The Badische Anilin- und Soda Fabrik, aka BASF, probably reached the peak of its consumer awareness in China during the 1930s when Indanthrene textile color became one of the most advertised brands in the country. Before Indanthrene, BASF’s bestseller however was its synthetic Indigo Pure color, the very-one which is advertised on our poster. BASF had been active in China since around 1882 with A. Ehlers & Company (爱礼司洋行) acting as distributor for the Northern provinces and Stolterfoht & Hagan as agents for the South. 

In 1885 the company sent its Vice-Director Theo Sprösser to China to further develop the market and in 1897 the southern regions were handed over from Stolterfoht & Hagan to a larger trading firm, Jebsen & Co. Even after the death of its founder August Ehlers in 1920, A. Ehlers & Co. remained responsible for the North and it is their logo and Chinese name we can find in the center of our poster’s header. 

From 1898 to 1904 Indigo Pure’s revenues in Asia rose from 1% to an astounding 30% of global sales. Before WWI, this made China the largest market for BASF’s Indigo Pure in the world and the dye was transported and sold there in customized and distinctly colored barrels which we can see depicted the lower right corner of our poster.  

After the war Indigo Pure sales slowly recovered again in China, but when BASF became part of the German conglomerate I.G. Farben in 1925, its strategy soon switched to promoting the superior Indanthrene dyes instead. Distribution was also handled directly by the newly formed I.G. Farben subsidiary in Shanghai called DEFAG from 1927 onwards. This makes our poster the last of its kind and the end of an era for an independent BASF during the First Republic of China. 

So, what about the beautiful woman in traditional dress who forms the eye-catching centerpiece of the poster? It is the “Goddess of Heaven” from the opera “Heavenly Maidens Scattered Flowers” 《天女散花》and enacting her in this particular photochrome lithograph is – as it was custom in Chinese opera– a man. Not just any man, but Mei Lanfang, also known as the "Queen of Peking Opera", who became China’s first global superstar. Just like celebrities today, Mei entered endorsement deals with several consumer brands, starting with Nanyang Brothers cigarettes in 1923, followed by BASF dyes in 1925 and one year later he even launched his own cigarette brand..

Finally, also the artist who designed the poster and who’s signature we can find in the lower right corner was a superstar in his own right: Hang Zhiying founded Zhiying Studio in the early 1920s and by the 1930s was instrumental in switching from traditional motives on advertisements like the “Goddess of Heaven”, to the now famous “Shanghai style” of beautiful and modern Chinese women in suggestive qipao dresses.