People’s Daily Advertising And Social Change (1949-1959)

People’s Daily has drawn researchers’ attention with the authority and influence of its news, but there has been few study on its early advertising. The first decade after the establishment of the PRC is an important period for the advertising business of "People’s Daily", which witnessed increasing enlargement of its scale and massive increase of its income. What’s more, combining the huge change in politics, economy, culture and society of modern and contemporary China with the change in advertising variety, quantity and layout of People’s Daily of that period, it’s of great academic value to study the development of the advertisement of People’s Daily under such historical background.With the advertisement of People’s Daily as its study object, this thesis chose the period between 1949 and 1959 as its study phase. By studying the development and feature of the advertisement of People’s Daily and using such methods as sampling statistics, classification comparison and case analysis, its development track and time characteristics will be drawn out.Chapter one mainly gives an introduction of evolution of the advertisement of People’s Daily, and analyses the basic information of its development between 1949 and 1959 through sampling statistics and classification comparison.Chapter two focuses on classified study of the commercial advertisement of People’s Daily. In regard to the differences of advertising quantity, types and advertiser between two distinct publishing peak period occurred in the commercial advertisement of People’s Daily during the first decade after the establishment of the PRC, two reasons can be concluded, one is the transformation of economic system from new democratic economy of market and plan to planned economic system of unitary public ownership, the other is the binary opposition of capitalism and socialism existing in opinion on advertising. The substantive issue behind this is the fundamental misunderstanding of the essential characteristics of socialism at early years of new China.Chapter three gives a preliminary summary of the cultural advertisement of People’s Daily during the first decade after the establishment of the PRC, emphatically introduces the advertisement of publication, movie and enrollment, and concludes their obvious characteristics of time, such as distinctive stage and strong ideology. Then this thesis gives a preliminary discussion on the role of cultural advertisement in publicizing Marxism-Leninism thought and constructing unified ideological system.Chapter four discusses the relationship between the social advertisement of People’s Daily and social life changes of the PRC, conducts a classified study of marital advertisement and statement of acknowledge and apology, and analyzes why some social advertisement fade away from People’s Daily after 1951. Through investigation of the social advertisement of People’s Daily, this chapter is hoped to find out the real living conditions of average people in detail at early years of new China and clarify the real social changes covered up by "revolution-sanctification" and "ideologicalization".