日本藥品或保健品廣告早於十九世紀末期，即明治時代，就已出現於華人市場，影響中國消費者對於醫藥、保健與現代性的觀念甚鉅。本研究從圖像符號學的研究觀點出發，以中國瀋陽《盛京時報》刊登的醫藥廣告為研究個案，分析近代日本藥廠在中國東北市場所展開宣傳活動，如何透過商業文本的圖文呈現，建構關於「健康」、「身體」之論述？本研究發現，廣告內容之表現實與當時的社會脈動息息相關。透過廣告符號有系統的意義操作，「疾病」的意義被進一步放大，強國必先強種，病人為弱國的代名詞，藥品消費成為中國現代化與國族運動的一環。

By the end of the nineteenth century, during the Meiji Period, Japanese modern pharmaceutical and dietary supplement adverting was introduced to Chinese market and had a significant impact on the ideas about healthcare, medicine, and modernity. The present study adopts the semiotic approach to analyze pharmaceutical advertisements of Sheng Jin Daily in Shenyang, China, in order to observe the construction of discourse concerning “health” and “body” during the Manchurian period. By examining these advertisements, the present study finds that their textual and pictorial presentations are systematic, and closely related to social issues at that time. According to the analysis, one of the core semiotic strategies is making consumption of drugs part of the social movements involving appeals of modernization and nationalism in China.