Text and picture/Wang Yuanchang
The year is gone with the sound of firecrackers, and the spring breeze brings warmth to the summer. In the sun, thousands of households always replace the old charms with new peaches.
——”New Year’s Day” by Wang Anshi of the Song Dynasty
In the Lunar New Year, different regions have different folk customs; different families have different expectations. But the feelings rooted in the heart and praying for a better life are interconnected and difficult to change. The artistic expression that carries the profound feelings of Yan and Huang, interprets the folk customs and beautifies people’s lives, is indispensable for colorful New Year pictures.
The origin of Chinese New Year paintings can be traced back to the patron sacred paintings such as exorcism and evil spirits in the Qin and Han Dynasties or earlier, including Tao Talismans, Zhong Kui statues, Tianxing posts, etc. By the Song Dynasty, with the rise and maturity of woodblock printing technology, New Year’s paintings gradually evolved from patron sacred paintings to colored and colored woodblocked New Year’s paintings, which was the first precedent for woodblock New Year’s paintings in the history of Chinese painting.
In recent years, there have been woodblock New Year pictures from 17 major domestic production areas including Tianjin Yangliuqing, Jiangsu Suzhou, Shandong Weifang, Sichuan Mianzhu, Henan Kaifeng, Shaanxi Fengxiang, and other 17 domestic intangible cultural heritage list.
In my more than ten years of searching for New Year pictures, I discovered that the birthplace of Chinese woodblock New Year pictures, the New Year pictures of “Zhuxian Town” in Kaifeng have a strong aroma of yin and yellow, full of emotions, and vivid folk customs.
The Suzhou Taohuawu and Tianjin Yangliu Youth Paintings, which are praised by the world as “Taohuawu in the south and willows in the north and south, are the most dazzling. They are created based on real life, highlighting the character characteristics of the characters, and the pictures are bustling and lively, full of expressiveness and attraction. Today, woodblock New Year pictures with a long history and can be called the classic cultural heritage of China have been picked up again by more and more people, and have changed from posting on the four walls of the house in the past to exquisitely produced and framed works of art, bidding farewell to the old and welcome the new, including daily housewarming, newlyweds, etc., and decorating hanging hall shops.
Especially, some courtyard houses in the streets and alleys of the New Year pictures are produced, “always replace new peaches with old charms”, the New Year pictures hanging in the hall and the door gods posted outside the two courtyard doors form a beautiful New Year scenery with Jirui’s Fu couplets and festive red lanterns. It demonstrates people’s yearning for a better life and exudes the hearts of the peopleThe beauty that is hard to give up.
The earliest form of New Year’s painting is the door paintings posted on the door of the New Year, namely the “door god”, which uses colors and techniques in different regions. Figure 1 shows the door god New Year painting created by Yin Guoquan, the national inheritor of Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year painting; Figure 2 shows the door god New Year painting of Yang Liuqing; Figure 3 shows the door god New Year painting created by Tai Liping, the national inheritor of Fengxiang woodblock New Year painting; Figure 4 shows the door god New Year painting created by Yang Fuyuan, the national inheritor of Yangjiabu woodblock New Year painting.
Zhuxian Town, Kaifeng, opened a precedent for woodblock New Year painting
In ancient times, Zhuxian Town was ranked one of the “Four Ancient Towns in China”. What made its reputation successful was the wood New Year painting that was spread here and passed down through the ages. Zhuxianzhen woodblock New Year paintings, as an outstanding representative of traditional Chinese art, have been included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
The day I went to Zhuxian Town, I was caught up with a rare heavy snowfall in Kaifeng. The flying snowflakes in the sky made the morning of the ancient town less noisy, and the sight of some shops and vendors cleaning the snow in front of the door. This ancient town that has been covered with wind and rain for thousands of years cannot imagine its glory.
The Yuewang Temple, which was built here during the Ming Dynasty, is located on the side of Yuemiao Street. It is a wooden New Year’s painting street in the ancient town. Now many old wooden New Year’s painting brands have been restored. On this old street, you can not only feel the charm of traditional wooden New Year’s paintings, but you can buy valuable works by your favorite New Year’s painting craftsmen for a few dozen yuan.
According to historical records, Zhuxianzhen woodblock New Year paintings, known as the “ancestor of Chinese woodblock New Year paintings”, was born in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. It reached more than 300 New Year painting workshops during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The opening of the canal made Zhuxian Town a commercial center in the Central Plains, and the sales of New Year pictures flourished. Many merchants gathered here from the current Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Ningxia and other regions to buy two-thirds of the country’s New Year pictures.
The prosperity of woodblock New Year paintings in Zhuxian Town is inseparable from the fertile land of Kaifeng. The opening of the Northern Song Dynasty was the center of politics, economy and culture in the country. The huge urban class activated the demand for folk culture and provided a rich soil for the creation of New Year pictures.and the market.
Meng Yuanlao’s “Dream of Tokyo” records that “in recent years, the market has printed door gods, peach boards, peach talismans, etc..” The “Along the River During the Qingming Festival” depicting the social life of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the guise of the “Wang Family Paper Horse” shop near the beginning of the volume is clearly identifiable.
Strive on a New Year Painting Street close to the ancient canal, the old houses on both sides are mottled, and the rugged eaves show the vicissitudes of the years it has experienced, and the original flavor is full of nostalgia.
A second-floor pavement is high with the “protect” with black background and yellow characters, and the “Tiancheng Old Store” is written on it. There is no decoration in the old house with peeling paint. The four walls are full of New Year pictures, including the mighty door god, the iron-faced and curly bearded Zhong Kui’s head, the five sons win the championship, the pine crane prolongs life, the lotus gives birth to a noble son and other representative themes. Komiks
The fifth generation successor of the “Tiancheng Old Shop” and an old man in his seventies dressed simply. He sat in front of the stage where various colors of paints were piled up. With the help of his grandson, he repeatedly applied different paints and printed New Year pictures with colors. It took the old man a month to place a newly-engraved carving version on the stage.
The iron rack next to it is full of colorful greens. KomiksThe New Year pictures that have just been printed and dried are very beautiful. Behind the counter is Mr. Yin’s wife, and the production desk is connected to the counter, a typical traditional workshop.
The peak period of New Year’s picture production begins in early December every year. The picture shows Yin Guoquan, who is fully focused on printing New Year pictures. In Yin Guoquan’s view, the truly authentic traditional skills are in danger of losing. Over the past few decades, he has inherited and created more than 300 sets of carved plates and more than 1,500 pieces. He said: “The paints I printed in New Year’s paintings are carefully processed and cooked with plants such as pine smoke, locust rice, and Komiks. Although it is time-consuming and labor-intensive, it is color correct compared to the current industrial pigments.” “The things passed down by the older generation cannot be lost. My two sons and grandsons are heirs.” Looking at his slightly rougher hands and face than ordinary people, he looks and looks like a face.The wrinkles from the years above filled the heart with shock.
The “Tiancheng Old Shop” connected to the counter of the production stand is full of vicissitudes of time. The content of the woodblock New Year pictures in Zhuxian Town is mostly based on familiar historical stories, myths and legends. The printing technique is mainly woodblocked water color overprinting, six-page set, and some sets are as many as nine-page. The colors of red, yellow, green and purple are bright and exaggerated. The character has a big head and a small body, looking rustic and cute. Most people use white faces and red eyelids on their faces, which are their unique techniques and are also the representative style of Zhuxianzhen woodblock New Year pictures.
The vigorous and ancient lines, simple and symmetrical patterns, and the rough and thick atmosphere reflect the strong local art style of Zhuxian Town, the hinterland of the Central Plains. Mr. Lu Xun once commented on Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year pictures, “These woodblocks are simple, with thick and powerful engravings, and are not stained with powder. The characters are not charming, with strong colors and very local flavor.”
The special stamp of “Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year pictures” issued in 2008 is taken from the classic story, Sanniang teaches her children, returning home with a full load, and Feng Xianglan
The Qingming Shanghe Park, a real-life theme park opened to the public in 1998, is located on the west bank of Longting Lake, Kaifeng City. It is a large historical and cultural park with the theme of Song culture as a model of the realistic painting “Along the River During the Qingming Festival” by Northern Song painter Zhang Zeduan, and is now a 5A scenic spot.
The Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year pictures are sold all year round. You can learn about the traditional woodblock New Year pictures production in the retro New Year pictures store. Visitors can not only appreciate and purchase, but also participate in the interaction on site.
In the ancient and vigorous Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year pictures, red, yellow, green and purple are colorful and colorful, with bright and strong colors, exaggerated characters, big head and small body, look rustic and cute.
Suzhou Taohuawu
Carrying beautiful expectations
The ancient city of Suzhou is gentle and colorful, and has a thousand years of cultural heritage, giving Taohuawu woodblock New Year pictures a brilliantCinemaThe character of the pride. The Yongzheng and Qianlong periods of the Qing Dynasty were the most prosperous New Year pictures of Taohuawu<a During the Babaylan period, hundreds of painters and printing craftsmen gathered here. New Year's paintings were sold to Southeast Asia, and "Taohuawu" became synonymous with woodblock New Year's paintings in Suzhou.
See some books recording Suzhou’s cultural tourism or wandering in historical districts such as Shantang Street and Pingjiang Road, and you can see the shops of “Taohuawu New Year’s paintings”. There is also Taohuawu Street in the state, which is a stone road that is not wide. Houses with pink walls and black tiles are arranged on both sides. The hanging lanterns and Spring Festival couplets exude the joy of the New Year.
In the shops on Taohuawu Street, it is not difficult to find the shadow of New Year’s paintings. In the Puyuan on Xiaochangqiao Road, which intersects Taohuawu Street, I found the Taohuawu Woodcut New Year’s Painting Museum. Walking in, a fresh and elegant garden comes into view, and the New Year’s Painting Museum is quietBabaylan is quietly hidden in the shiny green shade.
A family in Suzhou can be painted by people. The museum currently collects hundreds of ancient New Year pictures. The picture of “Fu” and “Family Love” and “Magu’s Birthday Pictures”, “Shuangmei Love Flower Pictures, and “Sui Miraculous Views” are displayed. In the real scene display part, the living room is covered with “Three Stars Highlights” and “Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea”, which means that there are all guests; in the bedroom, “Flowers Bloom and Rich” and “Give A Premium” are pasted, which means that the couple is harmonious and beautiful, which reflects the ancient The New Year pictures of the people’s living conditions were loved by modern people.
I saw a table with engraving, engraving platform, printing platform, brown brush, brown rub, fist knife and other engraving tools. Several inheritors in their early thirties were engraving meticulously. Holding a knife in their right hand, skillfully carving lines on the woodblock, sweat ejaculated from the tip of their nose, but they didn’t care to wipe it off, and their concentration looked like making the most precious treasure in the world. BabaylanBabaylan
The antique Taohuawu historical classic woodblock New Year painting “Flowers Bloom and Rich”
According to reports, a Taohuawu woodblock New Year painting is not completed by a painter alone. It requires three steps: painting, engraving and printing, and relying on a collective creation.It’s done. Compared with New Year pictures in other regions, the characteristic of Taohuawu New Year pictures is that they rely entirely on plate printing, and there is no stroke after printing, which is known for their excellence.
A fist knife that is just clenched by the palm can evolve into four methods: starting knife, placing knife, picking knife, and re-knife. It pays attention to “firmly launching the knife, picking the knife, and shoveling the bottom”. The lines should be natural and vigorous, clean and neat. Generally speaking, it takes 5 years to learn the paintings of Taohuawu New Year paintings, 4 years to engrave and 2 years to print.
One of the main steps of traditional Chinese woodblock New Year paintings. In early 2008, a New Year painting “A Mutual Qi” created during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty was successfully copied in Puyuan. This can be called the pioneering work of Taohuawu New Year paintings. “A Mutual” warns the people of the palace to live in harmony and spread to the people’s desire to unite and fulfill their wishes.
“A Bun of Harmony” is one of the representative works of Taohuawu woodblock New Year paintings
Since history, Taohuawu woodblock New Year paintings have carved a unique folk custom, that is, from content to social effects, it is called woodblock New Year paintings, but not limited to New Year postings and hangings. Instead, we should follow the seasons and express different beautiful expectations through woodblock New Year pictures when different festivals and solar terms come every year.
For example, when bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new, you should post a “Mingyuan Spring Ox Picture” when bidding farewell to the old and welcome the new; when the beginning of spring, you should post a “Moon Palace Picture” when you are in the autumn… and sticking it, the new year is coming again.
Yangliuqing, TianjinBabaylan
When I came to Yangliuqing Town in Xiqing District, Tianjin, during the Spring Festival, when I came to Yangliuqing Town, Xiqing District, Tianjin, an antique building with carved beams and painted buildings immediately came into my eyes. The frozen ancient canal quietly “hibernated” in the town, and several beautiful arch bridges spanned the ice.
Yangliuqing, Tianjin, surrounded by Ziya River, Nan Canal and Daqing River, was an important terminal for the circulation of goods from north to south and overseas trade during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Yangliuqing woodblock New Year pictures were therefore deeply influenced by multiculturalism.
Tianjin Ancient Cultural Street is a Scenery
According to historical records, Yangliuqing Paintings first appeared in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, and reached unprecedented prosperity during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. In 1958, the state established the Yangliuqing Painting Club to rescue the New Year painting art, collecting and organizing Yangliuqing Paintings, and cultivating a group of outstanding New Year painting artists.
In recent years, with the prosperity of the reform and opening up and the prosperity of the cultural and tourism market, the demand for Yangliuqing Paintings has expanded, which has brought this ancient folk art back to the lives of the people. At the same time, Yangliuqing Paintings have also entered the international art sales and collection market.
If Taohuawu New Year paintings are like implicit and beautiful beauty, then Yangliuqing New Year paintings are lively and straightforward men. From the picture of fat dolls holding carp and lotus in hand to the three-star picture of lucky and lucky fortune and longevity, a unique style of distinctive lively, joyful and full of emotions has been created.
Yangliuqing New Year paintings inherited the tradition of Song and Yuan paintings and absorbed the forms of woodcuts, arts and crafts, and drama stages in the Ming Dynasty. The early craftsmanship was basically the same as Taohuawu New Year paintings, and both used stereotyped overprints; in the post-production, it took a lot of time to be used for hand-painting.
Yangliuqing Nian Painting Five Sons Take Lotus was once selected as a stamp.
A New Year’s painting requires five main processes: drawing, carving, woodblock overprinting, hand-painting, and mounting, plus more than three monochrome overprinting. Because of the combination of printing and painting, it has a quiet, elegant and lively visual effect, which is beyond the reach of other folk New Year’s paintings.
The content of the picture is folkCinemaLife, fat dolls, maids and historical stories are the most classic ones. The doll in the painting is “After Years of Life”, the baby faces and Buddha body, plays and martial arts, carp in the arms, and lotus flowers in the hand, which caters to the folk’s beautiful wishes of “praying for blessings and blessings” and “more children and more blessings”.
KomiksYangliuqing Door God New Year’s Paintings
On the antique Ming and Qing Streets, Yuchengha, Yichengyong, Gu Liuxiang, Huayunzhai, etc. are dazzling. New Year’s painting workshops one by one. There are more than 60 New Year’s painting production workshops and sales stores in Yangliuqing Town, which is one of the best New Year’s paintings to be restored. It seems that it has returned to the scene of “every family is dyed and every household is painted” during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Tourists who buy New Year’s paintings are constantly changing.
The first woodblock New Year painting museum in Yangliuqing Town is held in the first month of every year.
The northern folk house in the exhibition hall on the first floor of the museum, a picture representing the word of heaven is posted on the stove. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>KomiksThe “Kaoshi” who is good and goes to the ground to ensure safety; a big carp that represents more than a year and has a lively and vivid shape; a painting of the three-star middle hall of blessings and longevity is placed in the middle of the main hall to protect the whole family;
On the living rooms on both sides, the mother-in-law lives in the upper house, and the New Year pictures with educational significance; the lower house where the daughter-in-law lives is covered with New Year pictures with many children and blessings; the kang is surrounded by a painting of kang with strong local flavor. Visitors to the museum can also experience the production process of woodblock New Year pictures.
Walking out of the museum, the one I imitated the deepest is YangliuqingCinemaThe beauty and vividness of the New Year paintings is unforgettable to remember the firmness of the local people who “post New Year paintings to celebrate the New Year”.
Yangliuqing New Year painting requires a lot of effort to paint by hand. The picture shows the painter of “New Year Painting Zhang” is focusing on the ending of the classic painting “Years of Years”
Now, the improvement and innovation of New Year paintings are new issues faced by older New Year painting craftsmen and young painters. Although it takes time and effort, it can be seen that it has a dense taste of life, abundant emotions and aesthetic interests, and the full expression of the New Year culture and Yanhuang Qian.A dream for a hundred years.
With more than two thousand years of history, woodblock New Year paintings created by Chinese local artists, it is the oldest type of painting in the world, an encyclopedia of Chinese folk customs and a “living fossil” full of elements of Chinese civilization.
《Yangcheng Evening NewsCinema》 February 3, 2022 A7 Evening Gala Supplement
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
Linked
2. Tianjin Yangliuqing woodblock New Year painting:
Celebrating the fun of the palace and the interests of the citizens.
Contains the meaning of auspiciousness and happiness. The Yangliu Youth Painting “Hallowing Youth” “Hallowing Youth Home” is “Hallowing Youth Home” with “Yuchenghao Paintings”. BabaylanHalloween Homes with Satmannia”
3. Wood-print New Year Pictures of Taohuawu, Suzhou, Jiangsu:
Delicious and neat, rich in color.
Babaylan
Small bridges and flowing water in Suzhou can be painted, giving birth to and nourishing the beautiful Taohuawu woodblock New Year pictures
4. Yangjiabu woodblock New Year pictures in Weifang, Shandong:
Not bound by nature, rich imagination, expressing the theme with generalization, romance, symbolism and meaning; the composition is complete, full and symmetrical; the shape is exaggerated, concise and simple.
5. Sichuan Mianzhu woodblock New Year pictures:
The writing is rich in meaning and colorful.
6. Wooden New Year Pictures in Zhangzhou, Fujian:
The regional colors are rich and the themes of gods and Buddhas are rich and diverse.
7. Wooden New Year paintings in Foshan, Guangdong:
The image is delicate, rough and concise, strong and powerful, with a full composition, which expresses its auspiciousness and is highly distinctive.
8. Wooden New Year pictures of Longhui Tantou, Hunan:
Use unrestrained colors, eye-catching orange and bright, matching colors, round lines, strong sense of movement, and strong decorative flavor.
9. Hebei Wuqiang Wooden New Year Pictures:
Rough and simple, full of rural atmosphere.
10. Chongqing Liangping Wooden-sheet New Year Pictures:
The shape is vivid and lively, the color contrast is strong, and it is full of lifestyle.
11. Wooden New Year paintings in Dongchangfu, Liaocheng, Shandong:
The composition is simple, the overall feeling is strong, the characters are exaggerated, full and simple; the lines are round and smooth
12. Wooden New Year paintings in Pingyang, Linfen, Shanxi:
The shape is exaggerated, the image is vivid, and the decorative is strong.
13. Shaanxi Fengxiang woodblock New Year paintings:
The style is rough and exaggerated, with large blocks of colors, dynamic characters, and powerful.
14. Zhang Qiu woodblock New Year paintings in Yanggu, Shandong:
The composition is plump, well-proportioned and simple.
15. Sichuan Jiajiang Wooden New Year Pictures:
Bright colors and exquisite craftsmanship, and was as famous as Mianzhu New Year Pictures and Liangping New Year Pictures.
16. Wooden New Year pictures in Huaxian County, Henan Province: The printing process is detailed and complex, the composition of the picture is balanced and symmetrical, the image is full and solid, and the lines are strong and powerful.
17. Wooden New Year pictures of Laohekou, Hubei:
The carvings are fine and smooth, the lines are rough and powerful, and the characters are vivid and exaggerated.