Posts tagged with "trademark"



26. September 2023
1937 Munich Beer trademark registration certificate of the EWO Brewery in Shanghai, China. From the MOFBA collection.
In celebration of the 188th Oktoberfest, here's the 1937 Munich Beer trademark registration certificate of the EWO Brewery in Shanghai, China. From the MOFBA collection. More on the Shanghai EWO Brewery in our previous post here.
24. October 2022
Sweetie chewing gum ad by Shanghai Henningsen Produce Company featuring Liang Saizhu (梁赛珠), one of the 3 famous Liang sisters. From the MOFBA collection.
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...
14. May 2022
For what kind of product might this mysterious trademark be, that appears to show tablet PC's from outerspace orbiting the earth? From our 1933 Chinese Trademark directory.
29. March 2022
1940s letterpress printing block for "Great Dreadnaught" (大无畏) batteries advert. From the MOFBA collection
03. March 2022
414 Cigarettes Chinese advertising poster with Western pin-up girl, 1947. From the MOFBA collection
In Chinese culture certain numbers such as 6 or 8 are widely believed to be auspicious or lucky while others are considered unlucky. The pronunciation of the number 4 in Mandarin for example is similar to the word for death and thus the number is considered unlucky and avoided when and wherever possible. The unluckiest number of all however is 14, which sounds similar to “going to die” or “you will die”. The belief in numerology traditionally is so deeply engrained that even today many...
03. January 2022
1940s Swann's Spearmint Chewing Gum advertising poster, from the MOFBA collection
First launched in 1934 the brand was produced and advertised by the O.C. Swann Chewing Gum Co. in Shanghai and distributed by 'Linson & Company' as sole agents. The mastermind behind O.C. Swann Co. (Chinese name 大通行) was in fact Chinese food entrepreneur Lin Shengfu (林笙甫) - founder of the notorious Start's Chocolate shop opened on 751 Bubbling Well Road in 1932. The inspiration for his chewing gum brand Swann's was undoubtedly of questionable origin: the design and color scheme...
07. September 2021
Source: https://www.hpcbristol.net/visual/he01-171
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...
10. May 2021
Cut in the shape of a butterfly - "The cloth that never fades". The blue dye was discovered in 1901 by German chemical manufacturer BASF (later shareholder of the IG Farben conglomerate). BASF had been active in China since 1885 and Indanthrene dye immediately won great popularity among Chinese women who began to wear qipao dresses of such bright blue cotton fabric.
06. April 2021

Show more