SELLING A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE IN LATE QING TIANJIN: COMMERCIAL ADVERTISEMENTS FORWEISHENGPRODUCTS IN THEDAGONG BAO, 1902–1911

Abstract

Based on the advertisements in theDagong bao大公報, this article first attempts to understand the concept ofweisheng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 oldweishengconcept 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 theweishengconcept and discusses three questions: What didweishengproducts include? Who were the consumers ofweishengproducts? And what kind of role did gender play inweishengconsumption?