Beware HongKong Foot!

As the weather starts to take a turn for the better but remains damp beware HongKong Foot, a rather nasty version of what is more commonly known these days as Athlete’s Foot. HongKong Foot was a major problem for Shanghailanders in the humid damp climate of the treaty port and the newspapers of the inter-war years are full of adverts for various potions, powders and creams (“unctions” might be a more contemporary term). Aunt’s Ointment was certainly among the most heavily advertised in the 1930s (this ad is from the North-China Daily News in 1934)