The Progressive History of Advertising in China

A Brief History of Advertising Development in China

First, the slave society and the advertising development before it.

The first great division of production in society took place in the Neolithic Age in the late primitive society about 4000- 10000 years ago. Archaeology has proved that Yangshao culture in Neolithic age in China has changed from matriarchal society to paternal society, while Longshan culture has witnessed the division of labor and remarkable development of economic production departments such as agriculture, pottery making, animal husbandry and handicraft industry, and exhibited a new industry-wine making. The development of productive forces and social division of labor make surplus products appear, thus laying the foundation of private ownership. At the same time, due to the technical specialization tendency of workers, the varieties and quantities of products produced by various workers in production activities are different, and workers always tend to engage in their skilled technical production. Therefore, in order to meet personal needs, product exchange began to appear. With the deepening of division of labor, the types of means of production are gradually increasing, the surplus products are also increasing, the material exchange activities are becoming more and more frequent, and the types and regions of exchange products are also expanding. In the era of the Yellow Emperor, the form of currency exchange appeared, in which physical currency such as livestock, bronzes, cloth and precious ornaments was exchanged as equivalent, replacing the original form of barter exchange.

In order to exchange the exchanged products, it is necessary to display the products in the market, and at the same time, to attract others, it is necessary to shout and so on. Physical display and shouting are the earliest forms of advertising. This advertising form is still circulating today, while other advertising forms are generally evolved from this advertising form, but new means and tools are adopted and new content is injected.

During the slave society, in the Xia Dynasty (about 2 1- 0/6th century BC), the division of labor among agriculture, handicrafts and commerce appeared in China, and the merchant class began to appear. With the development of commerce, commodity exchange is increasingly frequent and extensive, and cities and markets begin to appear. According to legend, the earliest cities in China appeared in the Xia Dynasty. In the Xia and Shang Dynasties (BC 16-BC1century) and the Western Zhou Dynasty (about BC1century-770 BC), according to the research of the famous historian Wu Han, "some merchants in the Zhou Dynasty were adherents of Yin". They receive special respect. They have no political rights and lost their land. In order to make a living, they have to run around doing business. Due to the needs of society, this kind of industry, which was ashamed by nobles but not by ordinary people, became the main industry engaged by Yin adherents. To some extent, this is the root of attaching importance to business over business left over from China's history.

From China's classical literary works, especially The Book of Songs, we can also see a fragmentary description of business activities. The Book of Changes reads: "Shennong wrote about various countries, and Japan and China were the cities, and they were the people of the world, collecting all the things in the world. After the transaction, they retired and each got his place." Lai Bei Feng, a book of songs, uses the metaphor of "If my morality blocks, Jia won't sell" to describe the feelings after being rejected. In Feng Wei's Self-protection, there is even a poem that gives an intuitive description of business activities, such as "self-protection, trade protection". To some extent, all these reflect the commercial development and the original form of commodity sales in the late primitive society and slave society-displaying commodities and selling advertisements with images.

Second, the relative prosperity of advertising development in feudal society.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, from 770 BC to 476 BC, China began and completed the transition from a slave society to a feudal society. During this period, the merchant class began to divide into merchants and merchants, as can be seen from the frequent expressions of "the place where osmanthus fish are planted" and "the place where sheep are slaughtered" in Zhuangzi. Shang Hong is a businessman. He walks from village to village and buys and sells things along the way, while Zuo Jia is a businessman. He has a specific place and attracts others to buy and sell things. There is such a description of the division of merchants in White Tiger Tong: "Merchants are words and chapters, chapters are far and near, degrees are dead, and they extend in all directions, so they are called merchants." Jia Zhi's words are solid, and useful things are solid, waiting for the people to benefit. Therefore, business is business, it is better to buy. "It was during this period that people began to hang the objects displayed in the market on the stalls to recruit people. In this way, on the basis of physical display, it has evolved into advertising forms such as signboards and scorpions. In the Spring and Autumn Annals of Yan Zi, there is such a description: "You keep clothes inside, but you still hang your head on the door and sell horse meat inside." "This sentence is enough to prove that there was at least such an advertising form as the cover. At the same time, it is generally acknowledged that the pottery of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty unearthed in Gaoxian Town, Dengfeng County, Henan Province is covered with Wen Tao, the seal character of Yangcheng? Beautiful night? I'm sorry to hear the news.

During the 800 years from Qin Dynasty to Sui Dynasty (22 BC1year-6 AD18) after Qin Shihuang unified China, the social productive forces developed to a certain extent compared with the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period due to the land reform of the feudal ruling class and the implementation of the new tax policy. Qin Shihuang's centralization, unified measurement, measures to unify writing, and the implementation of the long-term "rest and recuperation" policy in Han Dynasty objectively created favorable conditions for commercial development. The "governance of cultural landscape" in the Western Han Dynasty is famous for its political clarity and peaceful prosperity, and the scale and scope of commercial development is undoubtedly greater than that in the Spring and Autumn Period. During this period, the city further developed. For hundreds of years, Luoyang has become a world-famous metropolis with many shops. At that time, the shop was called "tower" and there was a man at the door to receive customers. The advertising forms used are oral advertising and physical display. Especially the cover has been adopted by fixed shops, such as wine flags and dragons. As the original form of bedding, "Luan" appeared in the Han Dynasty, which played a pioneering role in the decoration of shops in the future. There is a record about Sima Xiangru in the Western Han Dynasty in the Biography of Historical Records of Sima Xiangru: "It seems to set up a restaurant to sell wine and make Wen Jun a monk." Xin Yannian, a poet in the Eastern Han Dynasty, also wrote the poem "The 15th anniversary of Hu Jisheng, spring is the only time". It is believed that at that time (Eastern Han Dynasty), there were already foreign nationals living in China and engaged in business activities.

After 400 AD, the Northern Wei Dynasty began to advocate civil administration, and commerce had a prosperous period. According to historical records, there were two markets in the east of Luoyang at that time, namely "trading" and "reaching goods". "There were vendors everywhere." Otherwise, in Yanchi and Zhijuan Erli, "people in the village mostly make wine", "Bai Liu, a native of Hedong, is good at making wine, and he is in the summer in late summer, selling and storing wine and drinking it in the afternoon is beautiful." Here, Liu Baiduo's drinking is undoubtedly a demonstration advertisement in kind, which makes "the gift from the county in Beijing is far away". Good advertising effect makes this wine famous.

In 58 1 year, China was unified by the Sui Dynasty, and urban commerce had begun to take shape. When Emperor Yang Di was recorded in Historical Records, "The boats in the world are set in the east of Tongji Bridge, and there are often more than 10,000 boats and rivers. Businessmen trade horses and chariots, flooding the market. Good chiefs who entered the DPRK often invited them to trade in the Oriental market, and Emperor Yang Di promised them to rectify the market first. The eaves are the same, the weft account is set, the treasure is full, and the characters are full of goods. The seller of vegetables is mainly dragon beard meat. After being invited to a restaurant, he has been invited to sit down, drunk and not straight. " This shows that the commodity trading market at that time was large in scale and involved a wide range. Dongshi is a city approved by Yang Di to open to the outside world. He asked to rectify the city appearance before opening, enrich the display of precious and high-quality goods, and let vegetable vendors put Chen Fang on the asparagus table. Dining for foreign guests is free. Emperor Yang Di's measures are to show his respect, but objectively, they are an international commercial exhibition and advertisement.

In 6 18 AD, the Tang Dynasty was established and the feudal society in China reached its peak. The farmland equalization method and the land rent and land rent adjustment method implemented in agriculture have effectively promoted economic development. Industry and commerce are booming day by day, and commerce is unprecedented. Guangzhou, Yangzhou, Quanzhou and Chang 'an, the capital, have become "international trade centers connected by all nations". In particular, the development of the Silk Road, including the development of maritime trade, has made these metropolises "prosperous in market, with many domestic and foreign merchants, and each store in the city has its own franchise", resulting in the emergence of commercial industries such as meat shops, gold and silver jade shops, clothing shops, bran shops, weighing shops, silk shops, medicine shops and fishing shops, and at the same time, the development of financial banks serving commercial circulation-Qianzhuang. With the continuous improvement of handicraft production level, the variety of goods is increasingly rich. In the Tang Dynasty, there were two cities, Chang 'an and Xijing, with 2 12 lines in each city. There are more than 3,000 "shops" on the 130 line in Luoyang, Tokyo. At the same time, some areas have also formed professional markets, such as rice market, grass market, silk market and medicine market.

The Tang Dynasty had a strict management system for the market, and all the markets were set up by officials. The market is partitioned, surrounded by walls, with doors in all directions, which are closed every once in a while. Divide the city into four stores, and the goods traded in the market meet the same category and are sold in the designated stores respectively. Commodity prices are evaluated by the government and listed for operation. The Law of the Tang Dynasty stipulates: "Anyone who has stolen goods shall be estimated according to the current price and the silk price at the time of committing the crime, and the silk price shall be determined in order at the time of committing the crime." That is, in violation of the current price regulations, necessary treatment should be given. At the same time, it also shows that hanging signboards not only plays the role of advertising, but also becomes a means for the government to manage vendors.

In the commercial activities in the Tang Dynasty, there were various forms of advertisements. (1) Oral hawking: For example, in Notes of the Tang Dynasty, it is recorded that "the person who sold bottles at that time blew his flute". Yuan Zhen, a poet, wrote in "Guessing Guest Music", "I traveled all over the world, but I arrived in Chang 'an, the east and west city in the city, and was greeted by the guests for the first time. The poem "welcome guests and lobbyists, make more money" vividly describes the content of oral advertisements at that time. (2) Signboard advertisement: Market transactions are conducted in different departments, and it is stipulated that they must be listed for operation. Therefore, signboard advertisements are very popular. (3) Commodity Fair: According to the biography of Wei Jian in the Old Tang Dynasty, during the Tianbao period, Wei Jian set up a Cao Zhou from Weishui to Chang 'an outside the palace wall for the emperor to browse the commodities contained in various places. At that time, he "resolutely planned to take three or two hundred small wooden boats in Tokyo and put them by the pond. All the boats were marked. If it's a ship from Guangling County, then Fu is back. "Danyang county ship, namely Jingkou silk shirt satin; Jinling county boat, that is, folding tail embroidery; Huiji County ships, namely Bronze, Luo, Wuling and Jiangsha; Nanhai county ships, namely hawksbill, pearl, ivory and agarwood; Zhang Yu county ships, namely famous porcelain, wine vessels, teapots, teapots and tea bowls; Xuancheng county ships, namely empty bluestone, paper, pen and coptis chinensis; There were boats at the beginning of Anxian County, namely banana calamus, viper and emerald. It can be seen that the goods were widely received at that time and the situation was prosperous. (4) Flag: As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Han Feizi had a description of "hanging the flag high". In the Tang Dynasty, it was also used in hotels. Du Mu, a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote a famous poem "Wine Flag Style in Water Country and Mountain Country". In some Tang dynasty calligraphy, you can sometimes see the appearance of restaurant flags. There are two sentences in "Yuanqu backyard flowers": "Three feet of cloth in front of the hotel, come and find a guest. "It not only shows the size of the wine flag, but also shows the role of the wine flag. The Northern Song regime adopted a series of policies to stabilize the countryside and encourage production. After decades of war, the social economy has been given a chance to recuperate, the economy has picked up again, and business has developed rapidly. Because the Song Dynasty reformed the market square system since ancient times and abolished the restriction of "Japan and China are the city", the region and time of market exchange are no longer restricted by the government, but can be carried out anytime and anywhere, making the scope of business activities more extensive and extremely active. The capital of Song Dynasty was not only a political and economic center, but also a commodity distribution center. Businessmen from all over the world shuttled here, which led to the appearance of large shops with wide facades. At the same time, due to the ban on night markets, commercial trade is divided into Japanese market, Dawn market and night market, and small traders are busy trading around the clock. " Business is going on day and night, and tourists who make friends at night are sparse, and the fifth watch rings again. "At this time, because small vendors are allowed to do business in the street, the voice of selling everywhere in the city is endless. Song Mengyuan's "Tokyo Dream China" has a detailed record of this: "... there is a little son, wearing a white shirt, wearing a blue and white towel, carrying a white porcelain jar and selling mala Tang." "City people sell plums, Noctuidae, bees, snow willows, bodhi leaves, coconuts and hammers. Only the coke hammer came out of the green umbrella, with a bamboo frame and decorated with small lanterns with plum blossoms and golden wisps. Lanterns are also arranged in front and behind the frame. You have to beat gongs and drums and walk around in groups. This is called "beating gongs" and it is all over the street. There are also "the spring of roses, the blooming of flowers, peony and peony, and woody plants in Tang Di", all of which are listed. Flower sellers use bamboo baskets to arrange flowers, and the songs are strange and audible. "Because hawkers peddle and shout loudly, it takes a lot of effort and the sound can't travel far, so they derive various audio advertisements with professional characteristics from oral advertisements, shaking, beating, rowing and blowing with different musical instruments, and making different sounds to express different industries, such as hawker's rattle and barber's iron scissors.

The increase in commercial activities has also led to the emergence of some service industries, and the number of employees has suddenly increased. Teahouses, restaurants, restaurants and inns are all over the streets, and the business is booming. In this economic background, advertising can be further developed. Signboards, covers, wine flags and lanterns all show their abilities, and with the appearance of big shops, a new advertising form-door plaques has also begun to appear. From Zhang Zeduan's The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival in the Northern Song Dynasty, we can see signs such as "Liu Hua Tan Dian Xiang", "Zhao Tai Cheng Jia", "Yang's Syndrome" and "Wangluodian".

The original advertising forms-oral calls, stereos, signboards, covers, lanterns and doorplates, gatehouses, wine flags and other store advertisements-developed to a considerable prosperity in the Song Dynasty. At the same time, printing was invented due to the progress of science and technology. Engraving printing invented in Sui Dynasty has developed into movable type printing in Song Dynasty. The invention of printing technology provides a new medium for advertising-printed matter. Historical data prove that printing advertisements began in the Song Dynasty, and the existing copper plate of "Liu Jinan Jiagongfu Needle" in Shanghai Museum is a very precious historical material for advertising printing in the Song Dynasty.

During the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties after the Song Dynasty, the commodity economy also developed to varying degrees. Due to the increase of population and increasingly extensive foreign exchanges, cities have developed very rapidly, and different regional commercial centers have been formed in various parts of the country. However, during this period, although the application of advertising was undoubtedly very active, the advertising form was not innovative, and it was still the application of oral advertising, original audio advertising and shop signboard advertising-flags, signboards, house numbers, signs, gatehouses and colored lights. Relevant records scattered in all kinds of history books, notes, novels and songbooks fully prove this point.

1. Oral advertisement

Fan Chengda, a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, wrote in his Collection of Fan Shihu that "the medicine seller outside the wall has not missed a day for nine years, and it is very appropriate to sing", while the Peony Pavilion and the Boudoir written by Tang Xianzu in the Ming Dynasty described that "you listen to selling flowers frequently, but you are poor in reading". In Ming Dynasty, Feng Menglong's Hua Ben and Imitation Ben collected Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty and Ming Dynasty's Yu Tang Chun's Difficult to Find a Husband, and there was even an advertisement saying that "there was a boy named Yun in the street outside the temple:' melon seeds in Benjing, one barrel each, duck eggs in Gaoyou, half each'". The sound of selling has been going on. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty, Li Ji's "Yangzhou Painting Spectrum" recorded that among the many art dealers in Pingshantang area of Yangzhou at that time, "Suzhou people used five-color powder to make people look like people, which is called pinching.

There is a record that "people are like street people, and their hands keep on", while there is a tune of "peddler" in Yuanqu, which was originally sung by peddler to attract customers, then evolved into folk songs and finally became an artist's repertoire.

2. Wine flag advertisement

After the Tang and Song Dynasties, poets and poets talked about wine flags, and there were many descriptions of wine flags in the literary works of Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, so I won't go into details here.

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There are lyrics of "thirty hotels in the city, he hangs drunken immortals and arranges wine" in Yuanqu. At that time, some shops selling small commodities also made goods into "exaggerated scissors" and large bottles of medicinal liquor, which were displayed at the door of the store or at the counter to attract customers. In Ming and Qing novels, there are countless records about the cover.

4. signboards

Signboards have been one of the advertising forms spanning the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties for thousands of years since they were used as a means of market management. You can see the images of various signs on the Riverside Map at Qingming Festival. There is such a description in the vernacular novel "Jing Ben Popular Novel Volume Jade Guanyin" in the Song Dynasty: "If you don't reach Tanzhou in a day, you will go far. Just in Tanzhou City, I asked for a house and hung a signboard that read' Walking in Zhao Mo Yu'. " In Miscellanies of Hangzhou in Yuan Dynasty, Li You quoted Zhang Renguo's Six Morning Youth as saying "Hang up a signboard and cheer for opening an old shop" to describe the scene of the old shop resuming business. Due to commercial competition, in Beijing in the Qing Dynasty, even signs were used to scold peers, such as "raincoats, paper and oil are all sold at home,

But there is only one sign. You are also a sinus, and I am also a sinus. Prostitutes and thieves are only around him. "Early signs were generally very simple, but later, in order to gain an advertising advantage in commercial competition, celebrities were invited to write them, and nave appeared, such as the' Taibai legacy' of hotels and the' people's food' of rice shops. At the same time, in the decoration of signboards, artistic patterns and golden red paintings have also begun to evolve.

5. Shop decoration

Since the development of big shops in Song Dynasty, the facade decoration of shops has also become the main form of advertising competition. You can see a "head store" on the riverside at Qingming Festival, and its storefront decoration has always been very particular. Fengle Building in the heyday of the Song Dynasty, "three stories high, opposite the fifth floor, each with a flying bridge sill, light and shadow connected, beaded curtains embroidered, lights and candles illuminated." At the same time, Meng Liang Lu described Hangzhou in detail. "Today's tea shops in Hang Cheng are also like this, with flowers in the four seasons, paintings by celebrities and decoration on the facade", which shows that attention was paid to store decoration at that time, and in the following Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, this kind of store decoration was "more competitive than luxury".

6. Print advertising

Engraving printing developed greatly in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. In addition to official printed books, people also use it to print vernacular novels and operas. Especially after the mid-Ming Dynasty, most of the novels and operas published by Yinfang were accompanied by Xiu Xiang's illustrations, which were used as propaganda means for booksellers to promote their publications. At the end of the book Fantasy Hologram of the West Chamber published in Hongzhi in 1955 (1498), there is a publication note from the publishing house Jintai Yuejia Bookstore: "... we are willing to rewrite the drawing according to the classics, participate in the compilation of Chinese characters, and sing in harmony with the picture. Let's live in the living room, walk on the boat and sit around, so that we can always feel this and sing clearly and make people feel happy. " From this we can see the basic skills of booksellers' advertising at that time.

From the development of commerce and advertising in various historical dynasties, we can see the historical changes from oral advertising, shop advertising to printed advertising, and thus we can see the relative heyday of advertising in China feudal society and its relationship with the commercial economy at that time.

Three. 1840 —— 1949: advertisements in the modern history of China

/kloc-in the first half of the 0/9th century, many capitalist countries carried out industrial revolutions, and the rapid development of production made capitalists feel the pressure of the market. In order to accumulate huge capital, open up new commodity markets and plunder labor and cheap raw materials, China, with a vast territory and a large population, has become one of their prey. /kloc-the outbreak of the Opium War in 0/840 was the beginning of this all-round political, economic and cultural invasion. The invasion of capitalism, on the one hand, changed the nature of China society, the closed feudal society began to disintegrate, the natural economy combined with agriculture and cottage industry disintegrated, and our society gradually became a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society; On the other hand, the influx of foreign capital and commodities has also provided impetus for China's commodity production and promoted the development of industry and commerce. In particular, the competition between national industry and commerce and overseas capital for the market has stimulated the development of advertising industry.

After the Opium War, under the manipulation of imperialist powers, the China government signed the treaty of nanking, which opened five major cities of Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo and Shanghai as trading ports, allowing China businessmen to transport foreign goods from the above ports to all parts of the country for sale, thus legitimizing capitalist trade aggression. Since then, foreign goods have flooded into the mainland, and comprador businessmen have appeared in China to serve foreign families. Due to the commercial development brought by the influx of foreign capital, modern advertising industry has developed rapidly in these trading port cities.

Among all kinds of imported products, drugs and cigarettes are the most widely used advertisements. Among the five trading ports, the most developed advertisement is Shanghai, which is of course related to the vast hinterland of Shanghai and the convenient water transportation on the Yangtze River. At that time, advertisements mainly relied on street signs and posters. The street sign is painted on the wall with white characters on a blue background, which is very simple. Posters are mostly printed abroad and brought back to China for posting. These street sign advertisements and poster advertisements once expanded from cities to vast rural areas. During this period, modern newspapers and periodicals began to appear in China.

1853, the British sold the publication Far from Home at five major trading ports. This magazine is engaged in advertising business and serves the communication between Chinese and foreign enterprises. 1854, the magazine advertised for advertisers: "such as merchants or charterers. You have to use this book to express your money. Compared with the street stickers, rumors go further and benefit the most. " Historians believe that this periodical is one of the earliest publications in China.

History has proved that modern advertisements marked by newspapers and magazines were introduced by foreign businessmen. 1858, Bazaar was first founded by foreign businessmen in Hong Kong. After 186 1 year, it became an advertising newspaper specializing in shipping prices. During this period, foreigners not only established some comprehensive newspapers, but also established some professional advertising newspapers, such as Oriental Advertising, Fuzhou Advertising and China Advertising. At that time, the advertising business was mainly based on shipping dates and commodity prices, which was not unrelated to the frequent exchanges between foreign merchant ships and the large number of goods coming in and out after the five-port trade. On March 23rd, 1872, Shenbao was founded, which is the oldest and most prestigious Chinese newspaper in China. At the same time, Shanghai New Newspaper and China Church New Newspaper were published. These newspapers have published a large number of advertisements, accounting for almost two-thirds of the pages. During this period, advertisements for mechanical equipment began to appear. This shows that China has established a modern industrial factory.

Long before the Opium War, China had already bred the seeds of capitalism. The invasion of foreign capital after the Opium War promoted the social and economic differentiation of China, led to the disintegration of China's natural economic system, accelerated the decline of urban and rural handicrafts, stimulated industrial production, and strengthened the dependence of industrial products on the world market and the commercialization of agricultural products. The development of commodity economy has created favorable conditions for the development of national capitalism. Since the middle of19th century, some businessmen, landlords and bureaucrats in our country have started to adopt machines, recruit employees and start new industries. By 1895, there were more than 70 Chinese-funded factories. 1894, China's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War led to the signing of treaty of shimonoseki, and China was forced to open Shashi, Chongqing, Suzhou and Hangzhou as trading ports, and allowed Japanese businessmen to set up factories at various trading ports. Treaty of shimonoseki adapted to the interests of imperialism in China, thus expanding its commercial power from coastal cities to the mainland and legalizing foreign factories in China. By advertising in inland ports, Japanese businessmen plundered a large number of agricultural and sideline products such as bristles, tung oil, cotton and raw silk in China, or set up factories to produce or engage in entrepot trade, which seriously damaged the rural economy and national industry in China. Treaty of shimonoseki also stimulated the development of national industries and the further commercialization of agricultural products. Many patriots set up factories to save themselves in response to the plunder of Japanese businessmen. Since1912-1919, the number of newly-built industrial factories and mines in modern China has increased to more than 470. In the confrontation and competition with foreign merchants and foreign goods, national industries gradually use advertising as a competitive tool.

At the end of 19, China newspapers started publication one after another. During the three or four years from 1895 to 1898, 32 major newspapers were founded. Due to the intensification of capital competition, the number of newspapers and advertising pages have increased rapidly. Among the six pages of popular newspapers from 65438 to 0899, advertisements account for four and a half pages. By 1922, there were more than 1 100 Chinese and foreign newspapers in China. The widespread appearance of newspaper advertisements indicates that the development of modern advertisements in China has entered a new historical period. The development of newspaper advertising has created a new industry-advertising agency in China.

Advertising agency evolved from newspaper advertising agency. The early newspaper advertising agency in China engaged in advertising business and sold newspapers, and then gradually evolved into a professional agency, relying solely on advertising for newspapers and magazines. 1872, in the advertisement column of Shenbao, there is "I want to publish advertisements in Suzhou and Hangzhou. Just explain to the manager of this newspaper ... and send the price as soon as possible, and add half to the newspaper seller for dinner. " The so-called advertising here is advertising, the "newspaper seller" is the original advertising agent, and the "meal fee" is the advertising agency fee. At first, advertising agencies just ran around, contracting advertising business for newspapers and collecting commissions from them. Later, the newspaper's advertising business continued to expand, and an advertising department was set up in the newspaper. Advertising agencies have evolved into regular employees of newspaper advertising department, so advertising agencies and advertising companies specializing in advertising production have emerged.

In 1930s, the rise of advertising companies was another milestone in the history of advertising development in China. During this period, advertising media began to become diversified, and a variety of advertising forms appeared. Before War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, many large enterprises set up advertising departments to promote the foreign goods they produced. For example, the advertising department and studio of British American Tobacco Company invite painters to draw advertisements from all directions at home and abroad. In the fierce commercial war, national industries have also begun to invest in advertising and set up advertising departments in enterprises. At the same time, due to the needs of market competition, advertising business is increasing day by day, and professional advertising companies have emerged. In the early 1930s, there were 10 and 20 advertising companies in Shanghai. The main business of advertising companies is newspaper advertising, while other forms of advertising, such as street signs, window displays, neon lights, movies and slides, generally have their own franchise companies.

During this period, newspapers were the main advertising media. The largest newspaper is News. As a call to attract advertisements, it has sold 150000 copies in one day. In addition, the circulation of magazines is not low. For example, Life Weekly, edited by Zou Taofen, has a sales volume of over 1923 copies per issue. Some major magazines, such as Life Weekly, Oriental Magazine and Women's Magazine, also have large advertisements. Street sign advertising was the main form of advertising in the early days, and later gave way to newspapers, but it still occupies a considerable share in the whole advertising business. Because the simple street sign advertisements painted on the walls of people in big cities are no longer eye-catching, some advertising companies began to put colorful printed posters on their desks, and later changed them to advertisements supported by wooden frames and lead-leather devices and painted with paint. Many companies, such as Xingye, Crowe, Deng Meiling, Chinese businessmen, communications, etc., regard street sign advertisements as their main source of income.

Radio advertisements were introduced after 1922. Osborne of the United States set up a 50-watt radio station in Shanghai, which opened the prelude to China's radio advertising, but the radio station officially started advertising at 1927, and Xinxin Company set up a 50-watt radio station to broadcast news, current affairs and music. In the same year, Tianjin and Beijing also started radio stations one after another. By 1936, there were 36 private Chinese-funded radio stations, 4 foreign-funded radio stations, 1 national government radio stations and 1 Ministry of Communications radio stations in Shanghai, all of which were supported by advertisements.

The earliest neon advertisement in Shanghai was launched in 1926. Later, foreign businessmen set up a neon lamp factory in Shanghai, and even electrical companies and Chinese-funded electrical companies appeared one after another to advertise neon lamps for advertising companies. In addition, the new advertising forms also include car body advertising, window advertising and so on. In the same period, print advertisements have also been further developed, with product samples, internal publications (free of charge), professional publications sponsored by enterprises, monthly cards, calendars and other forms of print advertisements appearing.

1936 During the National Games, Shanghai News took the opportunity to launch an aerial advertisement, and put an advertising banner with the words "The newspaper has the largest circulation, and guests are welcome to choose" into the air with balloons. This is the first aerial advertisement in China, which has played a very positive role in expanding the influence of news. In the same year, the national commercial art exhibition was held in Shanghai, which played a very good role in improving the artistic level of advertising and giving full play to the social and economic benefits of advertising. At the same time, the national government also began to manage advertising. At that time, there were clauses related to advertising in civil law, criminal law, traffic law and publication law, and advertising tax began to be levied. Trade associations have also emerged in the advertising industry. China Advertising Association was established in Shanghai on 1927, which is the earliest organization in the advertising industry. On 1933, it was renamed as Shanghai Advertising Industry Association.

After the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the advertising industry was seriously affected by the war. After the fall of Shanghai, major advertising companies closed down one after another, and most of the remaining advertising businesses were advertisements introducing Japanese goods, although the advertising business and advertising companies were lucky in the later period. From harmony? healthy

During War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the National Government moved to Chongqing. At that time, many newspapers from Nanjing, Shanghai, Hankou and Tianjin moved in one after another. 1937 In addition to the original business newspaper, there are Xinhua Daily, Central Daily, Sweeping Newspaper, Ta Kung Pao, Xinmin Daily, etc., which publish various advertisements. At the same time, the * * * party newspaper founded in the liberated areas also has a small amount of advertising business.

After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, all kinds of newspapers and other media units have moved back to their original places for re-publication, and advertising companies have become active again. At that time, many advertisements were "looking for you". In addition, the market is full of American goods, and the advertising business volume is very large. Because American goods have caused a serious impact on China's national industry, almost to the brink of collapse. At that time, under the advocacy of its organizers, the Domestic Machinery Factory Federation launched a publicity campaign aimed at boycotting foreign goods and saving national industries. At that time, a sign was designed to advertise in local and foreign newspapers and street signs, calling on people to use domestic products. However, after 1947, due to years of civil war and economic collapse, China's advertising industry once again fell into a trough.

Fourthly, the tortuous course of advertising development in China after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

1949, People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded. Due to economic, political and social reasons, the advertising industry in New China has gone through a long and tortuous process before it can recover and develop rapidly.

On the eve of liberation, some industrialists and businessmen were not clear about the policy of China's * * * production party, and their money fled. Coupled with the economic policies adopted by the Kuomintang government in the later period, it did harm to industry and commerce, and China's industry and commerce were in an extremely difficult state. In the early days of the People's Republic of China, the shortage of funds and raw materials seriously affected the stability and development of industry and commerce. In order to stabilize the economic situation and urge industrial and commercial enterprises to resume production, the new people's government has taken various effective measures. Support the supply of raw materials and funds for industrial and commercial enterprises, and at the same time strengthen management measures for enterprises, at all levels