Aesthetic Perceptions of Urban Environments by Arundhati Virmani

Author:Arundhati Virmani [Virmani, Arundhati]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780367280802
Google: n8hqzgEACAAJ
Goodreads: 58008431
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2021-10-28T00:00:00+00:00

Neon lights and the invention of nightlife in 1930s Shanghai

The technique of neon lighting was discovered by the French chemist Georges Claude in the first decade of the twentieth century, and almost immediately applied to a myriad of industrial and commercial purposes. Organized in a worldwide network of patented companies that were particularly well established in the United States, the business of neon lighting rapidly spread throughout the world in the early twentieth century.38 Until the American company, Claude Neon Lights, introduced neon lighting in Shanghai in 1929, nightlife was almost inexistent in China. It remained underdeveloped in large cities and even in treaty ports like Shanghai.39 Neon lights were neither the first, nor the only source, nor did they displace alternate modes of commercial illumination. Many competing techniques were available in early twentieth-century Shanghai. From the 1920s, advertisers imagined infinite ways of using the magic of lights to attract consumers’ attention: lantern slides, “transmutographs”, stereoscopic devices, magic lanterns projecting lights on footpaths or building facades. Although the neon light was not the only technique available for illuminating advertisements, it rapidly outpaced its competitors. According to the local press, it was also one that left the deepest imprint on cityscapes and citizens’ minds.40 How can we, historians, account for this apparent success story? Were there any shadows on this perhaps too bright picture?

In their self-advertising discourses, promoters of neon signs provide some clues that help clarify the reasons for their widespread popularity. Inserted in their correspondence with the municipal administration or disseminated in local newspapers through laudatory articles and commercial advertisements, these professional discourses must be handled with a reasonably critical distance. In order to seduce the general public, neon sign promoters emphasized their novelty as true embodiments of modernity and fashion. They offered, on an unprecedented scale, to transform the previously dull skyline of Shanghai into a fantastic and colorful “Great White Way”, modeled after Times Square. They also promised to re-enchant citizens’ everyday life by making the entire city itself a place of infinite wonders and pleasures, dotted with a multitude of recreation parks,41 cafes and night clubs.42 In order to persuade their clients, neon advocates highlighted the greater visibility of neon lights, since they could be seen day and night, even in the fog or in rainy weather. They also emphasized their flexibility, since they could adapt to different media (from the simplest shop-signs, to the most spectacular structures), take multiple shapes (trademarks, roman letters or Chinese characters), come in sizes, materials and colors, so as to accommodate a wide range of needs, purposes and users (from small shopkeepers to large multinational companies such as British-American Tobacco or Asiatic Petroleum Company).43

In order to win municipal favor, neon promoters further stressed that neon lights were scientifically designed, professionally built and maintained. In addition, they were subjected to inspection by the municipal engineer and had to pass various technical tests in order to rule out any fire hazards. Neon builders also pointed out that neon lighting consumed less electricity

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