THESIS
2010
ix, 111 p. : ill. ; 30 cm
Abstract
This thesis examines the popular print culture of Shanghai in the 40s with a focus on its relation to the cultural business of department stores and the consumer culture particular to the war-time through Wing-On Monthly, a magazine published by the Wing On Department Store, Shanghai, between 1939-1949....[
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This thesis examines the popular print culture of Shanghai in the 40s with a focus on its relation to the cultural business of department stores and the consumer culture particular to the war-time through Wing-On Monthly, a magazine published by the Wing On Department Store, Shanghai, between 1939-1949.
By close-reading its articles and images, with the assistance from relevant historical materials, this thesis specifies the magazine’s company background and explicates in what ways the magazine helped in consolidating the standing of its parent company and promoting a consumer culture regardless of the interruptions of wars and other disadvantages; it is also interested in the role of wenren in this operation, i.e., their supports for as well as frustration with the commercialism of war-time Shanghai. In particular, it indicates the three phases of the magazine, the first was between 1939-1941 right across the lone islet period, in which the control by the company and its commercial orientation was prominent; the second was between 1942-1946, covering the whole Pacific War and a short time after the victory, in which an attached supplement was introduced to register the activities of a presumably fading literary group, the Star Society, and the remaining influences of the old school. The last phase overlapped with the Civil War between 1946-1949, marked by an increasing traditionalist current on one hand, and social complaints on the other when the supplement folded and more spaces were opened to veteran literati and submissions from the general public.
The magazine exemplifies the on-going cooperation between popular print culture and commercial enterprises in the 40s; its subsistence of ten years registered not only various transitions, but reflected the benefits of having an enterprise background and perhaps a middle ground approach throughout controversial moments in culture as well as politics.
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