e specific chinese sense of aesthetics. most of them were calendars (yuefenpai) that were given away as free promotional gifts and hung up in homes and offices. this commercial printed matter became enormously popular, and its influence spread beyond advertising to other types of publications and design practice in general, where it became synonymous with modernity.even though these materials turned women into objects that served both commercial and titillating purposes, the genre as a whole nonetheless was seen by many as supportive of the demands for the emancipation of women. instead of treating females as non-entities as confucian orthodoxy had prescribed, the posters not merely showed them, but presented them as gorgeously dressed, professional women that radiated an air of self-confidence. to many, these `modeng [modern]` girls were a reflection of women`s search for a separate identity. the supporters of the calendar girls thus included many of the women who themselves were actively involved in the political struggle for women`s liberation.
with the founding of the prc, both the theory and practice of the chinese advertising industry had to change completely. the designers of the commercial calendars, well versed in design techniques and able to visualize a product in a commercially attractive way, were quickly co-opted and incorporated in the various government and army organizations devoted to the production of propaganda posters. but they and their works continued to be regarded with suspicion by the representatives of the new ruling elite. and even though the officials from the cultural bureaucracy that took over had to admit that these designers could make rather acceptable `new` new year pictures, at the same time they could not refrain from allegat