Introduction

We have received a letter from Ch'iu Chia-liang [Qiu Jialiang ???], a Committee Member of this Federation: "The Ching Zeng Theatre [Jingcheng daxiyuan ?????] has been showing a film entitled 'Midnight Singing'. A frightful figure advertising this picture appears on a hoarding west of the New World. At 6 p.m. on the 4th instant, when alighting from a tramcar with my daughter Ching-tsu [Jin Qiu ??] at the spot, she was suddenly confronted by the said advertisement. On returning home, she fell sick and died. The Citizen's Federation is asked to take steps to cause the figure to be removed so that this incident may not be repeated."

The advertisement of "Midnight Singing" put up by the Ching Zeng Theatre is extremely terrifying; people take fright, particularly children. It is objectionable. In view of the above letter, will the Council please order the Theatre to remove the advertisement as soon as possible. To prevent misadventures in future restriction should be placed on all advertisements of this kind.

(Chopped) Shanghai First Special District Citizens' Federation.1

The opening quote of this book recounts the tragic death of a young Chinese girl who allegedly succumbed to shock after encountering a horror movie poster on the streets of Shanghai. This anecdote poignantly illustrates the profound impact advertising had on Chinese society during the 1930s. While establishing a direct causal link between the poster and the girl's untimely death warrants critical scrutiny, the surge in complaints during the Republican era (1912-1949) underscores the extent to which advertising had become an inescapable presence in the public spaces of cities like Shanghai.2

After three decades of Chinese scholarship emphasizing communist "liberation" and portraying the Republican period as one of political chaos and capitalist exploitation, post-Mao historians have shifted their focus to highlight the vibrancy of industry and commerce that characterized the Republican era. In the context of China's "reform and opening-up" (gaige kaifang ????) beginning in 1978, the Republican period has been reframed as a "golden age" for the bourgeoisie and a flourishing urban consumer culture, resonating with the post-1978 consumer society.3 Scholars specializing in this period have also emphasized the existence of a dynamic free press and the formation of a public sphere that facilitated the transnational exchange of knowledge and ideas.4 They have demonstrated how pre-1949 China not only deeply engaged with the world but also attracted travelers, workers, and entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, leading to the formation of cosmopolitan societies in treaty ports.5

Within this renewed intellectual framework, advertising has emerged as a compelling subject of scholarly inquiry. It offers insights into corporate marketing strategies, serves as a gateway to consumers' imaginations, and has evolved into a distinct field of study with its own historical trajectory.6 This book stands as a testament to the historiographical shift driving this intellectual ferment. My research, initiated a decade ago, has greatly benefited from the invaluable contributions of scholars such as Sherman Cochran, Yeh Wen-hsin, Weipin Tsai, Lien Ling-ling, Barbara Mittler, Frank Dikötter, and others. Over time, however, I have developed a more critical distance from my initial work. This reflective stance has been shaped by a growing awareness of the adverse effects of unchecked capitalism on the global social and environmental fabric, the rise of insidious new forms of political control over the media, and the resurgence of national borders and nationalisms-trends that increasingly expose the limitations of transnationalism. Historians of the early twenty-first century must reconsider their perspectives-if not initiate a paradigm shift-in studying and interpreting past societies in general and Republican China in particular.

The core argument of this book is that, despite its seemingly neutral facade, advertising is inherently political. By "political," I do not refer to its use for propaganda or the promotion of national products (guohuo ??)-topics extensively explored in previous scholarship.7 Instead, this book adopts a broader understanding of politics, one that transcends grand ideological frameworks such as nationalism, imperialism, capitalism, or individualism. Rather than focusing on overarching -isms that dominated twentieth-century scholarship, this study pursues a more modest aim: to examine grassroots forms of micro-politics and explore, indirectly, how broader ideologies were embedded in the daily lives of historical actors. Specifically, it argues that the everyday operations of market professionals offer a compelling lens through which to investigate more accessible forms of social engagement-activities that did not necessarily require political party membership, nationalist affiliations, or participation in grand discourses on imperialism and the "national humiliation" of the treaty-port era. During the Republican era, advertising shaped public space and actively influenced urban policies, making it an inherently political force. This period saw not only new negotiations between advertising professionals and municipal administrations but also, as the opening quotation of this work suggests, the expansion of advertising beyond professional circles. It became a subject of public debate, contributing to the formation of a public sphere. More than that, advertising provided the material conditions for cultural discourse and public expression by facilitating the development of an autonomous press-one that remained relatively free from political interference until the communist takeover in 1949.

These political dynamics are not readily apparent in the surface elements of advertisements. The images, slogans, and signs that constitute their intricate semiotics may reveal little about these underlying power relations. Instead, the political essence of advertisements lies in their materiality and spatial occupation. The concept of space plays a pivotal role as both an analytical lens and a guiding thread in this research, drawing on the insights of French philosopher Henri Lefebvre.8 Lefebvre's exploration of the constructed and conflictual nature of social space sheds light on the intricate interplay between space and power. The "spatial turn," which gained prominence in the social sciences during the late 1990s, has renewed interest in Lefebvre's ideas.9 The literature emerging from this spatial turn can be broadly divided into two approaches: the first employs the notion of space metaphorically, examining the construction of spatial concepts, imaginaries, and social representations of space.10 The second, more closely aligned with geography, focuses on describing and modeling the characteristics of both physical and social spaces.11 This work draws insights from both approaches, with the second assuming a particularly prominent position. The narrative unfolds by illustrating how, in the first half of the twentieth century, space emerged as a fundamental concept for both advertising professionals and municipal administrations. It examines the transformation of urban landscapes, particularly through the lens of outdoor advertising, as local elites developed a novel conception of public space. To support this analysis, the research employs Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map advertising geographies and analyze the spatial dynamics shaping urban spaces. Readers will encounter numerous maps throughout this work. As the French geographer Yves Lacoste astutely observed, maps are essentially tools of warfare.12 Mapping advertising spaces becomes a critical method for uncovering the power relations embedded in the advertising industry and the social spaces it shaped. In addition to using traditional maps to pinpoint the locations of advertisements within the city of Shanghai, this research expands geographical concepts to include newspapers themselves. Once "flattened," newspapers can also become subjects of spatial analysis, providing insights into the rationale behind the placement of advertisements on their pages.

This spatial history of advertising in pre-communist China draws on a combination of previously unexplored primary materials, including municipal archives and street photographs, alongside an unusual spatial reading of well-known sources, particularly newspapers. To substantiate the materiality of advertisements and unravel their political dynamics, we examined municipal correspondence and other records housed in the Shanghai municipal archives, analyzed photographic collections and professional sketches, and reviewed reader letters in newspapers. These diverse sources were integral to providing depth and context for understanding advertisements and their role within the broader socio-political landscape of Shanghai during the Republican era.

Why a new book on Shanghai, given that the initial "boom" has receded and urban history studies have largely shifted focus away from the city over the past two decades?13 Although Shanghai is central to this discussion, this work does not merely...