The Aktiengesellschaft für Anilinfabrikation (Corporation for Aniline Production) was founded close to Berlin, Germany in 1867 as a manufacturer of dyes and stains. Twenty years later, in 1887, the company expanded to photo chemistry and the Agfa trademark was created. Finally, in 1910, it opened its film manufacturing plant Agfa Wolfen, then the second largest film factory in the world, only surpassed by the one of Eastman Kodak in Rochester, USA. 

Until the turn of the century photography had mostly been limited to professional photographers but in 1900, the American Kodak company introduced the snapshot to the masses by addressing the cost factor: The Brownie was a basic cardboard box camera with a simple lens, easy controls and an initial price of US$1. An unbeatable package in combination with Kodak’s motto, "You press the button, we do the rest," which resonated with a burgeoning American middle class that desired ease and convenience in capturing images.

In China during the same time, photography still remained limited to professionals, mostly Western-owned studios and photo supply stores like the one by Denniston & Sullivan in Shanghai, which we covered in our story here. 

A notable exception was the pioneering Chinese photographer Lai Afong, who established Afong Studio, considered to be the most successful photographic studio in the late Qing dynasty. 

Despite the prominence of studios, the pioneering Eastman Kodak company started to advertise its consumer cameras and films in China as early as 1904. We can assume that initial sales were rather modest and primarily generated from Western expats and wealthy Chinese elites.

Under the Chinese name Ǎikèfā (矮克发), Agfa soon followed suit and started to market its brand in 1910. The German company however limited its advertisements to professional photo development chemicals, papers and tools. 

Chinese consumer photography really only started to develop during the 1920s. The proliferation of small, increasingly affordable cameras allowed more people to experiment with photography. This led to the emergence of photo clubs and amateur photography societies, especially in Shanghai, where photography exhibitions and competitions became common. The cultural influence of this technology was significant: for the first time, affluent Chinese could document their own lives, their families, and their rapidly modernizing cities.

At the same time both professional Chinese photography magazines, as well as pictorials - a magazine feature that is primarily photographic - emerged as a new media phenomenon.

It was in 1921, that the Eastman Kodak company established its first office in Shanghai and restarted its marketing efforts in China. The brand would soon become one of the first accounts of famous Shanghai advertising man, Carl Crow.

Agfa also ramped up its marketing efforts again with new distribution agreements, frequent newspaper advertisements, advertising photos, colorful displays,...

..signboards, branded photo envelopes and even its own customer magazine. 

In 1925, Agfa was one of the six German companies that merged to form the Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie (I.G. Farben). As part of the merger, Agfa obtained a camera factory in Munich from Bayer and henceforth produced its own Agfa-branded photo cameras, which too were soon advertised and sold in China. By 1927 Agfa had become the principal photographic equipment producer, and the largest photographic manufacturer in Germany. 

Two years later, in around 1929, Agfa formally incorporated its first representative office in China, the Agfa China Co. in Shanghai, emphasizing the importance of the growing Eastern market.

The real breakthrough for Agfa though, happened in 1930 when it launched its first Agfa Box camera, modelled after the Kodak Brownie. The camera was dumped by the millions below cost, but easily recouped its losses afterwards by selling Agfa films, such as the Isochrom featured on our advertising sign. 

The Eastman Kodak Company was the first to notice the value of female photographic enthusiasts and already in 1893 started to promote the “Kodak Girl.” Its advertisements began featuring a modern and vibrant woman in a blue and white striped dress with a Kodak camera in hand, creating a global icon.

It is fascinating how this trend was continued in Chinese advertisements by both Kodak and later Agfa in the 1930s, emphasizing the emancipated “New Woman” of Republican China.

This shift mirrored larger trends of modernization in China during the Republican era, as cities like Shanghai became symbols of modernity and internationalism.

Another iconic symbol of this time was the Qipao, also known as Cheongsam. A blend of Western and Chinese fashion, the dress was characterized by its form-fitting silhouette, high collar, and side slits, often made from luxurious fabrics like silk – just as the one worn buy the model on our Agfa advertising sign. 

Who is the stunning lady you may wonder?

It is Liang Saizhu of the Liang sisters who were among the leading dance and movie stars in Shanghai during the late 1930s. I.G. Farben contracted all three of them in early 1937, for endorsement campaigns related to its various sub-brands.

In fact, the key visual on our Agfa advertising sign features the same photo of Liang Saizhu which was also used in an advertisement campaign for Bayer. We covered how that collaboration unfolded and the ultimate fate of I.G. Farben and the sisters in our previous story here.

Not only were the daily lives of middle-class families documented with these devices, but also political movements, as well as the Second Sino-Japanese War, beginning in mid-1937.

The outbreak of this conflict, soon followed by WWII, marked the end of the first Golden Age of photography in China and ultimately caused Western camera and film providers to withdraw from the market.

After the war, it was not until 1958, that the first Chinese domestic camera maker, Seagull, was founded in Shanghai.