Life — May 31, 1917 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This is a **Waltham Watch Company advertisement** disguised as satirical content, not a political cartoon. The image depicts a Chinese official or dignitary in traditional formal dress, examining a pocket watch. The satire plays on early 20th-century colonial attitudes: China is portrayed as finally joining "great democracies of the world" and adopting Western standards—specifically, trusting Waltham watches for railroad timekeeping across continents. The joke assumes Western superiority in precision timekeeping and suggests China's modernization requires adopting American products. The advertisement conflates product reliability with civilization itself, using orientalist imagery and condescending language about China "proudly" taking its place among democracies—implying it previously lacked such status. This reflects period prejudices about non-Western nations.