1.1 Cultural Capital
1.1.1 History of the Factory
The development of Hero Pen Factory has gone through different stages from the arduous pioneering stage,to consolidation and development period and finally to its brilliant phase,witnessing the expansion of fountain pen manufacturing in China as one of the national industries from small to big,from nonexistence to existence.The predecessor of Hero Pen Factory was Huafu Pen Factory founded in 1931.In 1954,a new factory was built.The trademark“Hero”was also incorporated in 1955 when the public-private partnership was introduced.After Huafu Pen Factory was renamed Hero Pen Factory in 1966,“Hero”began to become the main brand used by most products of the enterprise,and the story of“Hero catching up with Parker”was made into a film dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the founding of People's Republic of China.During the period of public-private partnership,more than 70 companies,such as Lvbao Pen Factory and Datong Pen Factory,were merged into Hero Pen Factory successively.Meanwhile,the area of the workshop expanded from 18 667 m2 in 1954 to 36 408 m2 in 1990,and the number of employees of the factory increased from 387 in 1952 to 1 642 in 1990.According to the census of 1990,1.186 billion out of the 1.339 billion people nationwide have received education above primary school.Based on incomplete statistics,at least 50% of them used the“Hero”pen,which can serve as a vivid evidence that the production,technique and enterprise scale of Hero Pen Factory have experienced dramatic expansion in the glorious period.
Table1 History of HeroPen Factory
cont inued
continued
continued
continued
*Source:Analysis of Hero Pen Factory archives by the author
The“Hero Pen”not only witnessed the rise and fall of Chinese national industry in its 86-year development,but also bears the collective memory of generations.Hero Pen Factory embodied solid historic connotation for its own brand,and recorded some moment when our national industry caught up with and surpassed the world's advanced level.
Figure 2 Major Event Clipping of Hero Pen Factory(https://www.daowen.com)
In 1957,Huafu Pen Factory put forward the goal of“Hero catching up with Parker”.In 1958,the Hero pen No.100,comparable to Parker's,was successfully trial-produced and put into production.According to the standards promulgated by the Ministry of Light Industry,four indicators out of the 10 performed better than Parker pen No.51;three were on a par with each other;two were incomparable;and one(plastic)was inferior to that of Parker.
1.1.2 Major Events and Achievements
The development of the Hero pen witnessed some major historic events in China.Hero fountain pen has always maintained a dominant position in the domestic market,and has been awarded such honorary titles as“China's Famous Trademark”“China's Famous Brand”and“Shanghai's Famous Trademark”.It has been used as the signature pen for important historic event such as Hong Kong's Return,Macao's Return,and G20 Summit.It has also served as a designated commemorative pen for the National and Local Party Congresses,People's Congresses and Political Consultative Conference,as well as a gift pen presented by enterprises on business occasions.Party and state leaders also visited the factory or inscribed for the factory.All these made“Hero”the most influential national brand in Chinese pen industry.
Figure 3 Major Events and Honors of Hero Pen Factory
Table2 History of Hero Pen Factory
continued
*Source:Analysis of Hero Pen Factory archives by the author
Table3 Models and Features of Hero Pen
continued
*Source:Archives of Hero Pen Factory