17. July 2023

Summer break: Advertising sign for Hazelwood ice cream, popular in Shanghai from the 1920s to 1940s. It's Chinese trademark name was "Beautiful Girl" (美女牌). Henningsen Produce, the manufacturer behind Hazelwood was started in 1889 in Tacoma, Washington. Until the company built a new factory in Shanghai in 1926 the ice cream was imported "fresh from the U.S. by every steamer". The new facility, which the company referred to as "Hazelwood Park", was situated on Sawgin Road (沙泾路),...

24. October 2022

In 1848 John B. Curtis from Maine developed the first commercial chewing gum, inspired by American Indians who chewed resin made from the sap of spruce trees. The product innovation soon became popular across the USA and beyond. Already in 1890, we find a first mention of chewing gum being available for Christmas season in the International Settlement of Shanghai from American trading firm Mustard & Co. But it took another 20 years before mass-marketing to a wider Chinese audience would...