Hu Kaiwen 胡开文
Hu Kaiwen is the brand of Chengdu Hu Kaiwen Stationery Co., a Chengdu house selling the "four treasures of the study" (*wenfang sibao*) — brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone. The name comes from Hu Tianzhu's ink shop in Anhui, renamed Hu Kaiwen in 1782; the Chengdu shop was opened in 1924. It is a Sichuan Time-honored Brand, and the archive also records the shop being awarded the title of China Time-honored Brand in 1996 and 2011.
Archive record
China Time-honored Brand Digital Museum, Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM)
- Founded
- 1924
- Origin
- Chengdu Sichuan, China
- Category
- 文房文具
- Status
- Sichuan Time-honored Brand
- Designated
- 2006-12-24 Ministry of Commerce
The Archive
The House
The name begins with Hu Tianzhu of Jixi, Anhui, who leased an ink shop at Tunxi and later took over the Wang Qimao ink shop. Recalling the plaque reading "Heaven opens the way for letters" (tian kai wen yun) in a Confucian temple, he took two characters from it and renamed the shop Hu Kaiwen. In 1915 ink made by his descendants — the "earth globe" ink — won a gold medal at the Panama exposition. In the Qing, the four great ink-making houses were Cao Sugong, Wang Jie'an, Wang Jinsheng, and Hu Kaiwen.
The Chengdu house is a separate line, founded in the Republican era. In 1920 the Anhui merchant Li Runbo began bringing Anhui brushes and ink to Chengdu; in 1924 he opened a shop at Qingshiqiao under the name Huizhou Hu Kaiwen Brush and Ink House, which the archive records as the first specialist shop of its kind in Chengdu, dealing in the four treasures of the study. It moved to the north end of Chunxi Road in 1926, with a floor area of 260 square metres, and by 1930 it was the Chengdu shop selling both the four treasures and, as a sideline, calligraphy and painting. The archive records that public figures came to the shop for brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.
Under the joint public-private operation of 1956 the shop was renamed the Cultural Goods Store; the Hu Kaiwen name was restored in 1962 and again in 1982. The shop was awarded the title of China Time-honored Brand by the then Ministry of Internal Trade in 1996, and again by the Ministry of Commerce in 2011. It moved to the Chunxi Road cultural goods building in 2006, with 3,000 square metres of floor space, and later branches followed, including a jewellery line opened under the Hu Kaiwen name from 2009.
What They Make
The house deals in the four treasures of the study: writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone, largely sourced from Anhui, the home of Huizhou ink and of brush-making; the archive records the shop as handling a sideline in calligraphy and painting as well. The archive notes that over more than eighty years it has kept this traditional range while continuing to add new goods.
Timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1782 | Hu Tianzhu's Anhui ink shop is renamed Hu Kaiwen |
| 1915 | "Earth globe" ink made by his descendants wins a gold medal at the Panama exposition |
| 1920 | Li Runbo begins bringing Anhui brushes and ink to Chengdu |
| 1924 | The shop opens at Qingshiqiao, recorded as Chengdu's first specialist shop of its kind |
| 1956 | Renamed the Cultural Goods Store under joint public-private operation |
| 1996 | Awarded the title of China Time-honored Brand by the then Ministry of Internal Trade |
| 2006 | Designated a Sichuan Time-honored Brand |
| 2011 | Awarded the title of China Time-honored Brand by the Ministry of Commerce |
Source: China Time-honored Brand Digital Museum, Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). Original record: lzhbwg.mofcom.gov.cn. Translated and condensed from the official Chinese archive; no information has been added. Statements of standing are reproduced as recorded by the source.
Sources
Historical facts on this page are compiled from China Time-honored Brand Digital Museum, Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). Designation recorded 2006-12-24. This page is editorial content; it is not a product listing and nothing here is an offer for sale.
Independence. Time-Honored Goods is an independent multi-brand store. We are not the official site of Hu Kaiwen, and we do not speak for the house. See Independence & Sourcing.