22. August 2022

Hatamen brand cigarette cards depicting early 20th century Chinese beauties. Such trading cards were inserted in cigarette packaging as collectibles to drive brand loyalty.

16. August 2021

Introduced in 1923, Hatamen was one of British American Tobaccos (BAT) best selling brands besides Ruby Queen, Chienmen and Pirate. After the Communist Liberation BAT's assets were transferred to the state-owned Shanghai Tobacco Company in 1951. The Hatamen brand was continued until 1963 when it was suspended for being "too colonial". That is until 1992 when Qingdao Cigarette Factory relaunched cigarettes under that name (but with different logo and key visuals). Unlike in the case of the...

12. May 2021

Originally erected in 1907 as godown but then totally transformed and modernized between March 1924 & August 1925. B.A.T. (英美烟公司 or Yee Tsoong Tobacco Co. in Chinese) was the largest foreign cigarette company & at the zenith of its activities in 1937, manufactured and distributed around 55 billion machine-made cigarettes to Chinese consumers. Famous brands owned or distributed included Ruby Queen, Chienmen, Hatamen, Pirate, Capstan, Kingfisher, Three Castles as well as London...