ith the harsh reality of mass unemployment, cut-throat competition, and increasing inequality. yet, they continue to be published, for example for special events such as the hong kong handover of 1997, the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the prc, and the resumption of sovereignty over macao, both in 1999. people who before bought posters now see then as old-fashioned, or too tainted by their earlier political usage, even though their subject matter has been brought in line with topics that are considered to be more in tune with the rapidly changing times, social circumstances, and popular taste. it should be no wonder that their numbers and the size of their editions have decreased dramatically, as has the number of chinese buying them.another indication of changing notions of artistic and aesthetic permissiveness was the reemergence of "calendar girl"-designs, such as the one below. originally designed by jin meisheng, one of the masters of yuefenpai 月份牌 design, the shanghai people`s fine arts publishing house put it on the market in 1989.

　　indeed, in a society in the throes of realizing "socialism with chinese characteristics", where assertiveness is increasingly valued, the people are convinced they can gain little by following the official examples of self-sacrifice presented by the government. the role of posters as providers of information has been strenghtened. the sars-crisis of 2003 saw the publication of rather large numbers of posters, most of them containing clear educational information about how to avoid contamination, and what to do once contamination had taken place. similarly, posters giving information about hiv/aids have appeared.