The Advertisements In Dagong Bao And The Modern Society (1902～1936)

The newspaper advertisement in the modern times is outstanding in the history of Chinese advertisement.It covers almost everything,ranging from economy to politics,from culture to social life.The development of history can be traced through the study of the advertisements.This dissertation selects Dagong Bao from 1902 to 1936 as a study subject, aiming to trace the development of the newspaper advertisement in the modern times, analyzing the characters of its development history and studying its influence on the changes of society.Dagong Bao(formerly L'impartial,and now in Hong Kong known as Tak Kung Pao),first published in Tianjin at the end of Qing Dynasty(1902),was created by Ying Lianzhi.It exerted great influence on the whole country and could be regarded as an "encyclopaedia of Chinese modern history".Rich in historical information,it is a treasure for studying the modern history.As an important column,advertisement in newspaper is a recorder of the Chinese history,and exerts its influence on the people.Different from Shen Bao,Dagong Bao opens a window for the scholars to discuss the political issues.Therefore,it reveals different styles from the very beginning,emphasizing on civilizing customs and morals,enlightening intelligence,showing concern about people's sufferings and reforming the society.Accordingly,the advertisement demonstrates some distinctive features.During the period of Xinji,Dagong Bao stuck to "Four No Principles",which enriched the contents and styles of the modern newspaper advertisements and made it an essential part for the study of the newspaper advertisement history.Firstly,this dissertation analyzes the managing features of the advertisements of Dagong Bao,affirming the close relationship between the newspaper managing styles and the advertisement features.When Ying Lianzhi chaired the newspaper,the advertisement management formed a coherent Style with the newspaper's "scholars debating political issues".For instance,it spread the news of social innovation in the forms of the solicit advertisement and "Notice of the Newspaper",set up the platform to inform the readers of other people's opinions by the means of special advertisements,recommended the western civilized life styles and entertainments through introducing the western books and journals,and endeavored to reform the old customs and morals by creating the form of "Obituary".In short,the advertisement at that time became an instrument for Ying Lianzhi to spread his thoughts and ideas.So Dagong Bao is far different from the commercial newspapers such as Shen Bao.Still sticking to the "Four No Principles" in Xinji period,the newspaper had more advertisements on the domestic goods.The creation and expression of the advertisement became more mature.It also advertised for charity.For instance,when Shaanxi province Suffered from the catastrophe,it advertised on its newspaper to appeal for people to give their hands timely and take part in the rescue activities.As for advertisement management,the newspaper men,under the leadership of Hu Zhengzhi,did lots of benefit explorations.The newspaper management relies heavily on the support of the advertisement income.The management ensured the rapid development of the newspaper on the basis of sticking to "Four No Principles".On the whole,there were lots of newspapers of different natures in the modern times.Their advertisements demonstrate diverse features,which should be given enough attention,in stead of being lumped together.Secondly,this dissertation analyses the developing procedure of the advertisements on Dagong Bao in detail.It sorts out the process from the simple,crude,and childlike public notices and bulletins to the diverse,refined and mature advertisements which are excellent in both pictures and languages,as well as those arousing people's feelings and emotions.The original ideas,developing from scratch to creation,from simplicity to variety,from the straightforward to the psychological appeal,reflect people's better understanding of advertisement.Dagong Bao for the first time saw the series advertisements.They employed the witnesses and their evidences to express the rational appeal,then evolved into expressing the ideas by means of language and pictures and then mainly by pictures.All these changes reveal the developing trend of the modern newspaper advertisement.Thirdly,advertisement exerts influences to some extent on the social changes.What the advertisement covers is far more widely than any column does.As a mirror reflecting the society,the advertisement demonstrates the course of the social shift.This is the important evidence in studying the modern society.Studying the advertisements can make people have a better understanding of the constant changing process of the society and people's life style,it includes economy,education,culture,entertainment and relaxationLastly,advertisement not only reflects the social changes,but also promotes the shifting process.On the one hand,it spreads the economic information,which attributes to the sales promotion,market construction and the consuming consciousness changes.On the other hand, it plays a positive role in passing on the social information,fostering a healthy social atmosphere and speeding the civilization process.Meanwhile,as for advertisement itself,its income supports the development of the media,making contributions to the modern communication.In brief,the economic and social advertisements exert its influence on people's economic production,social life,culture and education,entertainment and leisure, spirit and consciousness,and etc.The important role that their contents play in the social changes from the material to the spiritual should not be ignored.It is no denying that the advertisement has its negative effect.The advertisements at that time were out of control due to lack of government management and the social riots.Some false information did harms to the society.As for the study method,first,this dissertation employs several theories of different disciplines,including history,economics,social studies,communications and psychology.It attempts to analyze and study the phenomenon of advertisement in all-dimensions;second, this dissertation analyzes and samples the advertisements by employing the statistic theory. The modern newspapers printed far more advertisements than what today's reader can find in the common newspaper(except the special ad newspapers).Especially after the 20th century, there were as much as about one hundred pieces of advertisements with extensive contents and different industries in one day's newspaper.It is not enough to have a general idea in analyzing the advertisements.More detailed statistics,sampling analysis and case studies are needed.Besides,the combination of the overall statistics and the classified statistics is needed to ensure the issues can be expounded by the historical facts and thus the convincing conclusion can be drawn.Finally,there are case studies and comparative studies in this thesis. The advertisements are categorized into several sorts according to different fields they concerned.Selecting one from each group as a case study,the dissertation tries to probe the issues and the phenomena it reflects.By "dissecting the sparrow",an overall grasp of the features and the development of the advertisement in different periods can be obtained.The comparative studies are carried out from two aspects:one is the comparison of the advertisements of different periods;another is the comparison of the different features between Dagong Bao and Shen Bao.By doing this,a clear picture about the different features of the newspaper advertisements in different regions and periods should be drawn.The originality of this dissertation is embodied in two aspects:choosing Dagong Bao (1902-1936) as a study subject and studying it in a comprehensive approach is completely new.Prior to it,most studies focus on the advertisements in Shen Bao;while only some parts of advertisements in Dagong Bao are concerned.In addition,analyzing the advertisements in the social context,especially the studies on the advertisement's reflections and influence on the society is limited to some aspects.Lots of problems are left to be solved.These are the points that this dissertation tries to break through.Another is the original method in the study. This dissertation puts the advertisements into the historical reality to be examined laterally and vertically,seeking the significance that the advertisements have brought about to the development of the society,especially to the society in the transitional period.In short, advertisements have their own places in history and should be given enough attention and correct evaluations.