14. February 2022

Much has been written about old Shanghai’s famous temples of consumption such as the Sincere Co. opened in 1917 and the Wing-on established one year later in 1918. Little though is known about Tianjins (then called Tientsin) commercial retail history, even though it then was the second largest treaty port of China in terms of international population with up to 9 foreign concessions.

08. November 2019

The Royal Baking Powder Company was one of the largest producers of baking powder in the US. It was started by brothers Joseph Christoffel and Cornelius Nevius Hoagland in 1866. The brothers noticed that the baking powder they were making did not bring in much revenue and suffered from competition because the product was easy and cheap to produce. They therefore decided to name their powder the Royal Baking Powder, and to sink a huge sum into an advertising campaign. Soon the company was...