Shanghai Stationary - Deep River

Shanghai Stationary Deep River - Ink drop

Deep River is another of Shanghai Stationary’s 2025 additions to their growing lineup of inks. As of January 2026, they offer twenty-eight standard and eleven shimmer inks. Named for the Pearl River that separates Hong Kong and Macao, Deep River is part of the Natural Wonders series of inks.

Ink Swatches on Cosmo Air Light and Tomoe River

On most papers, Deep River is a dark, blackish blue with strong influences from the yellow undertones. This gives it the slightly greenish-blue aquatic look of river or lake water and closely connects it with its name. This color profile comes through clearly on papers including standard office copy, Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Takasago Bank. On Cosmo Air Light, Cosmo Air Snow, and Iroful papers, we see a deep oceanic blue with none of the yellow undertones. There is also a bit of shading in places. I like both results!

Ink Swatches on Iroful and Takasago Bank papers

Writing performance was generally very good. In flow and feel, it is neutral to wet. It’s easy and comfortable. Strokes generally have a crisp, sharp edge, although I did notice the occasional spot of micro-feathering within the paper. You can see examples in the writing sample close-up using Cosmo Air Snow. It isn’t frequent enough or dramatic enough to really be something of concern, and I wouldn’t classify this as an ink with a feathering or spreading problem. Overall, it’s a very nice writing ink.

Writing sample on Cosmo Air Snow paper

Shanghai Stationary Deep River comes in the 50 ml bottle, or the 10 ml bottle that I’ve pictured in this review. The 50 ml is €19,90 and comes nicely packaged in the recently re-designed box. The 10 ml is part of the 3-ink “Water” set that sells for €15,50. Either way, you can’t go wrong!

Shanghai Stationary Deep River - Swatch Card

Special thanks to Shanghai Stationary for sending this and several other inks over to try! As usual, when I accept inks or pens to try, I review the ones I want to review, and I always include all the negatives and positives that I find. I write these reviews based solely on my own user experience, and to give you the info that I’d want as a potential customer. Enjoy!

Shanghai Stationary Deep River - Comparisons

Shanghai Stationary Deep River - 10 ml Bottle