visual motifs to draw on? Qin, first Emperor, Terracotta Warriors &c. I gather they have to/do sell quite a lot domestically, proportionate to the tiny amounts that are sold outside of China.

2025-01-18T07:32:32Z

既然这个话题是在讨论中国朝代，我就用中文好了。

为什么第一个是秦？您列出的夏商周通常被认为是一种原始的社会关系，秦朝实现了第一个大一统，秦始皇也是中国的第一个皇帝。

看到您列出的主要朝代没有元和清，我觉得很好玩，中华人民共和国官方是承认他们的。虽然我不这么认为...

关于期待的朝代：汉无疑是很棒的主题，中国最多的民族是汉族，这里也有很多精彩的故事例如三国演义，留下了优美的文章：汉赋。我想在大部分中国人心目中汉朝是有很好印象的。其实上面的一些讨论，瓷器什么的，中国上世纪就有用过类似的工艺制造过钢笔（英雄、wing sung之类），只是那时候人民群众还买不起，随着钢笔在中国的没落这些工艺就慢慢消失了，期待弘典整点好活。