Britain’s Share of the China Trade, 1930

Owen Hatherley’s recent book The Ministry of Nostalgia made the point that the old Empire Marketing Board’s graphics were equally as good as the more famous images from London Transport and the Festival of Britain – it’s just they’re not so politically correct these days and so don’t make good prints to kwik-frame in London flats…Still the EMB’s art work was excellent and revealing….for instance the poster below… as you can see Britain accounted for approximately 10% (or less) of China’s imports….when you consider how many gunboats, regiments and the rest of the palava we stationed in Shanghai and around China it doesn’t seem overly worth it!