ADVERTISING IN CHINA.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Archive of promotional posters, flyers, and other visual material from the Republic of China and People's Republic of China. An expansive collection showcasing the evolution and adaptation of visual marketing in China between the 1920s and 1980s, including the creation of the "modern girl" image, the sinicization of western aesthetics, and the survival of Republican-era imagery in communist contexts.Commercial messages are conveyed in a variety of formats, including calendars, wrappers and packets, posters, flyers, and brochures, while others are clipped from magazines. The products advertised include consumer goods such as cigarettes (Hatamen, Qianmen, Golden Road), medicines (Hong Ren Dan), and fireworks (Yick Loong), as well as agricultural products and fertilizers (BM & Co.), pencils, alarm clocks, and fountain pens. Many are rich in colour and call on cultural tropes and touchpoints, including elements of traditional culture. The collection represents the high standard of printing executed in Shanghai and other commercial centres, especially in the interwar period.Many examples in this collection are targeted towards female consumers. Chinese and foreign advertising agencies quickly recognized that urban women, emerging as a wealthy and more independent social group in the early 20th century, were both a key market (for example for cigarettes) and an important marketing tool. From the 1950s onwards, these urbane female figures give way to imagery emphasizing socialist an

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