What happened between 1920 to 1960

The Shanghai period represented both the beginning of Chinese modern design and the best of this emerging form before the Second World War. Creative design work of the quality produced in Shanghai could not be sustained during the war, and after the Communists gained power in 1949 commercial graphic design was seen as a symbol of “Western lifestyle” and said to be a “waste of national resources” because it encouraged the consumption of unnecessary products. 6 However, the Shanghai spirit of commercial graphic design continued under the capitalist economic system and British colonial rule in Hong Kong after the war.

​

The level of talent and quality of creative production in Hong Kong before 1950 was never equal to that of Shanghai, nor was the direction of development begun in Shanghai continued after this time. From the period after the war through the 1960s, commercial graphic design developed at a steady pace in Hong Kong. Turner argues that Hong Kong was able to maintain its modern Chinese design style until at least the 1960s, through the contributions of both mainland and Hong Kong designers. He attributes a rapid fading of Hong Kong modern design style after 1960 to the influx of American companies and to government assistance for American design specialists, rather than local designers. Local Chinese designers previously trained in Guangzhou and Shanghai had to gradually alter their style to fit into the new commercial environment dominated by American companies, and to meet the standard set by American-trained designers. 8 This transition was significant to the history of Hong Kong design, because it brought Western design theory and principles directly into contact with Chinese culture.