Looking for help with old Asian poster

If anyone can help with translation on this advertisement poster it is appreciated. Or any other information

 

Chinese.

Debora

 

These are widely reproduced and available in any Chinatown. Originals are rarely seen in my experience.

 

Absolutely.

In the early part of the 20th century (into the 1920's & 1930's) Hatamen was one of the cigarette brand names used by the British American Tobacco Company (BAT) in Shanghai. The young women on their posters and calendar were famously portrayed in a way that seemed "westernized" for the times, and there was much controversy about the fact that Hatamen cigarettes were produced by a "western" firm, even tho they were made with Chinese tobacco and Chinese labor.

The posters and calendars were considered very collectible at the time, and as Blooey has pointed out, they have been widely reproduced in the years since.

There's some good info about Hatamen in a book called Selling Happiness: Calendar Posters and Visual Culture in Early 20th Century Shanghai by Ellen Johnston Laing, University of Hawaii Press, 2004. You can see some of it on Google Books:
https://books.google.com/books?id=-wUJKgG5PHsC&pg=PA171&lpg=PA171&dq=bat+cigarettes+hatamen&source=bl&ots=D8_Wh1gdxz&sig=ACfU3U21a4D2I7kepx9IuNfABldZWSxkGg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiP99r5uNXoAhWplHIEHWg3CTwQ6AEwFXoECA0QNQ#v=onepage&q=bat cigarettes hatamen&f=false

Another book, also with some excerpts available on Google Books, has a little more info, too: Cigarettes, Inc. : An Intimate History of Corporate Imperialism by Nan Enstad, University of Chicago Press, 2018.

 

The OP's does look to have some age. And it appears to be hanging. A photograph of the top and back might be helpful.

Debora

 

@Debora The repro's reproduce the soiling, age etc and have thin metal bars top and bottom, just like this one.

 

This is the only one I could find on internet. Supposed to be 1920s/1930s. Think 1920s a bit early.

Debora

 

Thank you for all the comments everyone I will get some pics of the back up in awhile

 

Yes indeed, that one's a repro too, so like, 80 years too early

 

I can see why it was widely reproduced. Nice graphic!

 

There are a whole series of these, not all cigarettes, but all depicting Shanghai cafe dancers and other fashionable Chinese girls advertising all sorts of stuff. They all have very cool decorative power IMO.