A Brief History of Advertising Development in China

a brief history of advertising development in China

I. overview of advertising development in slave society and before it

the first great division of labor in society occurred in the Neolithic Age about 4-1 years ago in the late primitive society. Archaeology has proved that Yangshao culture in the Neolithic period in China has changed from matrilineal society to paternal society, while Longshan culture has seen the division of labor and remarkable development of economic production departments such as agriculture, pottery making, animal husbandry and handicraft industry, and a new industry-wine making has been exhibited. The development of productive forces and the 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 the division of labor, the categories of materials produced 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, with physical currency such as livestock, bronzes, cloth and precious ornaments as equivalent exchanges, replacing the original form of barter exchange.

in order to exchange the products for exchange, it is necessary to display the products in the market. At the same time, in order to attract others, it is necessary to shout. Physical display and shouting are the earliest forms of advertising. This form of advertising is still circulating today, while other forms of advertising have generally evolved from this form of advertising, only adopting new means and tools and injecting new content.

during the slave society, in the Xia dynasty (about 21st century BC-16th 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 has become increasingly frequent and extensive, and cities and markets have begun to appear. According to legend, the earliest cities in China appeared in Xia Yu period. In Xia, Shang (16th century BC-11th century BC) and Western Zhou (about 11th century BC-77 BC), according to the research of Wu Han, a famous historian, "some of the merchants in Zhou were Yin adherents". They were forced to concentrate in Luoyang and were called "stubborn people". They were often summoned to lecture and lived a monitored life. They were treated with special respect. They had no political rights and lost their land. In order to make a living, they had to run around for business. Because of the needs of society, this kind of industry, which was ashamed by the nobles but impossible for the common people, became the main industry engaged by Yin adherents. To some extent, this is the root of China's historical legacy of belittling business and belittling business.

From China's classical literary works, especially in The Book of Songs, we can also see a fragmentary description of commercial activities. According to the Book of Changes, "Shennong's works are listed in the country, Japan and China are the city, and they are the people of the world, gathering the things in the world, and retreating after trading, each in his place." The book of songs "Lai Beifeng" describes the feelings after being rejected with the metaphor of "if my virtue is blocked, Jia will not sell it". In "Wei Feng for Self-protection", there is even a poem that gives an intuitive description of business activities, such as "the protection of self-protection, the protection of trade silk". To some extent, all these reflect the commercial development in the late primitive society and slave society and the original forms of commodity sales-displaying goods and selling advertisements as images.

second, the relative prosperity of advertising development in feudal society

during the spring and autumn period, that is, from 77 BC to 476 BC, China's society began to undergo and complete the transition from a slave society to a feudal society. During this period, the merchant class began to divide into merchants and merchants, as evidenced by the frequent expressions of "the place where osmanthus fish are planted" and "the place where sheep are slaughtered" in Zhuangzi. Hong Shang is a businessman who walks from village to village to buy and sell things along the way, while Zuo Jia is a businessman who has a certain place and attracts others to buy and sell things. In White Tiger Tong, there is such a description of the division of merchants: "Merchants are words and chapters, chapters are far and near, degrees are dead, and things in all directions are connected, so they are called merchants." Jia zhi's words are solid, and his useful things are solid, waiting for the people to come and benefit them. Therefore, it is said that business is business, and it is better to buy it. " That is, during this period, people began to hang the objects displayed in the market on the stalls to recruit people. In this way, on the basis of the physical display, it has evolved and developed into advertising forms such as signboards and scorpions. In The Spring and Autumn Annals of Yanzi, there is such a description: "The monarch makes the clothes serve the inside, and still hangs the cow's head in the door and sells horse meat inside." This sentence is enough to prove that at least there was such an advertising form as a cover at that time. At the same time, the pottery of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty unearthed in Gaoxian Town, Dengfeng County, Henan Province was stamped with the word "Yangcheng" seal character Wen Tao, which was recognized? Pretty night? During the 8 years from Qin Dynasty to Sui Dynasty (221 BC-618 AD) after Qin Shihuang unified China, due to the reform of land by the feudal ruling class and the implementation of the new tax policy, social productive forces developed to a certain extent compared with the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Qin Shihuang's centralization of authority and unified measurement, the measures to unify the characters, and the implementation of the long-term policy of "rest and recuperation" in the Han Dynasty objectively created favorable conditions for the development of commerce. The "rule of culture and scenery" in the Western Han Dynasty is famous for its political integrity, peace and prosperity, and the scale and scope of commercial development are undoubtedly greater than that in the Spring and Autumn Period. During this period, the city developed further. In a few hundred years, Luoyang has become a world-famous metropolis with many shops. At that time, the shop was called the "city building", and there was a person at the door to receive customers. The advertising forms adopted were oral advertising and physical display. Especially the cover, at this time has been adopted by fixed shops, such as wine flags, long, etc. As the original form of shop cover, "Luan" appeared in the Han Dynasty and played a pioneering role in the decoration of shops in the future. In the Biography of Historical Records and Sima Xiangru, there is a record about Sima Xiangru in the Western Han Dynasty: "It is like setting up a wine house to sell wine, and making Wen Jun a monk." Xin Yannian, a poet in the Eastern Han Dynasty, also wrote the poem "On the 15th anniversary of Hu Ji's birthday, spring is the only time to be alone". It is believed that at that time (Eastern Han Dynasty), there were already foreign nationals living in China and engaged in commercial activities.

After 4 A.D., the Northern Wei Dynasty began to be civilized, and there was a period of prosperity in commerce. According to historical records, at that time, Luoyang had a two-mile market of "trading" and "reaching goods" in the east of the city, and "there were traders everywhere." Otherwise, in Yanchi and Zhijuan Erli, "most people in the village make wine as their business", and "Liu Bai, a native of Hedong, is good at making wine, and The Last Month Of Summer is in the heat, storing wine with a trader, and drinking it is beautiful in the middle of the day." Here, Liu Baiduo's exposure to wine in the sun is undoubtedly a demonstration advertisement in kind, which makes "the capital's going out of the county to give gifts far away, more than a thousand miles away". The good advertising effect has made this wine famous far and wide.

in 581 ad, China was unified by the sui dynasty, and urban commerce had begun to take shape. When the historical records recorded Emperor Yangdi, "The boats and boats in the world are set in the east of Tongji Bridge, and there are often more than 1, boats, which fill the river road. Merchants trade horses and chariots, filling the market. The good chiefs who entered the DPRK often invited them to trade in the East Market, and the Emperor Yangdi promised them to rectify the market first. The eaves are like one, and the weft account is set up, and the treasures are full and the characters are full of goods. The seller of vegetables, who is based on the dragon's beard, has been invited to sit down after being invited to a restaurant, and he is drunk and scattered, not taking it straight. " This description shows that the commodity exchange market at that time was large in scale and involved widely. Dongshi is a city approved by Emperor Yangdi to open to the outside world, and it is required to rectify the city appearance before opening, enrich the display of precious and good-quality goods, and make vegetable vendors put Fang Chen on the dragon beard table. Dining for foreign guests is free. Emperor Yangdi's measures were meant to show his respect, but objectively, they were an international commercial exhibition and advertising.

in 618 ad, the Tang dynasty was established, and the feudal society in China reached its peak. The farmland equalization method and the rent-and-rent adjustment method implemented in agriculture have effectively promoted the economic development. Industry and commerce are flourishing day by day, and commerce is flourishing at an unprecedented level. Guangzhou, Yangzhou, Quanzhou and Chang 'an, the capital, have become the international trade centers of "all nations are connected". In particular, the development of the Silk Road, including the development of maritime trade, has made these metropolises "bustling markets, crowded with Chinese and foreign merchants, and shops in the city have their own franchises", resulting in the emergence of meat shops, gold and silver jade shops, clothing shops, bran shops, weighing shops, silk shops, drug shops and fishing shops, and at the same time, the development of financial banking services for commercial circulation-Qianzhuang. With the continuous improvement of handicraft production level, commodity categories are increasingly enriched. In the Tang Dynasty, there were two cities in Chang 'an, Xijing, with 212 lines in each city. There are 13 lines and more than 3, "shops" in Luoyang, Tokyo. At the same time, professional markets have been formed in some areas, 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 zoned, surrounded by walls, with doors in all directions and closed at regular intervals. The city is divided into four stores, and the goods traded in the market meet in the same category and are sold in the specified stores respectively. The price of the goods is evaluated by the government and operated by hanging cards. "The Law of the Tang Dynasty" stipulates: "All those who have stolen goods are estimated according to the current price and the price of silk at the time of committing the crime, and the price of silk at the time of committing the crime is determined according to the order." That is, those who violate the price regulations at that time should be given necessary treatment. 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 of the Tang dynasty, there were various forms of advertisements. (1) Oral hawking: For example, in the notes of people in the Tang Dynasty, there is a record that "people who sold bottles at that time played flute to show themselves". Yuan Zhen, a poet, wrote in "Estimating Guest Music" that "I traveled all over the world, but I went to Chang 'an, the east and west cities in the city, and I was greeted by guests for the first time. The poem "welcome guests and lobbyists, make more money for the potential" vividly describes the content of oral advertisements at that time. (2) Signboard advertisements: Market transactions are carried out in different departments, and it is stipulated that they must be listed for business. Therefore, signboard advertisements are very popular. (3) Commodity Fair: It is recorded in the Biography of Wei Jian in the Old Tang Dynasty that during the Tianbao period, Wei Jian set the Cao Zhou from Weishui to Chang 'an outside the palace wall for the emperor to browse the goods contained in various places. At that time, he "firmly planned to take three or two hundred small wooden boats in Tokyo and put them on the side of the pond, and all the boats were marked. If it was a Guangling County boat, it would be Fu's back." Danyang county ship, namely Jingkou silk shirt satin; Jinling county ship, that is, folding end embroidery; Huiji county ship, namely bronze, Luo, Wu Ling, crimson yarn; Nanhai county ships, namely hawksbill, pearl, ivory and agarwood; Yuzhang county ship, namely famous porcelain, wine vessel, tea kettle, tea pot and tea bowl; Xuancheng county ship, namely empty bluestone, paper, pen and coptis root; At the beginning of an county, there were boats, namely banana calamus, vipers and jadeite. It can be seen that the goods were collected in a wide area and the situation was prosperous. (4) Flags: As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Han Feizi had a description of "hanging high flags". In the Tang Dynasty, it was also used in hotels. Du Mu, a well-known poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote a famous poem "Water Village, Mountain Country, Wine Flag Wind". In some Tang dynasty calligraphy, sometimes you can 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 look for customers." It not only explains the size of the wine flag, but also explains the function of the wine flag. The Northern Song regime adopted a series of policies to stabilize rural areas and encourage production. After decades of war, the social economy got a chance to recuperate, the economy picked up again and the business developed rapidly. Because the Song Dynasty reformed the market square system since ancient times, and canceled the restriction of "Japan and China are the markets", the region and time of market exchange are no longer restricted by the government, and they can be done at any time and anywhere, so commercial activities have a wider range of activities and an extremely active situation has emerged. The capital of song Dynasty is not only a political and economic center, but also a distribution center for goods, and businessmen from all over the world shuttle here, leading to the emergence of large shops with wide facades, thus appearing. At the same time, due to the ban on night markets, commercial trade is divided into Japanese markets, dawn markets and night markets, and small business vendors are busy trading around the clock. "The business is going on day and night, and the number of tourists is sparse at night, and the five-watch is ringing again." At this time, because small business hawkers are allowed to do business in the streets, the voices of selling everywhere in the city are endless. Song Mengyuan's "Dream of China in Tokyo" recorded this in detail: "... there is a younger son, wearing a white shirt, a blue and white towel, carrying a white porcelain jar and selling spicy food." "City people sell Yumei, Noctuidae, bees, snow willows, bodhi leaves, coconuts, and hammers. Only the coke hammer comes out of the green umbrella with a bamboo frame and is decorated with a small light cage with plum blossoms and golden rays. Lanterns are also set in front of and behind the frame. You should beat the drums and walk around in groups, which is called' playing the Luo', and it is everywhere in the streets. " There is also "the spring of the rose, the blossoming of flowers, peony and peony, and the woody plants of Ditang, all of which are listed. The flower sellers use bamboo baskets to arrange flowers, and the sound of songs is strange and audible." Because the peddlers peddle and shout loudly, it takes a lot of effort, and the sound doesn't travel far, so they derive all kinds of audio advertisements with professional characteristics from oral advertisements, shaking, beating, rowing and blowing with different instruments, and issuing different sounds to express different industries, such as the rattle of the peddler and the iron scissors of the barber.

The increase of commercial activities has also led to the emergence of some service industries, and the number of employees has suddenly increased. Tea houses, restaurants, restaurants and inns are all over the streets and lanes, and 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 plaque has begun to appear. From the Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival by Zhang Zeduan in the Northern Song Dynasty, we can see the signboards such as "Liu's painted tan and picked out incense", "Zhao Taicheng's family", "Yang's syndrome" and "Wang's Luo Pi Bo Shop".

The original advertising forms-verbal calls, stereos, signboards, covers, lanterns, shop advertisements such as door plaques, gatehouses and wine flags, have developed to a considerable prosperity in the Song Dynasty. At the same time, due to the improvement of science and technology, the printing process was invented. Engraving printing invented in Sui Dynasty had developed into movable type printing in Song Dynasty. The invention of printing technology provides a new media for advertising-printed matter. Historical data prove that printed advertisements began to appear in the Song Dynasty, and the existing copper plate of "Jinan Liu Jia Gong Fu Needle Shop" in Shanghai Museum is a very precious historical material for advertising printing in the Song Dynasty.

After the Song Dynasty, the commodity economy also developed in different degrees in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Due to the increase of population and the increasingly extensive foreign exchange, the city has developed extremely 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, doorplates, signs, gatehouses and colored lights. The relevant records scattered in all kinds of history books, notes, novels and songbooks fully prove this point.

1. Oral advertisement

In Fan Shihu Collection, a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, Fan Chengda noted that "the medicine sellers outside the wall have been singing for nine years, but the sound of singing is very appropriate", while in Peony Pavilion, a boudoir written by Tang Xianzu in the Ming Dynasty, there was a description that "you sold flowers one after another, making your reading sound poor". In Ming Dynasty, Feng Menglong's collection of "Hua Ben" and "Imitation Ben" of Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty and Ming Dynasty, "Jing Shi Tong Yan Yu Tang Chun was in trouble to find a husband", there is even a record of the advertisement hawking words that "there is a young man named Yun in the street outside the temple:' melon seeds in Benjing, one barrel for each, duck eggs in Gaoyou, half for each'". The sound of selling has been going on. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty, Li Ji's Record of Yangzhou Paintings recorded that among the many buskers in Pingshantang, Yangzhou at that time, there was a record that "Suzhou people used five-color powder to make people look like statues, which was called pinching, and

people were like the market, and their hands kept working".