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,...

28. November 2022

A friendly reminder from the Tientsin Press Ltd. (天津印字馆): NOW is the time to order those Christmas cards you’ll want to send to your friends!

03. August 2022

Pinhead was the first US American cigarette brand introduced in China. Its manufacturer was W. Duke, Sons & Co founded in 1871 by Washington Duke in Durham, North Carolina. As early as June 1882 W. Duke and Sons sent their salesman Richard H. Wright on a nineteen-month tour around the world to place their company’s tobacco in key export centers and its products may have already reached China by then.

21. March 2022

Various posters, postcards and product packaging from the MOFBA collection. Girl in pink Qipao is actress Liang Saishan 梁赛珊.