Pablo Pryluka

I have a new article out in the 𝐽𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 (@JChineseHistory). In it, I explore how electricity as a new form of energy was marketed to Chinese consumers in the early 20th century: Ghassan Moazzin, "Selling Electrical Modernity in 𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑏𝑎𝑜: Electricity and Advertisements in Republican Shanghai, 1912–1937," 𝐽𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 (2026): 1-30. cambridge.org/core/journals/… Abstract This article offers the first sustained and focused study of how electricity and electrical devices were marketed to Chinese consumers in early twentieth-century China. Focusing on Chinese-language advertisements placed in the well-known newspaper Shenbao by the Shanghai Municipal Council’s Electricity Department and its successor, the Shanghai Power Company, the article conceptualizes “electrical modernity” as a bundle of purchasable promises through which electrification was promoted to potential customers. The article shows that these advertisements fulfilled both a general educational function, informing readers of the uses and advantages of electricity, and connected electricity to three domains central to contemporary modern aspirations: economic modernization, hygiene, and the modern home and family. The article also demonstrates how electricity was marketed differently to industrial customers and urban households with the use of distinct vocabularies and imagery. @hkihss @cambUP_History @History_HKU