In 1926, Wu Liande, a Guangdong native, founded the "Good Friend" pictorial newspaper in Shanghai, which was discontinued in 1941 due to war. The period from 1926 to 1937 was the heyday of the development of Liangyou Pictorial, when it was eagerly welcomed by people as soon as it was published, becoming the most famous pictorial newspaper at that time, and becoming the first large-scale comprehensive pictorial in modern China. At that time, a sentence was widely circulated: "With a volume of "Good Friends" in hand, scholars and experts do not feel shallow, and village couples and children do not dislike profundity."
The cover of "Good Friend" Pictorial is not set in stone, after many modifications and adjustments before gradually finalizing, the cover of "Good Friend" Pictorial is typeset in a stamp style, the cover girls have different looks, wearing a combination of traditional and modern costumes, smiling lightly, dignified and contemplative gaze at the camera, recording the rich and deep connotation of the pictorial, leading the Shanghai fashion culture of the exclusive era. The cover of the first issue of the "Good Friend" pictorial is a photo of the female star Hu Die. Since the 25th issue, the cover has become colorful, the female figure is vivid and vivid, and the pictures cover the entire cover, and this style has been used until the pictorial magazine is discontinued.
"Good Friend" pictorial is different from other pictorials in a major feature, the cover background is covered with Western patterns, and the women on the cover wear Chinese cheongsam, this combination of Chinese and Western cover is enough to give readers a great visual impact. For example, in the 16th issue, the cover character is Ms. Huang Liushuang, cherry small mouth, willow leaf eyebrows, large eyes, and the face shows the makeup of oriental beauty, which are the most common cover of the pictorial newspaper, in line with the traditional visual habits and aesthetic tastes of the Chinese. But wearing a blouse with bare arms is a woman at the forefront of the trend, which may be unacceptable to ordinary women, and the cover of the pictorial newspaper not only shows that the cover of the pictorial is a combination of tradition and modernity, but also shows that women are moving from tradition to modernity. In the 57th issue, the background is dark, and the woman in the picture is also wearing a dark Western-style dress, which is integrated with the background, but if you look closely, you can find that she is covered with a fur scarf, wears a light-colored headband on her head, and covers half of her face with mesh, which has the feeling of holding the pipa and half covering her face, leaving the reader with endless imagination, and the cover woman is also properly integrated with traditional Chinese culture when wearing Western clothing.
"Good Friends" pictorial magazine since its inception mostly with young women as the cover, and this group of young women in the show business star mainly, there are also some young women, female sportsmen, female writers, social celebrities and other pictures as the cover, 172 issues of magazine cover, only 11 issues of men's pictures, these 11 issues of pictures or wartime to meet the needs of wartime.
During the Republic of China period, the feudal cage trapping women was gradually broken, and women appeared in various industries such as the political stage and business, at this time, women were no longer the role of only being able to teach their children at home, they could have their own jobs, no longer were smiling and toothless family bridesmaids, they could show people with laughter generously. The scene is not from the end of the solid color background, the background is no longer a pattern or solid color, photographers and models out of the indoor to outdoor, 172 cover pictures out of 41 exterior pictures, the scene has a riding field, rowing, swimming pool and other places, the scene is mostly a sports place, because the magazine encourages women at home to go outdoors, so that women can have a healthy body, sunny personality.
The women on the cover are no longer thin and weak images, but healthy, natural, sunny, their healthy bodies and spirits, thoroughly displayed in front of the reader, which is exactly the attitude that the pictorial wants to advocate, and women in the new era should be like this, rather than only three from four virtues, wearing dull, wide clothing, no confidence in their own body, only non-committal female image. While advocating a new way of life, it also provides a rich connotation for the "Good Friend" pictorial, in the era of low women's status, there is such a magazine that dares to make women speak out, so that women can get out of the bleak life, which also shows the continuous progress and development of society from the side.
The costumes worn by the pictorial girls are also constantly changing, and the cover women's costumes mainly include skirts, schoolgirl clothes, cheongsams, and dresses. At first, the cover women often wore loose skirts, which were a combination of Manchu women's clothing, which has always been the inherent way of traditional women, and by the late 1930s, the skirts gradually highlighted the women's clothing stage, and the qipao replaced its position. Female student clothing has gradually become popular after the opening of female schools, female student clothing is simple and generous, female students plus short hair, making this group of female students synonymous with youth, so some women who are not students also wear student clothes.
The characteristics of fashionable and easy to wear also attract a large number of women who pursue fashion, and there is also another beauty of dresses with cheongsam. The costumes are constantly changing, reflecting from the side that the women's thinking of the Republic of China has moved from closed to open. The cover of more than a hundred issues of the "Good Friend" pictorial is almost a women's qipao exhibition, and various qipao are published in the pictorial. At first, the qipao was wide and had no sense of beauty to speak of, but in the late 1920s, the qipao was influenced by Western culture, the waist was gradually tightened, and the improved qipao slowly became a favorite costume of people, and became the representative dress of women in the Republic of China. The qipao can be cut according to personal preferences and figures, and the fabric can also be selected according to their own economic situation, so it is warmly sought after by women in the Republic of China. The qipao will be the integration of Chinese and Western clothing culture, and the Western clothing culture will be added to the qipao, making the qipao more fashionable and beautiful. Women wearing modified cheongsam have become the symbol of oriental women, they bring people a hazy sense of beauty, and the qipao in different covers contains the cultural charm of different eras and the imprint of the times.
Clothing is constantly changing, on the one hand, reflecting the Republic of China women's thinking from closed to open, women have long been suppressed by patriarchal society, low status, women want to be liberated, they must improve their status and independence, but the process is not smooth, this road is full of thorns. Women's clothing shows the changes of women on the road of tradition and modernity from the side, from closed to open. On the other hand, while showing people this new type of clothing, the women wearing various costumes on the cover show people their new image of self-confidence in different faces, and convey a positive female image to the reader.
At that time, each volume of the "Good Friend" pictorial was priced at one corner of the ocean, and some alleys sold a corner of the small ocean, which was equivalent to 20% off. The reason why the price in US dollars was marked on the cover was to facilitate subscriptions, because the currencies of the provinces in the country could not be used at that time. According to the data, "Good Friend" published a total of 174 issues, each issue of sales is higher than 40,000 copies, which makes "Good Friend" become one of the most influential magazines in modern Shanghai and even the entire Republic of China. "Good Friends" pictorials were also popular on five continents, and at that time, all places where overseas Chinese lived had "Good Friends", which won the reputation of "Good Friends All over the World".