21. November 2022

Before the electrification of China starting in 1882 and the introduction of battery-powered torches in the 1910s, oil lamps were the predominant means of illumination. They were cheap to manufacture & became popular promotional merchandise - most famously exemplified by the Standard Oil Company of New York (SOCONY).

06. December 2021

For almost 30 years the local Shanghai beer market was dominated by the omnipresent U.B. (友啤) beer brand. Its original creator was the Shanghai Union-Brauerei AG, incorporated 1912 by the German company Schwarzkopf & Co from Tsingtau (now Qingdao). After the Great War in 1918 a previously minor Norwegian shareholder, Mr. Frithjof Hoehnke, took over the business and renamed it to Aktieselskabet Union Bryggeri or Scandinavian Brewery Co. Ltd in English. In 1931 the company was once more...

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...

11. January 2021

After several endeavors in the salts and copper industry the British entrepreneur William Gossage founded the The Gossage Soap Company in 1850. After a first success with silicated soap, the company faced a first threat in 1884 – Lever Brother’s Sunlight Soap. The new Sunlight was a technical and commercial novelty. Gossage's response was to produce their own similar soap, also wrapped, branded and advertised. This was 'Gossage’s Magical Soap', whose logo included a wizard and mystical...