10. October 2022
My Dear, or Měilì (美丽牌) meaning “beautiful” in Chinese, was the most popular Chinese cigarette brand out of Shanghai during Republican China. Since its inception it was famous for the attractive, confident and modern “new women” featured in its advertisements, ubiquitous across billboards, magazines and newspapers. Its Chinese slogan 有美皆备，无丽不臻 literally means “everyone wants the beauty because without beauty there is no completeness” but in more creative...
02. May 2022
The American Safety Razor Company was a personal care brand founded in 1906 by a merger of the Gem Cutlery Company & Ever-Ready and was a principal competitor to Gillette for over a century. The Ever-Ready brand had been created in 1905 and razors were continued to be sold under that name until the early 1960s.
03. March 2022
In Chinese culture certain numbers such as 6 or 8 are widely believed to be auspicious or lucky while others are considered unlucky. The pronunciation of the number 4 in Mandarin for example is similar to the word for death and thus the number is considered unlucky and avoided when and wherever possible. The unluckiest number of all however is 14, which sounds similar to “going to die” or “you will die”. The belief in numerology traditionally is so deeply engrained that even today many...
03. January 2022
First launched in 1934 the brand was produced and advertised by the O.C. Swann Chewing Gum Co. in Shanghai and distributed by 'Linson & Company' as sole agents. The mastermind behind O.C. Swann Co. (Chinese name 大通行) was in fact Chinese food entrepreneur Lin Shengfu (林笙甫) - founder of the notorious Start's Chocolate shop opened on 751 Bubbling Well Road in 1932. The inspiration for his chewing gum brand Swann's was undoubtedly of questionable origin: the design and color scheme...
22. November 2021
Kissy kissy... newspaper ad for Three Cats cigarettes. The brand created by Yuen Hwa Tobacco was a knock-off of British premium cigarette brand Craven "A" who's design looked identical, except that it only featured a single black cat on the logo. Because of that it was commonly referred to by Chinese consumers as "black cat brand" cigarettes. More on Craven "A" in our previous post.
11. October 2021
An edited and enhanced version of this article was published on Historic Shanghai. If you are based in Shanghai we highly recommend their historic walking tours.
21. June 2021
Wing-On is an Australian-Hongkongnese retail group founded in 1897 and 1907 respectively. It expanded to Shanghai in 1918. Until it was nationalized in 1966, Wing On's Shanghai branch was one of the "four great department stores" of Shanghai. Depicted is a 1940s edition of their monthly customer magazine featuring latest news, merchandise and a wide array of brand adverts.
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