The History of Matchbox Stickers in China

"Matchbox picture" is the decal on the matchbox, and it is also the abbreviation of the match trademark. In order to decorate and sell advertising matches, people paste (print) various colorful patterns on the matchbox. This kind of match trademark and match decoration painting is: "matchbox picture".

Because the matchbox stickers are small and exquisite, with a wide range of themes, it is an all-encompassing art world, regardless of current affairs and politics, customs, industrial and agricultural achievements, urban and rural features, tourist scenery, animals, birds, flowers, grass, insects and fish, etc. can be displayed on matchbox pictures;

Matchbox stickers are exquisitely printed and rich in variety. They faithfully record historical changes and social changes unintentionally. Just like the so-called small land, there are thousands of scenes and enjoy the reputation of "small encyclopedia". Therefore, it has attracted many fans. As a professional match manufacturer, F-Zero provides professional custom matchbooks service.

1. Imitation of matchbox stickers and its budding period

(1879-1929) China's first match factory was born. During this period, the Chinese match market was mostly monopolized by "matches".

The budding Chinese match factory, due to restrictions, mainly imitates the design of specifications and trademarks, which is indistinguishable from Japanese matchbox pictures.

It wasn't until the establishment of the All-China Match Association in 1929 that China's matchbox stickers began to formally go through the procedures for registration of the match trademark, filing and registration, and became formal.

2. The trademark period of pure advertising matches

(1930-1958) The Anti-Japanese War broke out, urban and rural areas boycotted Japanese products, the match industry developed, and private enterprises accounted for the majority, and most of the matchbox pictures were birds and animals and festive patterns.

The competition among various factories was fierce, and match factories closed down from time to time. Therefore, some matchbox pictures spread for a long time, while others were short-lived.

3. The non-commodity decoration period of matchbox stickers

After the Beijing Match Factory first released a complete set of flowers and landscape matchbox pictures, the State Administration of Trademarks listed the match trademark as a product that did not need to be registered, and stipulated that the name of the factory or a simple small picture should be registered with the local industrial and commercial bureau for use as a trademark.

This makes the match trademark a small work of art marked with the factory name and other patterns as decorations, prompting a qualitative leap in matchbox pictures.

4. Decoration period of commercialization of matchbox pictures

Since China entered the era of reform and opening up, with the development of the situation, the match factory that originally focused on the wholesale matches has developed matchbox stickers as a second product, making matchbox pictures officially a commodity.

At the same time, many matchbox picture sales outlets have appeared in large and medium-sized cities across the country, prompting matchbox pictures to truly enter the ranks of new commodities, except for the matchbox pictures used in match production in match factories.

It also produced a lot of complete sets and sets of matchbox stickers that are not used for matches. In addition, it also produced a large number of advertising matches for units and restaurants.