A Study on Advertisements in The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal

WANG Hai,WU Zong-yang

The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal is one of the most valued English literature in China’s history of Christianity and the key publications of missionaries from the second half of the 19th Century to the first half of the 20th Century. The advertisements in it have not been properly stressed by the academic world， most of which are even deleted in the bound volumes. This paper aims to give a preliminary study on the advertisements in Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal， comparing and analyzing advertisers， slogans and text structures and appeal methods of advertisements of shipping， banking， schools and book introduction in Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal， thus demonstrating its significance in China’s modern advertising industry and Sino-western commercial trade and cultural exchange.

Keywords： Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal， protestant missionaries in China， mission press， secularization， study on Advertisements in The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal

In March 1867， The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal， under the original name Missionary Recorder， was founded by American missionary Rev. L. N. Wheeler in Fuzhou， China. Its ceased publication in December in the same year. In May 1868， Rev. S. L. Baldwin resumed its publication and changed its title into The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal. In May 1872， Due to the department of Rev. Justus Doolittlefrom Fuzhou， who was the editor of the journal at the time， the journal again suspended its publication（Wylie. 1874， pp. 1-2）. In December 1941， owing to the breakout of the Pacific War， the editorial office and the publish house in Shanghai was occupied by the Japanese army. Therefore， The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal ceased publication permanently （Cha， 2012， pp. II-III）. As the key publication of missionaries in China during the latter half of the 19th Century and the first half of the 20th Century， The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal lasted 75 years， keeping a detailed record of the history of modern China’s foreign exchanges and of church （Williams， 2013， pp. 816-823）. Having “the largest value… in studying the history of China’s Protestantism” （Cha， 2012， pp. II-III）， the existing editions of The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal are one of the most valuable documents in China’s church of history.

Studying the whole 72 volumes of The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal require so much time and effort that researchers often gave up this project， “at most stopping after briefly studying a small topic”（Cha， 2012， pp. II-III）. As for the advertisements in The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal， no research has been done on this topic； many scholars did not even know about the fact that The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal carried advertisements.

The remained advertisements in The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal can provide support and evidence for researching in the history of modern China， newspaper and periodicals， and advertising. This article aims to classify existing advertisements on republished editions of The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal， comparing and analyzing companies， slogans and text structures and appeal methods of advertisements of shipping， banking， schools and book introduction on The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal， thus demonstrating its significance in China’s modern advertisement industry and Sino-western commercial trade and cultural exchange. The Editor’s Note mentioned： “Due to the large amount and high repetition rate， many advertisement pages in the original edition are not been published…. And will be compiled and published later” （Ge， 2003， p. 73）. The author looks forward to the publishing of the original edition of The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal for further analysis and improvement of this article.

Ⅰ. The Background and Existing Editions of The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal

The modern newspaper in China stemmed from all kinds of newspaper in Chinese and foreign languages missionaries founded in China. “Our modern newspaper all come from foreigners” （Ge， 2003， p. 73）， with religious and secular newspaper being the mainstream of newspapers in China. Since Western missionaries， represented by Mettheo Ricci， came to China to preach in Ming Dynasty， they realized that books and newspapers were “powerful tools in missionary work”， “while in China， Mettheo Ricci discovered that Chinese people respected reading， therefore， writing was preferred in preaching rather than dictating. Since Chinese people hated public gatherings， news spreading mainly relied on written words” （Lai， 1980， p. 14）. In the beginning of the 19th Century， protestants in China， represented by Robert Morrison， learning from “the rites controversy” Catholicism encountered during preaching， adopted different strategies. Instead of Catholic missionaries’ strategy， where they preached from the upper class to common people by getting acquainted with officials and scholars， hence laying much stress on writing books， protestant missionaries chose the opposite strategy and focused on newspapers and periodicals （Cha， 2012， pp. II-III）. Protestant missionaries commonly believed that “anyone who understood the laziness inpagans knew that measures to spread truth and wake people will promote missionary work… Adopting such methods to spread religion and practical truth is the most appropriate way to blend in those materialistic ones with pride and prejudice， unlike the view that they was irrelevant to church work” （Lai， 1980， p. 14）. By the second half of the 19th Century， newspapers in Chinese and foreign languages run by missionaries in China， foreign businessmen and governments have coexisted with China’s emerging local newspaper， while Chine’s traditional local paper Peking Gazette had disappeared after several booms of newspaper by Chinese people in the turn of 19th-20th Century.

During the development from the beginning of 19th Century to the first half of 20th Century， the secularization of Christian newspaper in China has been the turning point for the thriving of newspapers in China. In August 1842， China signed the Treaty of Nanking with the United Kingdom， allowing foreign missionaries to evangelize， build churches and start newspaper in treaty ports. In the 1860s， the publication center of foreign newspaper had shifted from Macau， Hong Kong and Guangzhou to Shanghai， followed by the second boom of newspaper. In September 1868， Young John Allenfrom Methodist Episcopal Church， South started The News of Churches in Shanghai， whose name was changed into The Chinese Globe Magazine in issue 301 after 6 years of publication. The Chinese Globe Magazine is the key newspaper of Christian Literature Society for China， which had adopted the secularization strategy. Missionaries adopted the successful experience of The Chinese Globe Magazine， changing the content from evangelization to news， using local languages like dialects and recruiting Chinese local newspaper agents and editors. Christian newspapers in China were gradually accepted by Chinese people.

The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal （1867-1941） and The China Review，orNotes and Queries on the Far East （1872-1901） were the key publication of missionaries in China after The Chinese Repository（1832-1851）， recording in great detail the social reform in the modern China and missionaries’ activities and research in sinology. “The Chinese Repository was edited by Elijah Coleman Bridgman and Samuel Wells Williams， published monthly among 20 years. It had recorded the history of foreign exchange and church during that time. After it ceased publication， The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal was in charge of church affairs， while The China Review was in responsible of literature” （Williams， 2005， p. 816）.

Currently， there are four editions of The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal in circulation. Two editions are printed. The first one is the original edition collected by California University， published respectively by Rozario， marcal & Co. （1868-1872， Volume I-Volume IV） and Presbyterian Mission Press（1874-1941， Volume V-Volume LXXII）. The second one is the reprinted edition published by National Taiwan University Press in 2012. The other two editions are digitalized ones， one is by Hathitrust as a subscription-based version， which， owing to copyright issues， can only be searched by key words after volume 26， while the other， also due to copyright issues， has only volume 1-45 through Internet Archive and the Berlin State Library. All 4 editions are bound volumes. No original edition published by issues and with no alteration is currentlyin circulation.

In the latter half of the 19th Century， the newspaper industry had entered into the stage where newspapers were no longer expensive. In the US， the phenomenon of yellow journalism had penetrated the industry during newspaper commercialization， with advertisements filling every page of newspapers， and almost all industries publishing them. On one hand， due to the improvement of printing techniques and the abolishment of the knowledge tax （especially in England）， the pricing of newspapers had largely dropped， following a soaring number of readers， where advertisements saw business opportunities. On the other hand， advertising revenues could help journals with economic independence and commercialization， therefore having the capacity to recruit expatriate journalists for the improvement of information collection and journal reliability （Yu， 2021， pp. 52-55）.

Originated from the Western journal system， and in the middle of the restructuring period of religious foreign newspapers in China， The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal also published many advertisements. Most of them were written in English， with some in Chinese， and were “usually put behind the monthly cover and contents and texts”. “These advertisements filled up lots of pages and usually repeat themselves”1. Most of advertisements on all editions of bound volumes are deleted. In the reprinted The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal published by National Taiwan University Press， advertisements that are kept are only the ones which has page numbers， are in the texts or are related to missionary work.

II. Advertisement Categories and Advertising Appeals in The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal

By the time The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal was founded， the main media which Western advertisement companies published in is journals， which had gradually formed its advertisement norms and appeal methods. In the first half of the 19th Century， newspaper space brokers， meaning individual merchants who bought out advertising spaces in newspapers and sold them to businesses， is the early form of American advertisement agency （Campbell， 2015， p. 379）. American newspaper industry had witnessed the origin of advertising and the transition of its appeal methods. In the mid- and late-19th Century， as advertisements on newspapers increased and its needs diversified， modern advertising companies that provided comprehensive commodity and service information had been gradually developing， with advertising norms including copywrite planning， packaging and trademarks steadily established and perfected.

The remaining advertisements on reprinted The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal is divided into four categories： Shipping， banking， International Correspondence schools and book introduction. Their advertisement categories and appeal methods basically reflect the business and trade between China and foreign countries at that time. The first section is shipping （see Table 1）， distributed in Volume LIII （1922）， Volume LIV （1923）， Volume LXIII （1932） and Volume LXIV （1933）.

According to the remaining advertisements in The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal， advertisers were mainly American companies that owned more than three steamers， passing by ports including Shanghai， Hongkong， Manila， Kobe and Yokohama， arriving at the United States （at different ports）. Each company had set up agencies in these ports； some companies had established up to 9 agencies in China.

The second section is banking （see Table 2）， distributed in Volume LIII （1922）， Volume LIV （1923）， Volume LV （1924）， Volume LVIII （1927）， Volume LIX （1928）， Volume LXIII （1932）， Volume LXIV （1933）， Volume LXV （1934）， Volume LXVI （1935）， Volume LXVII （1936）.

Advisers of these advertisements include foreign-funded bank and Chinese-funded bank. Advertisement style differs in accordance with advisers. The former spent much space on introducing advantages of banking like safety and convenience， rich knowledge and experience and financial assistance. The latter was rather simple， published in both English and Chinese， with Chinese language facing Chinese people and providing information concerning headquarter， branches， sub-branches， agents， service introduction， telephone number and general manager’s name； and English language facing foreigners and providing information of all departments and agents in international cities， and stressing that foreign departments could handle all kinds of cross-border financial trade.

The third section is advertisements International Correspondence Schools published to missionaries in China， distributed in the column Notice to Missionaries， such as in Volume LVIII in 1927. It is divided into four parts. The first part illustrated the situation where vocational education was limited in China due to the scattered distribution of China’s institutions of higher learning. The second part gave a detailed introduction about International Correspondence Schools in terms of its various courses （over 300 kinds）， special teaching method， which were able to conduct vocational training in a wider range. The third part expressed willingness to cooperate with missionaries in China， including sending free textbooks and teaching methods， along with addresses for reply. The last part madeaexample list of curriculums mostly in technological industry and business training.

The fourth section is book introduction. Owing to it being in the content and related to missionary work， this kind of advertisements have not been deleted. Since 1874， The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal has set up a regular column called Notices of Recent Publications， whose title was altered to Our Book Table later in 1886. Every advertisement in the column has similar structures， which consists of two to three paragraphs， with the first introducing book title （if in Chinese then introducing Chinese name first）， author or editor， translator， pages， price and press； and the rest illustrating books and making remarks on them. Book reviewer could choose to sign their names at the end of the advertisement.

In the interactive development between modern advertising industry and mass media including newspaper industry and broadcast， systematic appealing method （or persuasive strategy） are produced， examples of which are famous-person testimonial， plain-folk pitch， snob-appeal approach， bandwagon effect， hidden-fear appeal and irritation advertising （Campbell， 2015， pp. 393-394）. From the perspective of modern advertising， the four categories of advertisements all adopted methods ofindirectperceptual appeal and rational appeal. Indirect perceptual appeal refers to “appeals through graphics… and languages， which depict and present forms of objects” （Ding， 2005， pp. 125-126）， while rational appeal appertains to “directly demonstrating the advantage of one product… through rational persuasion， so that consumers can decide and form a conscious purchasing behavior” （Lin， 2003， p. 200）. Advertisements of shipping， banking and book introduction fit in the functional consistency theory， listing the basic information and advantages of products to customers， in order for them to choose based on the level of consistency between information received in advertisements and the ideal product in theirheart. In addition， some advertisements of banking and missionary schools adopted the cognitive response theory， which illustrated information like “good banking brings advantages” or “China’s education status is uneven”， therefore stimulating people’s agreement and further support.

As modern advertisement company went up a steady road to development in mid- and late-19th Century， western advertisers consciously applied knowledge related to modern advertising system. Back then， missionary journals were in the middle of the restructuring period from religionization to secularization， thus were badly in need of funding to keep them running. In fact， many newspaper offices run by foreigners in China were concurrently printing offices and publishing agencies.For example， Robert Morrison’s Chinese Monthly Magazine and Anglo-Chinese College Press； Books consisted of much of advertisements in Western journals. It is calculated that major part of newspaper advertisements were about real estate， medicine and recruitment （Ge， 2003， p. 73）. They all needed to be demonstrated by rational arguments， hence the large adoption of rational appeal method and perceptual appeal method. Originated from western journal system， The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal was bound to adopt the same.

III. Significance of Advertisements in The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal

Like Chinese Repository and The Review of the Times， The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal are the pioneer and representative journals in China’s modern newspaper industry. Their common characteristics are： missionaries in China as founders， diverse contents and western-style advertisements published in them.

The existence of information dissemination dates back to the existence of human society. In the primitive society， ancient people would pile commodities around them， i.e. physical advertising. In Xia， Shang and Zhou Dynasty came word-of-mouth advertising. In the Spring and Autumn Period， advertising began to diversify， generating signboard advertising. In Song Dynasty， due to the appearance of movable type， paper-print advertising came on the scene. In Ming and Qing Dynasty， new advertising form came into place， one was couplet advertising， meaning writing advertisements in the form of poetic couplets； the other wasin-book advertising， using illustrations， covers and colophons of books to advertise other books （Zhang， 2018， pp. 226-227）. Despite various types of advertising， China had not formed a unified， centered， systematic advertising system like the western one， which had a widespread effect.

“The origin of China’s modern newspaper industry and news industry actually came from the early missionaries in China” （Li， 1989， p. 133）. Alone came to China were western advertisements in journals and highly-developed advertising system.

Shanghai frequently appeared on the four categories of advertisements in The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal. After the Treaty of Nanking in 1842， opening as a commercial port， Shanghai had promoted a large amount of transit trade. With its advantageous geographical position and river-sea transportation， Shanghai became the shipping center and import and export trade center in modern China （Zhu， 2019， pp. 61-62）. This in fact prompted foreign commodity economy of Shanghai and even of China （Li， 2014， pp. 22-23）. Under this circumstance， it was no strange phenomenon that The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal published a large number of business advertisements in foreign languages. During its 72 years， lots of Chinese journals such as Shanghai News and Ta Kung Pao were founded. They all learned from foreign newspapers， including the content， formation and norms of advertisement. As the national industry in Shanghai and the westernization movement grew， many Chinese people and local enterprises began to imitate foreign enterprises， publishing their own advertisements. Thus， China’s modern advertising gained a rapid development.

Meanwhile， Advertisements in The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal provided all kinds of precious information. Advertising information is the barometer of the development of commodity economy in society. Advertisements in different periods reflect their own social reality. The occurrence of Chinese advertisements in The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal proved the major contribution advertisements made in information flow. Seeing a large profit， merchants had all imitated the publishment of advertisements.

Careful readers are able to extract conditions of China and foreign regions in advertisements. In the remaining advertisements in reprinted version of The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal， shipping and banking directly presented the prosper of trade in modern China； International Correspondence Schools provided a general condition of China’s education at that time， meanwhile depicting the basic condition of missionary schools. This is one other way to get acquainted with information of China and foreign countries. In reality， advertisements published on The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal not only functioned as a bridge of foreign exchanges， but was also a precious material for research of modern history.

Conclusion

Apart from shipping， banking， schools and book introduction， there bound to be more of other kinds of advertisements in The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal. It is essential to start paying attention on these advertisements， as they are witnesess of China’s modern advertisement industry and Sino-western commercial trade and cultural exchange.

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1 Editor. Editor’s Note. Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal， Volume I. National Taiwan University Press. Taiwan， p. XXV.