Technological Transfer and China's "Local Response": The Establishment of the First Machine Wallpaper Production in Shanghai and Tianjin

Li Men ORCID: 0009-0001-7794-5868 PhD in Art History Postgraduate student; Business Communications Institute; St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technology and Design 198262, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Kirovsky district, Leni Golikova str., 19 925357695@qq.com

Scientific article

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Technological transfer and China's "local response": the establishment of the first wallpaper machine factories in Shanghai and Tianjin

Lee Meng

St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design

191186, 18 Bolshaya Morskaya str., Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation

925357695@qq.com, ORCID: 0009-0001-7794-5868

Annotation. The article examines the process of adapting Western wallpaper machine production technologies in Shanghai and Tianjin in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through the prism of the evolution of their design. Based on the analysis of archival materials and scientific literature the mechanisms of transformation of the visual language of wallpaper in the context of western and traditional Chinese ornaments, as well as the formation of new aesthetic preferences. It is shown that wallpaper design has become a field for cultural dialogue and market adaptation in China.

Keywords: wallpaper design, technological transfer, lithography, woodcut, Shanghai, Tianjin, wallpaper production, local response, cultural dialogue, hybridization.

Technology transfer and china’s “local response”: the emergence of the first machine-produced wallpaper factories in shanghai and tianjin

Li Meng

Saint Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design. 18 Bolshaya Morskaya Street, St. Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation.

925357695@qq.com, ORCID: 0009-0001-7794-5868

Abstract: This article examines the process of adapting Western machine-production technology for wallpaper in Shanghai and Tianjin from the late 19th to the early 20th century through the lens of the evolution of its design. Based on the analysis of archival materials and scholarly literature, it explores the mechanisms of transformation in the visual language of wallpaper within the context of Western and traditional Chinese ornamentation, as well as the formation of new aesthetic preferences. It is shown that wallpaper design became a field for cultural dialogue and China's market adaptation.

Keywords: wallpaper design, technology transfer, lithography, woodblock printing, Shanghai, Tianjin, wallpaper production, local response, cultural dialogue, hybridization

Introduction

Since the middle of the 19th century, following the opening of ports, China has been drawn into the global capitalist system, accompanied by a large-scale influx of Western industrial goods and technologies. Conditions have been created for the penetration of not only Western industrial technologies into China, but also new aesthetic paradigms. Wallpaper, as a decorative material symbolizing the modernist lifestyle and the technology of its mass production, also entered China during this period.

The purpose of this article is to address the research gap regarding the activities of the first wallpaper factories in Shanghai and Tianjin, in the context of the transfer of Western technologies to China at the turn of the nineteenth to twentieth centuries.

1. Lithographic press at a factory in Shanghai, 1910s^[1]

Literary review

There are no publications on the formation of the first machine wallpaper production in China. Russian researchers primarily focus on assessing modernization processes. For example, addressing this topic, Ermachenko describes Chinese researchers' assessments of technological transfer processes in general and the impact of technology on social processes in China ^{[1, pp. 214–223]}. Similarly, G. N. Romanova examines China's transition from a traditional society to a modern one. As an exogenous form of modernization and a "forced" discovery by Western powers, he notes that Anglo-American historiography is characterized by praise for the West's civilizing role, whereas Chinese historiography regards foreign expansion as an incentive to slow economic modernization ^{[2, pp. 34–46]}.

It should be noted that existing research, both Chinese and foreign, mainly focuses on the macroeconomic history or history of printing technologies, while a micro-level empirical analysis of a particular wallpaper industry, especially the process of adapting Western technologies to local conditions and their interaction with traditional practices, remains insufficiently developed. It is important to note that the problem of early industrialization in China was highlighted by S. Cochran ^[6] and in collective works on urban history ^{[4, 5]}. Since existing research on the economic history of port cities and the activities of foreign corporations in China only indirectly addresses design issues, this work focuses on analyzing how technological transfer in wallpaper production has influenced the evolution of their visual design, and he contributed to the formation of hybrid design solutions. Source database: It includes local chronicles, customs reports,^[7] periodicals, and corporate archives (for example, records of printing houses owned by the British American Tobacco Company^[8]), which enable the construction of a multidimensional historical picture.

Research methods

The methodological basis of the research is the theory of technological transfer ^[3] and visual research approaches that focus on cultural dialogue and the hybridization of forms. This theory emphasizes that the transfer of technology from one socio-cultural environment to another is not merely a simple copying but a complex social process involving selection, adaptation, modification, and repeated innovative development.

The author chose Shanghai and Tianjin as cases because, as the most important ports, they played similar roles as platforms for the introduction of foreign technologies, yet they could also demonstrate different models of local response due to differences in the economies of their respective regions.

Results and discussions

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, technological transfer to China occurred unevenly and primarily under external influence, resulting in limited success and the underdevelopment of the domestic base. The main vectors of technology transfer were the import of weapons, the construction of railways and telegraph lines, and the development of the mining industry. Technology transfer to China was carried out through foreign enterprises, government initiatives such as the "Self-Empowerment Movement"^[2], and the creation of Chinese-run institutes for the study of Western technologies. Foreign direct investment played a significant role, particularly from the UK, with a concentration in manufacturing and utilities.

Foreign companies were establishing businesses and infrastructure, particularly in coastal areas, and were interested in profit. For example, British investments were largely in production and utilities ^{[10, pp. 181–197]}. Efforts have been made to introduce steam-powered technologies in various industries, including silk production. China hired foreign experts to develop and operate new technologies, and some Chinese traveled abroad to acquire technical knowledge.

Shanghai and Tianjin were the two principal centers that initiated the era of mass wallpaper production in China, shaping its aesthetics and market dynamics for decades to come. Considering the specific manifestations of design strategies, it is necessary to highlight the various approaches that have developed in Shanghai and Tianjin.

Shanghai, as the main commercial center, has demonstrated a high sensitivity to global trends. Factories founded by foreign capital, such as the Shanghai Color Lithography Company, initially focused on reproducing popular European patterns: neoclassical garlands, stylized flowers, and geometric ornaments in the spirit of Art Nouveau ^[8]. However, as the advertisements in the newspaper "Shenbao" show [Fig. 4], by the 1910s, the range had become include patterns specifically designed for Chinese consumers. This was expressed through the use of traditional symbols—butterflies, meaning longevity; plum blossoms; and peonies—but executed via a new lithographic technique, which gave them a different, more "modern" look ^{[4, p. 178]}.

2. Wallpaper samples with a hybrid design: traditional symbols of longevity, made by lithography (Shanghai, 1915).^[3]

Unlike Shanghai, Tianjin's design strategy exhibited a more pronounced regional character. Enterprises associated with the policy of "self-enhancement" regarded wallpaper not only as a commodity but also as a tool of cultural affirmation. The Educational plant at the General Directorate of Industry experimented with the creation of ornaments that combined the technical perfection of lithography with compositional schemes borrowed from traditional painting "Guohua" and printing splints "Nianhua" ^{[5, p. 155]}. This created a distinctive "northern" style that differed from Shanghai products by being more restrained in color and focusing on classic Chinese subjects.

The transition to lithography has significantly altered the wallpaper's color scheme. Machine printing made it possible to achieve complex gradients and subtle shades that were inaccessible to woodcut, which used a limited number of local colors.

3. Comparison of printing technologies: woodcut (left) and lithography (right).

The data from customs reports on the import of aniline dyes ^{[7, p. 341]} correlate with the appearance of bright, saturated colors in the wallpaper assortment, which have become a marker of modernity and European style. At the same time, the technological superiority of lithography did not lead to the disappearance of traditional motifs, but transformed their embodiment. Traditional woodcut, with its clear lines and conventionality, remained within the segment of inexpensive products for conservative consumers. At the same time, as evidenced by product samples from the Tianjin Museum collection, many factories began producing hybrid products. Lithography was used to create a background (imitating the texture of silk or sky), and key symbolic elements (hieroglyphs, main figures) were then applied using wooden blocks, which added an "aura" of handmade products and cultural authenticity ^{[5, p. 160]}. This dialogue of technologies has generated a unique visual language characteristic of early Modern Chinese art.

The key technology in wallpaper machine production was multicolor lithography, which offered high productivity, fine detail, and smooth color transitions. At the initial stage, Chinese factories were heavily dependent on foreign technicians. However, thanks to "reverse engineering" and learning by doing, Chinese technicians quickly mastered the skills of operating, maintaining, and even upgrading equipment. For example, to reduce dependence on expensive imported chemical inks, Shanghai factories have experimented with using local plant and mineral pigments. Although the flowers' durability proved somewhat lower, the cost decreased significantly, thereby expanding market access for the middle- and low-price segments ^{[6, p. 201]}.

Despite the spread of new technologies, the traditional practice of making wallpaper by woodcut did not immediately disappear. There was a clear market division between them: machine wallpaper (lithography) was aimed at the new urban middle class, offering patterns featuring Western landscapes and geometric ornaments, thereby emphasizing modernity and fashion. Their competitive advantage was price (compared to imports) and efficiency. Traditional woodcut wallpaper held the market in rural areas of China, and parts of the urban population committed to traditional aesthetic views; the patterns included symbols of good luck (happiness, wealth, longevity, flowers, birds, fish, insects), and their value lay in the "craftsmanship" of handmade and cultural authenticity.

This coexistence illustrates the cultural dimension of technological choice. In some cases, the phenomenon of "hybridization" has been observed: for example, the use of wooden stamps to manually refine machine wallpaper or the design of lithographic patterns that mimic the woodcut effect, which is a creative manifestation of a "local response."

Conclusion

The research demonstrates that wallpaper design has become an active field for technological transfer and a site of China's local response. First, it marked the end of the craft era: the emergence of machine factories in Shanghai and Tianjin in the 1920s signaled the transition from artisanal, manual production to mass production. Secondly, machine production has made wallpaper more accessible to the growing urban middle class. In the third factories, Shanghai and Tianjin have become symbols of the early modernization of the Chinese light industry and the formation of a new consumer culture.

Shanghai and Tianjin have developed distinct design strategies that reflect their unique positions within China's economic and cultural geography. The evolution of the pattern from direct copying of Western patterns to the creation of hybrid forms demonstrates how technological innovations have stimulated processes of cultural reflection and adaptation. Design proved not to be a secondary element but a key factor determining the market success and cultural perception of a new industrial product.

list literatures

^[1]Ermachenko I. S. Features of modernization in China // Social and humanitarian Sciences. Domestic and foreign literature. Series 9, Oriental and African Studies: An abstract journal. 2004. No. 2. pp. 214-223. URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/2004-02-061-062-osobennosti-modernizatsii-v-kitae (date of request: 24.10.2025).

^[2]Romanova G. N. Economic modernization of China in the 19th-first half of the 20th centuries in the assessment of domestic and foreign historiography // Izvestiya Vostochnogo Instituta. 2016. No. 2 (30). pp. 34-46. URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/ekonomicheskaya-modernizatsiya-kitaya-xix-pervoy-poloviny-xx-vv-v-otsenke-otechestvennoy-i-zarubezhnoy-istoriografii (date of request: 24.10.2025).

^[3]Bauman, Z. (2004). Globalization. Consequences for man and society. M.: The whole world.

^[4]Zhang Zhongli (chief editor). (1990). A study of the modern city of Shanghai. Shanghai: Shanghai People's Publishing House. / 张仲礼 (主编). (1990). 《近代上海城市研究》. 上海: 上海人民出版社.

^[5]Lo Shuwei (chief editor). (1993). The history of the modern city of Tianjin. Beijing: Publishing House of Social Sciences of China. / 罗澍伟 (主编). (1993). 《近代天津城市史》. 北京: 中国社会科学出版社.

^[6]Cochran, S. (2000). Meeting Chinese Networks: Western, Japanese, and Chinese Corporations in China, 1880-1937. Berkeley: University of California Press. / Cochran, S. (2000). Encountering Chinese Networks: Western, Japanese, and Chinese Corporations in China, 1880-1937. Berkeley: University of California Press.

^[7]Wang Chuifang (chief editor). (2009). General Chronicles of China Customs. Part 6 (Chronicles of Industry, Trade and Commerce). Beijing: Customs Publishing House China. / 王垂芳 (主编). (2009). 《中国海关通志第六分册(工商贸易志)》. 北京: 中国海关出版社.

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^[9]Twyman, M. (1998). The British Library Printing Guide: History and Technology. London: British Library. / Twyman, M. (1998). The British Library Guide to Printing: History and Techniques. London: The British Library.

^[10]Brown, S. R. The Transfer of Technology to China in the Nineteenth Century: The Role of Direct Foreign Investment. The Journal of Economic History. 1979;39(1):181-197. doi:10.1017/S0022050700096388

^[1] Xinhua yinshuachang (formerly Shijie shujiu) – century-old industry leader (5) // Yangpu shihua (official WeChat account). 20.03.2015. URL: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/__biz=MzA4NTA0NjUxNQ==&mid=205120551 (date accessed: 24.10.2025).

^[2] The " Self-empowerment Movement" (also known as the "self-empowerment policy" or the "self-empowerment movement"). Assimilation of overseas affairs") is a period of Chinese history (1861-1895), during which the Qing Empire tried to modernize the country by borrowing Western technologies.

^[3] "Shanghai Design Invitation Exhibition 2021 — "Poster as a Field"" was mainly divided into two parts: "History and Memory" and "Diversity and Dialogue". This poster exhibition was presented in the "History and Memory" section. [Electronic resource] // Official source. Shanghai, 2021. URL: https://so.html5.qq.com/page/real/search_news?docid=70000021_02561c98daa40652 (date of request: 24.10.2025).

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