traditional chinese characters are only still used primarily by those in taiwan, macau, hong kong and many overseas communities, comprising a small minority of the chinese-speaking population (~50 million people). however, they also remain in use in mainland china for artistic, scholarly and advertising purposes. simplified chinese has come to dominate the written form of chinese used nearly all over the world, due to the size and rising influence of mainland china. the united nations has also used simplified chinese since 1973. moving back to traditional characters on the mainland has the potential to be difficult, confusing, and time-consuming.