18. September 2023

This 1929 Pond’s advertisement calendar is not only one of the most stunning pieces in our collection, but also an important artefact of China’s modern social history. The beauty brand and its ad agency, Carl Crow Inc., were instrumental in creating the archetypal “Modern Girl” whose image prevails in Chinese popular and commercial culture to this day. Here is the back story of what made it so iconic.

12. September 2023

This 1930s postcard from our collection reminds us of the lost profession of billboard painter, signwriter or “wall dogs” as its practitioners were often colloquially called. Commercial advertising has a long history in China and in the West but as an industry only emerged several centuries after the invention of Woodblock printing in China in the 9th century, and of the printing press by Gutenberg in around 1436. These technologies eventually allowed for the mass production of flyers,...

05. September 2023

This unique 1917 Horlick’s calendar advertisement from our collection depicts a martial scene that actually takes us all the way back to the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. Get ready for an immortal story about the mightiest of men, war, loyalty and... warm milk.

27. August 2023

The Shanghai Maling Aquarius company recently reintroduced its iconic orange juice soda, proudly emphasizing the 159-years-long history of the famous "Zhengguanghe" (正广和) drink. Our research shows that this is a very generous interpretation of the brand’s actual age, and that its true history is slightly more ambiguous. Let's dive into the iconic company's origin story:

22. August 2023

You’ve surely heard of Laurel & Hardy, the famous slapstick comedy duo of early American cinema. But did you know that China had its equivalent with Langen Han & Xiucen Yin? A 1940 hand fan advertisement for Shanghai U.B. Beer from our collection reminds us of their forgotten history.

16. August 2023

This 1940s advertising slide from our collection reminds us that pre-roll ads have existed for over 120 years, but also tells the incredible story of how a Western brand once helped normalize diplomatic relations with China. The first to present projected moving pictures to a paying audience were the Lumière brothers in December 1895 in Paris, France. They used a device of their own making, the Cinématographe, and the first ever created film titled “Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory”...

07. August 2023

Although cocoa was introduced to Europe sometime in the 16th century it was not until the Industrial Revolution that new processes emerged which sped the production of chocolate and with that the development of an affordable mass market product. In 1824, John Cadbury, began selling tea, coffee and drinking chocolate in Bull Street in Birmingham, England. In 1847, John became a partner with his brother Benjamin and the company became known as "Cadbury Brothers”. The new firm began exporting...

31. July 2023

08. July 2023

This intriguing 1928 calendar poster, advertising the „Beacon” cigarette brand, was not only created by the most versatile Chinese commercial artist of the 20th century, but also leads us to explore the story of the first and largest foreign-founded tobacco manufacturer in China.

05. July 2023

This lovely ca. 1935 advertising booklet for the Astor House Hotel from our collection has a centerfold map & offers the perfect opportunity to take you on a journey through old Tianjin, the second biggest foreign settlement of Republican China. Tianjin, or Tientsin as it was once called, is located 140km South-East of Beijing on the shore of the Bohai sea and its Chinese name translates to "Heavenly Ford" or "Ford of Heaven". After the end of the Second Opium War in 1858 the Treaty of...