This is a translation of Chinese post found on leowood bbs; I have obtained permission from author ZTL to translate and publish on RadioMuseum. I will translate little by little and post here when time is available.

In Winter 1922, American journalist E. G. Osborn established the first radio broadcast station in China, a 50 watt radio tower located on the rooftop of Robert Dollar Building on Guangdong Road, Shanghai.  Osborn had a business partner Zeng Jun, a Chinese living in Japan, and they formed the Radio Corporation of China, registered as an American company to sell radio receivers in Shanghai.  The station was named the Osborn Radio Station, which started broadcasting at 8 PM, January 23, 1923, and it created a sensation in Shanghai. In a few days 500 radio receivers (later renamed Radio) were sold.  This was the first radio station and the first radio company in the history of China. Later on, many more radio stations were established, and radio became popular in Shanghai. In the early days, radios were imported, mainly from the US. Crystal radio sets and tube radios were available in Shanghai, with crystal sets being the most popular.

* more readings: Brief History of Broadcasting Stations in Shanghai

*Poster comment: The Osborn Radio Station was in business for only a few months.  It had financial issues, but the most important reason for its demise was its legal status, because the Northern Government didn't have a law to allow civilian radio broadcasting at that time.

Robert Dollar Building, built in 1921, now located on 51 Guangdong Road, Shanghai

In August 1924, the Ministry of Transportation announced interim provisions for broadcast radio receivers, allowing the public to assemble and use radio receivers. The Shanghai Construction Committee established the Shanghai Wireless Machinery Factory to make seven-tube AC powered radios from imported components.  City residents slowly started to assemble radio receivers; many adopted regenerative circuits. Mr. Yan Jingyu from Shanghai Jiande Savings Society successfully assembled a superheterodyne receiver the same month. In Oct. 1925, Ama Radio Co., Ltd. successfully manufactured crystal radios and vacuum tube radios in Songjiang Library.  These radios not only received broadcast from Shanghai, they also received music programs from broadcast stations in Japan.  Ama Radio had been established on October 8, 1924 by seven siblings Su Zufei, Su Zugui, Su Zuxiu, Su Zuguo, Su Zuyao, and Su Zuguang, and was the first Chinese domestic capital electronics company.  Ama set up a factory, a retail department, a repair department, a broadcast station, and a publishing house to manufacture and sell electronic components, radio equipment, books, crystal radios, and vacuum tube radios. In July 1952, Ama Radio Co., Ltd. merged with YaNan Fabrication Company and changed its name to AMA Mechanical and Electronic Co. Ltd. The Electronic Branch of AMA changed its name to AMA No.2 Electronic Factory in 1955, and became the AMA Electronic Factory in 1957.  In 1966 it became the Shanghai No. 26 Wireless Factory.

In 1932, Cheng Quan set up the Amateur Wireless Society. Starting in 1934, the society made paper inductance components, and published the "Three Day Radio Magazine" and other technical books. On January 5, 1933, Ama Radio Co., Ltd. published "China Radio" fortnightly, which became a monthly magazine in 1938. Publication ended on 5 March, 1942 after the third issue of volume 10. "China Radio" magazine was published for almost 10 years without interruption.

China Radio issue 1 volume 2

China Radio issue 22 volume 4

China Radio issue 3 volume 9

In October 1933, Ama Radio Co., Ltd. started to sell its 1001 crystal radio.  Due to its compact size, low cost, and good reception, it was well received by general public. In October 1935, Ama designed and made China's first  superheterodyne AM radio, the model 1651 with five tubes.  Ama became the first company to commercialize radio production. Except for tubes and carbon resistors, the 1651 used in-house manufactured components such as RF/IF/power transformers and coils.  The specifications of the 1651 were equal to imported models but it sold for only half the price, which was very attractive to consumers. Following the 1651, Ama made the 1641 four-tube model and dual band models 5TS5 and 5TS6.  Because their design conformed to the local Shanghai 50 Hz electricity standard and were suitable for the local climate, they had a long working life and a competitive advantage over imported radios.  Because of this Ama established a very good reputation in Shanghai.

1001 Crystal radio advertisement

1001 Crystal radio advertisement (note its price is 3 silver dollars)

Ama 1651 radio advertisement

Ama 1651

Ama workshop in 1930s

In 1930s, other manufacturers started to make radios. Among them, Zhongyong Wireless Factory (Established in Oct. 1930) had a fairly large scale, second only to Ama Radio Co., Ltd., and made one tube three-circuit radios and DC three tube radios. Other radio companies included Huachang Wireless Apparatus Factory, Shaodun Electronic Company (established in May 1925), and Ya Er Electronic Factory, which made many radios ranging from one tube to five tube models. Although their manufacturing facility fell behind and not a great number of radios were made, these radios nevertheless represent one period of Chinese radio history. Ama, Mofanle and Liangyou (Good Friend) were reputable brands. The Mofanle five-tube radio made by Ya Er Electronic Factory started selling in Thailand in 1937; Ya Er became the first exporting Chinese radio manufacturer.

Zhongyong 101

Zhongyong radio advertisement

This link to the top view enables the reader to get the full sketch about the radio history in China. The tow view article lists the different articles about the Chinese radio history and gives an overview - also about literature we know of etc.

We are at the beginning of this framework and thankful for any cooperation. There is a lot to do until this is really informative as a reference work.

In 1936, along with technology development, radio became much more popular in Shanghai, total number reached more than 100,000, but almost all of them are foreign made products, competition kept domestic radio manufacturing industry a slow development pace. July 1937, the Sino-Japanese War broke out, a big hit to the Shanghai radio manufacturing industry. On December 18, 1942, Japanese occupation force prohibited the use of radios with more than seven tubes, and forced users to remove shortwave coil of radios with six tubes and below, production came to a stop, Ama Radio Co., Ltd. converted to make "Triangle" brand bicycle chains,  Liwen Wireless Company (founded in November 1939) instead to make bicycle seats.
   
After the end of World War II in 1945, Shanghai radio manufacturing industry resumed radio production.  Ama Radio Co., Ltd resumed radio broadcasting and radio production business. New radio manufacturing companies started to appear in the market, such as Hongyin Wireless Equipment Factory,  Liwen Wireless Company (changed name into Liwen Wireless Equipment Factory in 1948; after 1949, gradually become a professional speaker production factory; July 1959, merged with Oriental  Electric Factory; August 1960, split into two factories, the speakers workshops changed into Shanghai No. 11 Wireless Factory, its radio and amplifier workshop turned into Shanghai No. 2 Wireless Factory), Fudan Electric Equipment Factory,  Wanli Electric Equipment Factory, Tianhe Electric and Chemical Industrial Society and Zhongxing Wireless Equipment Factory.

Philo one tube radio and crystal set advertisement

June 1946, Head Office of Central Government National Resources Commission moved to Shanghai, preparing to set up Central Wireless Equipment Co. Ltd, the Head Office becomes management division of the company. In July the same year, Central Broadcasting Equipment Maintenance and Manufacture Station, subsidiary of National Government Broadcasting Administration moved to Shanghai. July 1st 1947, Central Wireless Equipment Co. Ltd formally established. (The company together with Central Broadcasting Equipment Maintenance and Manufacture Station came under military control after China Communist Party took power in 1949. In June 1949, Central Broadcasting Equipment Maintenance and Manufacture Station was renamed Shanghai Broadcasting Equipment Maintenance and Manufacture Factory, and resumed production. On May 3rd, 1950, four electronics/communications factories including Shanghai Broadcasting Equipment Maintenance and Manufacture Factory, China Record Factory moved to Beijing, to help build the Beijing People’s Broadcasting Equipment Factory.) The research division under Central Wireless Equipment Co. Ltd was expanded into a research institute and workshop added. The research workshop made “Resources” brand table and floor-standing high quality 8-tube radios, AC power stabilizers, Radio and Auto-Change Record Players. After 1949, the research institute was put under the Bureau of Telecommunications, Ministry of Heavy Industry and renamed Shanghai Electronics Research Institute, and moved to Beijing in Autumn 1952.

Resources BR6-2A radio

At the end of 1947, there were 590 electronics related factories and companies in Shanghai, in which 235 are wireless companies/factories. Because many of the components were imported, and lowly paid assembly cost, domestic radio manufacturing industry had a hard time to survive. In early 1949, before the communist government took power, 30% of the wireless industry were shut down or semi shut down, only 7 factories were making radios and components, with a total of 113 workers employed.

May 27, 1949 the communist People's Liberation Army entered Shanghai and ended the Nationalist Government control. From 1949 to 1952, the new government gave a big support to private radio business, production generally improved, there were 558 telecommunications equipment manufacturers established in this period and 2032 workers employed. From 1952 to 1955, radio production increased 10-fold.

On July 21st, 1952, the Broadcasting Material Division of Shanghai People's Broadcasting Station expanded into the first state-owned wireless assembling manufacturer - Eastern China Broadcasting Equipment Factory, it was renamed Shanghai People's Broadcasting Equipment Factory in April 1953, and renamed again into National Shanghai Broadcasting Equipment Factory in Jan. 1955. This factory made the first batch of type 155 five-tube radio under the new government in Feb. 1955. August the same year, pioneered  production of Shanghai 354, Shanghai 355 five-tube two-band super-heterodyne  radios using the assembly line technology. In Apr. 1956, started radio export, signaled the domestic industrialization of radio production in China. In 1957, Shanghai Broadcasting Equipment Factory started to develop car radio for the Changchun No.1 Vehicle Factory's high end Red-Flag sedan, in Sep. 1958, developed the Shanghai 382 auto-tuning car radio, during the research and development, the factory solved  lattice coil and whip antenna production issues. Shanghai 382 was formally made from 1959, until the end of 1960, 643  Shanghai 382 car radios were made. In April 1958, the factory made the first class1 Shanghai 131 seven-tube radio, this radio won the first prize in the Second National Broadcasting Radio Competition in 1959. 58,773 sets of Shanghai 131 were made, 6,700 were exported in the life time. In 1962, Shanghai 131 was transferred to Shanghai No. 2 Wireless Factory to manufacture. Based on Shanghai 131, the factory developed Shanghai 531 seven-tube four-band super-heterodyne floor standing radio and Shanghai 532 fourteen-tube full-band super-heterodyne radio receiver, record player and sound recorder multifunctional radio, the 531 and 532 model all exceeded national class1 radio standards. Between 1953 to 1957, the radio production of this factory accounted for 25.6% of national radio productions, many models were exported. From 1952 to 1959, major products from this factory are radios and amplifiers, a total of 13 types 58 models of radio were developed.

Shanghai 131

Shanghai 142

Shanghai 152

Shanghai 154

Shanghai 155

Shanghai 155-A

Shanghai 135

Shanghai 156-A

Shanghai 156-A (Different design)

Shanghai 156-B

Mother Country 158

Shanghai 159

Shanghai 161

Shanghai 354/355

Shanghai 553

Shanghai 157-B

Shanghai 157-D

Shanghai 157-H

Shanghai 157-M

Shanghai 157 Manual

Metto 382 Car Radio

Shanghai 451

Shanghai 451 Wood

Shanghai 451 Manual

Wireless Technology (Shanghai 451 Special Edition)

People's Daily (Report on new radio models)

Shanghai 131 (Different Design)

Shanghai 132

Shanghai 132-1

Shanghai 133

Shanghai 531

Shanghai 532

Shanghai (Model to be identified)

Shanghai Broadcasting Equipment Factory Flyer

The History of Radio Industry in China

An overview about the different articles in the forum of Radiomuseum.org

Our member Taili ZHANG (known also as "ZTL" in Chinese forums) has written several well researched articles about the history of radio industry in different Chinese provinces or cities. These articles do not start at the time of PRC but often before - at the beginning of China's radio history. He has published for years in different Chinese forums and started to be active here after I saw him in Beijing in Spring 2010.

In order that he can concentrate on new things he asked me to find people who can translate from Chinese into either English or German (or one of our "flagged languages"). This person can easily contact me with the contact form - or as a member by looking up the member list.

The idea of this article is to let a reader follow through all of this kind of articles - maybe also written by other editors. This should become the top view of the framework.

Later we will publish here a map of China with its Provinces and big cities which played a major part in the radio industry in China and give some summaries about them. You will also find other links which lead to more knowledge about radio literature, special radio models, maybe also a list of brands and manufacturers etc. The general aspects in the radio years for China you find at the main text about China.

Here you find a story about how I see China in 2010, compared to India. It may be seen as an unbalanced picture - since it is only a glance from a holiday. It was also translated to Chinese by Paul Fok, HongKong.

At present it will only be a place to link together some articles realized and a place for some which are still only available in Chinese forums - in Chinese characters. Then we know what has to be done later. The articles will have a link to here.

List of Articles about Radio History for different Provinces and Cities in China

Shanghai (Original article in Chinese)

This is the place where the first broadcasting happened in China. Shanghai is still the most important port in China, maybe of the world. In the first decades of broadcast, Shanghai was also the city with the greatest radio industry.

See here how 无线电三厂 can also be written - also in a late document. The brand is in English "Metto" of 美多 for Meiduo (美 měi​ = America / beautiful, 多 duō​ = many, much).
Picture by courtesy of member Taili Zhang, Beijing.

Fujian Province

History articles made and pointed out by ZTL - to be translated later:

Beijing

Jiangsu Province

Hubei Province

Tianjin

3 Provinces of Northeast China: Heilongjiang Province, Jilin Province and Liaoning Province

A number of provinces:
Shandong Province, Guangdong Province, Guangxi Autonomous Region,
Sichuan Province (include Chongqing) and Yunnan Province.

An other basket of provinces:
Anhui Province, Fujian Province, Hebei Province, Henan Province, Hunan Province, Jiangxi Province, Shanxi Province and Xinjiang Autonomous Region.

Above you find Fujian Province - which is the second part of this basket. For having shorter articles we extract each venue separately. It will be easier for the reader - if we list later also other things like the brands etc. for such an article.

Chinese Radio Manuals with Schematics

We know at the moment of about 30 radio manuals with schematics, sometimes also with other technical data, descriptions or pictures.

Here I build up a link list to descriptions for each schematic manual (also called atlas or book) we have details of. Sometimes these manuals show a number, indicating that it is a family of similar books, most don't. The manuals can be about a certain manufacturer or brand or a certain time or type of models - or a region etc. To have a unique number we use here a two digit numbering system. Each of the ones used gets an entry at the list of literature. This should be chosen if somebody creates new models form one - or finds models which are already up but without that reference. Sometimes a model gets several references or all references are already taken.

When scanning schematics from them or uploading then we first also bring in that manual to the list to choose from at the "Schematic Finder".

Manuals entered as Literature and in the Schematic Finder, Uploads done.
All manuals show in front the country (here PRC) for a quick finding when uploading schematics from or when looking for schematics.

01-Transistor Radio Manual, 1972 (2nd ed., 2nd print from 1983, 351 pages, 162 models)

09-Broadcast Radio Manual 1958-1 (91 pages, 25 tube radio models)

10-Broadcast Radio Manual 1958/59 (306 pages, 155 tube radios)

Manuals not yet prepared
If possible we scan the front of the manual and list the models contained there in a thread per manual. Here you will find the links to such manuals.

We show a thread here about some Chinese literature etc. in general. 
 

02-Radio Manual, no date (380 pages) Creation of models and upload schematics in progress.
Not quality, but good source for new models (359 models).

11-Radio Manual 1965 (No.2, green, 220 pages, ca. 104 models, mainly tube radios)
(Scan by Taili Zhang, ZTL)
 

16-Radio Manual Shanghai No.2 Radio Factory, 1981 (71 pages, 24 models, different years)
(Scan by Taili Zhang, ZTL)

19-Shanghai 101 Factory, 1981: 58 pages for 26 models from 1970 to 1981 of this factory only.
(Scan by Taili Zhang, ZTL)

China's naming of manufacturers

and brands

We face a difficult situation about naming the radios and the manufacturers in China. For some things we have different possible ways to name a manufacturer or a model - and we will have to try to do it as the majority in China does. We can differentiate at least 3 problems:

1 Naming the right company
2 Naming the company the right way
3 Naming the model

Here I present the problems faced - and reasons for the chosen solution.

Naming the right company

Having documentation of the manufacturer it is easy to find the manufacturer's name -
and most often also the brand and model name. Picture by courtesy of ZTL.
 

To make it short I bring a simple case - but already with its conflict with evolving a second manufacturer.

Typical example of different naming of the same manufacturer:

1
Fuzhou Telecommunications Equipment Factory opened on May 25, 1958，after it began to produce Fuzhou-brand radio and Camellia-brand radios, Camellia-brand GS-1 included.

2
In 1960, Fuzhou Telecommunications Equipment Factory changed to Fuzhou Wireless Factory. That was the time when for instance model GS-1 was made. They went on manufacturing radios etc. In 1965 was the print of this manual!

3
In February 1966, Fuzhou Wireless Factory changed to Fujian Wireless Factory, moved to Nanping, and changed to produce other electronic products, except radios.

4
Other company formed
At about the same time Fuzhou City has rebuilt Fuzhou Wireless Factory on the foundation of former workshop. Some workers stayed, but this is now another entity. It continued to develop and produce transistor radios.

5
In 1970 this name was changed to Fuzhou 1st Wireless Factory.

6
In 1984 it changed the name to Fuzhou Radio Instrument General-Factory. See "The History of Radio Industry in Fujian Province".

Another problem:

Since we would like to find the model easily in the database by typing what we find on a model, we should name the manufacturer as it was named on the set. On the other hand: Mostly we create models systematically by reading China's schematic manuals. We then get the name from there. Fortunately Chinese collectors don't care normally for the manufacturer and do search by the brand and name. We still need a solution. And we would like to chain possible manufacturers with several names (at the same time or during the time) to have an overview of the whole life of a manufacturer's products.

Several ways are possible - but only one seems to work: We write what we find and as we find it. Sometimes we will even find names in traditional Chinese, not simplified characters.

Solution in the future:

We have to generate another table in the database and do some programming which takes time - to form a common base for a manufacturer. In other words we will have to write the different names in a new field for a given manufacturer plus a "main name" so that we can bring together automatically all products of the same manufacturer during the different times and cover different methods of writing the same name - like adding the word City or Province etc. or not to include in the name. Ambiguous writings for the same manufacturer are even possible on the company prints.

Naming the company the right way:
Radio versus Wireless

You see here the old writing of Nanjing and 收音机. By courtesy of ZTL.

This is a minor matter because the wording comes almost at the end of the name. I first tended to go the scientific way, to name a company as it is correctly translated. I entered about 100 names this way but I will change them to the naming which is preferred by Chinese users and is even sometimes used by the manufacturer itself: "Radio Manufacturer" instead of "Wireless Manufacturer" as term for the Chinese term: 无线电厂 Pinying: wú​ xiàn ​diàn chǎng​ (Wu Xian Dian Chang), traditional:無線電廠. This means really "Wireless Manufacturer":
无 (trad. 無) = -less / not to have / no / none / not / to lack / un-
线 (trad. 線) = thread / string / wire / line / CL: 條｜条, 股, 根
电 (trad. 電) = electric / electricity / electrical
厂 (trad. 廠) = factory / yard / depot / workhouse / works / (industrial) plant

The seldom used name, 收音机 is clear "Radio" or "Receiver" (收 to receive 音 sound 机 machine-aircraft). Pinying (Mandarin) shōu ​yīn ​jī, trad. 收音機. Example is 江苏省 常州市 收音机厂 (Jiangsusheng Changzhoushi Radio Factory)

I did write a fact sheet with all aspects like China had "wired radios" with quite some history we will tell about. But this would be too manyfold and long for here. One is that also Google translates as "Radio" and that Radio is the better known term for a wireless set.

Solution:
In both occasions we write "Radio", not "Wireless" for 无线电
This is accepted by all Chinese radio friends I asked (and was discussed in a forum).

Here we have the case that it is "Radio" but for 无线电厂 ("Wireless").
See also the term Peking for Beijing.
By courtesy of our member Taili Zhang, Beijing (ZTL).

Naming the administrative divisions of China

Specially for non Chinese readers it would be interesting to know where the manufacturer is or was producing. The constitution of the PRC provides for three de jure levels of government. Currently, however, there are five practical de facto levels of local government: the province, prefecture, county, township, and village.

Some cities are well known and some would be hard to find. We began first with naming the Province first - but prectically this is not the case on documents or models. Therefore we changed to name the city first where this applies. We will add the province in brackets after the city, followed by a short way of bringing in also the geographical region like North (N), Northeast (NE), East (E), South Central (SC), South West (SW), North West (NW) and South Central (SC). The situation of each municipy or province is given here in detail.

Naming the model

The biggest problem is that we often don't know how the model is named in the first place and if there are versions with an English name for export or not. Normally we have at least the Chinese characters, e.g. 熊猫 for Xióng​ māo. ​

Solution:
First model name field = brand.
Second model name field = "name" of the model, mostly a number combination.
Variant: = ONLY used in case:
Brand and name are completely the same for the same manufacturer!

Syntax first field (brand):
If possible the brand or name which is best read on the model in Pinyin or characters - be written first in Pinyin without accents! (or English if it is in English), followed by the Characters - normally simplified. If the model has it in trad. Chinese then we should use both.

If we know that the same model is printed in Pinying for the domestic market and in English for export, we have two solutions: Either use both names - like:
Xiongmao 熊猫 Panda or Hongdeng 红灯 Red lantern
or we create two models - since they show a different face, perhaps even have some other differences.

Brands and Manufacturers

We have to keep in mind that many brands can also be used by many different manufacturers. Only later we might be able to list the different manufacturers for a brand or the different brands for a manufacturer. For that we will create a new table.

We can not expect that a member who uploads a new model has read this and we will have to face many differences to this - but we will try to keep these rules - also by correcting errors of others.

What comes on top and will even be lesser used is that we first enter a schematic manual in the table of literature (done by me when being asked for or when I get to know of) - to choose the reference - for having later a full list of references about a certain literature. We can even use as a selection in the "Fully detailed Model Search" for members only. With this one can select by about 30 different fields of selection.

At last we also have to enter a literature we choose from for when uploading schematics - for having good results with the "Schematic Finder". Quality has its price! RMorg is not a village where you find the "interesting place(s) by just going out of the house - but a big "Radio City" where you need street maps - which we provide in the form of the blue "Info-Help-Buttons" you can click at the top right of each page!

China - Televisionen in Land der aufgehenden Sonne:

1. Die Anfänge des Pekinger Fernsehstudios
2. Die ersten Fernsehempfangsgeräte
3. Erste chinesische Fachliteratur zum Thema Fernsehen

 

 

 

 

(Bildnachweis: 5)

Übersetzt aus dem Englischen am 3. Juni 2010 von Fernsehhistoriker Wolfgang Scheida /Wien

Der Originaltext stammt von unserem chinesischen RM.org Sammlerkollegen Mr. „Jack“ Songping Wan.

Hinweis: Mit obigen Stichtag ist eine inhaltliche Prüfung der Daten und der Chronik durch den Übersetzer noch NICHT erfolgt!  

Allgemein: 

Chinesische Fachmagazine & Literatur mit der Fachleuten auch die Technik des Fernsehens nähergebracht wurde

China had a radio industry well before the Second World War, since first transmissions were started in 1923. At that time many sets have been imported, mainly from the USA or were hand made sets. But soon the own production started in small scales.

As in Western Countries, the radio industry in China produced marketing material like leaflets, flyers and operating instructions, schematics etc. Theses sources are very essential to get a most complete and accurate radio catalog.

With this thread we can list essential material which enables to identify radios or document them.
We can also use it to add documentation in form of atachments.

Transistor Radio Manual 1982 - see the content pages as attachment.

Attachments

• China_TrRadio_Manual_1 (85 KB)
• China_TrRadio_Manual_2 (105 KB)
• China_TrRadio_Manual_3 (173 KB)
• China_TrRadio_Manual_4 (190 KB)
• China_TrRadio_Manual_5 (39 KB)
• China-transistoren1 (39 KB)
• China-transistoren2 (66 KB)
• China-transistoren3 (26 KB)
• China-transistoren4 (28 KB)
• China-transistoren5 (27 KB)

Chinese radio related literature and magazines:

All kind of electronic related topics have been covered by the following Chinese magazines from the late 1940's up to the end of the 1990's:

Wireless, Radio, Television, Radar, computer, calculators, remote controls, electronic education, early export models, military technique, electricity, space science & satellites, telephone, electronic components, PA systems, link systems,....

The titels are:

• WUXIANDIAN VU DIANSHI;
• RADIO; 
• Electronic Technology;
• Popular Electricity; Radio Magazine;
• KEXUE HUABAO;
• ZHISHI JIUSHI LILIANG; 
• WUXIANDIAN JISHU;
• DIANSHIJIE;
• DIANZI JISHU;

W.S. 5/2010