Advertising as a Catalyst: The Role of Commercial Press in Shaping Consumer Culture in Republican Guangzhou

Abstract

The present study analyzes how consumer culture in Guangzhou was impacted by the early Republican period, in part through how commercial newspapers and advertisements changed the dynamics of this culture. Specifically, the study focuses on Guangzhou’s flourishing newspaper industry, which saw the public emergence of 179 new newspapers compared to the last forty years of the Qing. It highlights the emergence of the purely commercial newspaper, represented by newspapers like Guangzhou Republic Daily and Minzu Daily, whose role was crucial in shaping public patterns of consumption. It also addresses tabloid and foreign-language newspapers; here Cathcart examines how these varieties target different segments of society and showcase the city’s changing consumer behavior. These newspapers were not merely vehicles for promoting consumer products; they actively shaped social customs, particularly in areas such as food, housing, marriage, and fashion. The emergence of a consumerist-oriented culture is examined through an analysis of newspaper advertisements with Western and Chinese cultural elements. By analyzing commercial newspapers from this period, this study concludes that advertising played a catalytic role in shaping modern consumer orientation in Guangzhou, illustrating the involvement of the commercial press in the city’s social and economic transformations.