Selling a Healthy Lifestyle in Late Qing Tianjin

Commercial Advertisements for Weisheng Products in the Dagong Bao , 1902–1911

Bibliographic Data

ID20209847
AuthorsJuanjuan Peng (0000-0002-7114-7494, Georgia Southern University, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume9
Issue2
Pages211-230
Publication date2012-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1479-5914 • E-ISSN: 1479-5922
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1479591412000034
OpenAlexW2118835926
LanguageEN
References cited16

Based on the advertisements in the Dagong bao 大公報, this article first attempts to understand the concept of weisheng 衛生 as promoted by advertisers, arguing that during the first decade of the twentieth century, when social reformers had already used this old Chinese term to translate the Western concept of hygiene and associated it with public health programs and a stronger state, the general public as consumers in Tianjin continued to understand the concept according to its traditional meaning of “guarding life.” However, new ideas, such as disease-causing germs, cleanliness, and odor, were grafted on to this old weisheng concept as a result of strong Western influence. Still, Chinese “ weisheng ” differed from Western “hygiene” even in the context of private health, as foreign ideas were often transformed drastically to fit into the Chinese medical tradition. The second part of this article further explores the consumption activities involving products that were associated with the weisheng concept and discusses three questions: What did weisheng products include? Who were the consumers of weisheng products? And what kind of role did gender play in weisheng consumption

Advertising · Business · Hygiene · Political science · Public health · Social science · Sociology · Chinese history and philosophy · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology

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