Chinese pens are hit and miss for me. Some, like all of the <$20 Jinhaos, I simply hate. I've never laid hands on one that I'd even consider "usable". Others

Chinese pens are hit and miss for me. Some, like all of the <$20 Jinhaos, I simply hate. I've never laid hands on one that I'd even consider "usable". Others have some models that are excellent and some that aren't. Some of the Chinese Parker 51 clones are not only very good, I'd actually consider them both more practical and more true to the original than the very expensive modern Parker 51 re-issues. Oh - and Chinese "brands" aren't the same thing as "companies". "Shanghai Green Stationery Co., Ltd" makes some amazingly great pens around $20-50 that are in all respects better than >$100 European pens. They're usually sold under the "Wing Sung" brand. They make the Wing Sung 698, which in my opinion is one of the best "budget" fountain pens out there. They're not super fancy, but but they feel substantial and hold up very well to carrying in a backpack (or even a pocket). I've torture tested some of mine in the past by leaving it inked for over a year, and not only did it survive - it wrote instantly without issue when I used it again. On the other hand, the Wing Sung 659 is pretty much just a sub-standard clone of the Pilot 78g. Their cheap Parker 45 and 51 clones are just bad, and feel like the stamped sheet metal and weak plastic they're made of.