24. December 2023
The Mei Foo Shield was the "monthly magazine published by the Standard Oil Company of New York in the interests of its Far Eastern Staff". More on SOCONY in our previous article here.
13. October 2023
This 1946 Shanghai magazine ad for Eng Aun Tong features a puzzling key visual - we certainly don't recommend using Tiger Balm as a sunscreen... The well-known heat rub was created in the 1870s by a Chinese herbalist in Burma. His sons took over the company in 1908 and developed it into a highly successful business empire which exported to China, Japan, and across Southeast Asia. In 1920 the headquarter was moved to Singapore where it continues to be manufactured to this day.
08. May 2023
Omega watches have a close to 130-year long history in China and since the Roaring Twenties have relied heavily on Chinese celebrity endorsements. For this week’s post about an artifact from our collection we are asking you for help identifying all the glamorous icons featured in this all-star ad. But first a quick background on the famous luxury watch brand. In 1848 a young watchmaker named Luis Brandt opened a workshop called “La Generale Watch Co” in the small Swiss village of La...
22. June 2022
If you’ve read Paul French‘s excellent book City of Devils you of course heard of famous Shanghai slot machine king “Jack” E.T. Riley. Jack was known to have been a longtime supporter of the Marines, and they in turn helped save his butt more than once. What, to our knowledge, previously was not known is that before joining spirits merchant Gande, Price & Co in late 1933 (where his “commercial record was above reproach”), Jack gave it a shot on his own to distribute U.B.C. –...
27. September 2021
The China Journal (originally titled "The China Journal of Science and Arts") was an English language monthly magazine published in Shanghai by Arthur de Carle Sowerby and his wife Clarice Moise from January 1923 to December 1941. It was comparable to National Geographic magazine covering science, art, travel and natural history topics but was purely focused on China. Printed by the North-China Daily News and Herald, Ltd.
24. August 2021
Pirate by British tobacco producer W.D. & H.O. Wills (later exclusively distributed by British American Tobacco), was one of the earliest Western cigarette brands to enter China in 1891. It was also one the most, if not the most well known foreign tobacco brands. Caricature Circles was a short live cartoon magazine published by Shanghai Cartoon Construction Publishing House under Wang Dunqing, as Editor-in-Chief The above cartoon is from the first edition. Only a total of 8 issues was ever...
21. June 2021
Wing-On is an Australian-Hongkongnese retail group founded in 1897 and 1907 respectively. It expanded to Shanghai in 1918. Until it was nationalized in 1966, Wing On's Shanghai branch was one of the "four great department stores" of Shanghai. Depicted is a 1940s edition of their monthly customer magazine featuring latest news, merchandise and a wide array of brand adverts.
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