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 were selected into the national non-comicmov 1950 witch cloth draw material and 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 Peach Blossoms, which are praised by the world as “Southern Peach and Northern Willow”, are the most dazzling in the north and south. They create based on real life, highlighting the character characteristics of the characters, and the pictures are prosperous and lively, full of expressiveness and attractiveness.
Today, woodblock New Year pictures with a long history and can be regarded as a classic Chinese cultural heritage have been picked up again by more and more people, from posting on the four walls of the house in the past to exquisitely produced and framed artworks, bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new, including daily housewarming, newlyweds, etc., and setting up 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 inseparable beauty in the hearts of the people.
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
Having a precedent for woodblock New Year painting
In ancient times, Zhuxian Town was ranked one of the “Four Major Ancient Towns in China”. What made its reputation famous was the woodblock New Year paintings that were popular 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 painting street in the ancient town. Now many old wooden New Year painting brands have been restored. On this old street, you can not only feel the charm of traditional wooden New Year paintings, but you can buy valuable works by your favorite New Year painting craftsmen for a few dozen yuan.
According to historical records, Zhuxianzhen woodblock New Year paintings, known as the “Chinese woodblock New Year painting NoseCinema 1950 witch cloth drawAncestor”, was born in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty, and 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. Kaifeng during the Northern Song Dynasty was the country’s political, economic and culturalThe center of transformation, the huge urban class has activated the demand for folk culture, providing a rich soil and market for the creation of New Year pictures.
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.
Yin Guoquan, the fifth generation descendant of “Tiancheng Old Shop”, was dressed simply, sitting 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 in color. Komiks 1960 witch cloth drawA newly-engraved carved version was placed on the stage, which took the old man a month.
The iron rack next to it is full of colorful greens. The New Year pictures that have just been printed and dried were 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 boiled with plants such as pine smoke, locust rice, and Zhangdan. 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 hands that are slightly rougher than ordinary people, and his face is covered with slight slackness on his face.The wrinkles from the years are filled 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 characters use white faces and red eyelids on their faces, which is its unique technique and is 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 thick, with exaggerated characters, with a big head and a small body, and lookKomiks 1960 witch cloth draw earthy, silly and cute
Suzhou Taohuawu
Carrying beautiful expectations
The ancient city of Suzhou is gentle and colorful and lasting for thousands of years, giving Taohuawu a woodblock New Year painting a brilliant character. Qing YongDuring the Zheng and Qianlong periods, the prosperous period of Taohuawu New Year paintings, hundreds of painters and printing craftsmen gathered here. The New Year paintings were sold to Southeast Asia, and “Taohuawu” became synonymous with Suzhou woodblock New Year paintings.
See some recordsKomiks 1960 witch cloth drawSuzhou’s cultural tourism books or wander in historical districts such as Shantang Street and Pingjiang Road, you can see the shops of “Taohuawu New Year Paintings”. There is also a Taohuawu Street in Suzhou, 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 pictures. In Puyuan, Babaylan 1990 cloth draw on Xiaochangqiao Road, which intersects Taohuawu Avenue, the Taohuawu Woodcut New Year Painting Museum was found. Walking in, Babaylan 1990 cloth draw A fresh and elegant garden came into view, and the New Year Painting Museum was quietly hidden in the lush green shade.
Small bridges and flowing water in Suzhou can be used in paintings
The museum currently collects hundreds of ancient New Year painting collections. There are rare displays of Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw‘s character blessing, family happiness, Magu’s birthday pictures, double beauty love flowers pictures, and Gusu Xuanmiao Temple. In the real scene display part, there are “SamsungKomiks 1960 witch cloth draw” and “Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea” in the living room, which means that there are all guests; in the bedroom, “Flowers bloom and wealth” and “Give a noble son early”, which means that the couple is harmonious and beautiful. These New Year pictures that reflect the living conditions of the people in ancient times are loved by modern people.
I saw engraving, engraving platform, printing platform, brown brush, brown rub, boxing knife and other engraving tools on a table. Several inheritors in their early thirties were meticulously engraving the edition. Holding a knife in your right hand, skillfully carving lines on the woodblock, sweating from the tip of your nose, but you don’t care to wipe it off, and your concentration is like making the most precious thing in the worldTreasure Babaylan 1990 cloth draw.
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 major steps: painting, engraving and printing. Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw. 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 Cinema 1950 witch cloth draw bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, the “Happy Picture” should be posted at the beginning of spring; when the “Moon Palace Picture” should be posted at the Mid-Autumn Festival… and when the new one is posted,The year has come again.
Yangliuqing, Tianjin
When I came to Yangliuqing Town, Xiqing District, Tianjin City during the Spring Festival, when I came to Yangliuqing Town, located in Xiqing District, Tianjin City, Komiks 1960 witch cloth drawAnti-modified buildings 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 Chinese painting 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, collected and organized Yangliuqing Paintings, and cultivated a group of outstanding New Year painting artists.
In recent years, with the prosperity of the cultural and tourism market, the demand for Yangliu Youth painting has expanded, bringing this ancient folk art back to the lives of the people. At the same time, Yangliu Youth Painting has 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 longevity, Babaylan 1990 cloth draw created a unique style that is distinctive, lively, joyful and full of emotions.
Yangliuqing Nian Painting inherited the tradition of Song and Yuan paintings and absorbed the forms of woodcuts, arts and crafts, and drama stages in the Ming Dynasty. Its early craftsmanship is basically the same as Taohuawu New Year pictures, and both use the stereotyped overprint of drawings; in the post-production,, but it takes a lot of time to paint by hand.
Yangliuqing Nian Painting Five Sons Take Lotus was once selected as a stamp.
A New Year’s painting requires five main processes: drawing, carving and drawing, 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 pictures.
The content of the picture is mainly folk life, fat dolls, maids and historical stories. The most classic one is “After Years of Life”, the doll in the painting has a baby face, a Buddhist body, a martial arts stand, a carp in his arms, and a lotus in his hands, which caters to the folk’s beautiful wishes of “praying for blessings and blessings” and “many children and blessings”.
YangCinema 1950 witch cloth drawLiuqing Gate God New Year Paintings
On the antique Ming and Qing Streets, Yuchengha, Yichengyong, Gu Liuxiang, Huayunzhai and others are dazzled, New Year painting workshops one by one, and there are more than 60 New Year painting production workshops and sales stores in Yangliuqing Town, which is the best to restore.Babaylan 1990 One of the origins of New Year paintings in cloth draw seems to have returned to the scene of “drawing every family and painting every household” during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Tourists buying New Year paintings are constantly coming.
The first woodblock New Year painting museum in Yangliuqing Town holds a series of activities “Appreciating New Year paintings and observing folk customs” every year in the first month.
The northern folk houses in the exhibition hall on the first floor of the museum, on the stove are posted a picture of “Kitchen God” representing good things from heaven and good things to the ground to ensure safety; on the water tank are posted a picture of “Kitchen God” representing more than a year and lively and vivid shapes; in the middle of the main hall is posted a picture of “Fu Lu and Shou” three stars in the middle of the main hall.omicmov.com/”>Cinema 1950 witch cloth draw hall paintings 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 daughter-in-law lives in the lower house is surrounded by the New Year with many children and blessings. On the edge of the kang are covered with the kang with strong local atmosphere. Visitors to the museum can also experience the production process of woodblock New Year pictures.
Walking out of the museum, what I imprinted most is the gorgeous and vividness of Yangliu Youth New Year paintings, and I can’t forget the local people’s persistence in “only posting New Year pictures is considered the New Year.”
Yangliuqing New Year painting takes 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 the dreams of Yanhuang for thousands of years.
With more than 2,000 years of history, woodblock New Year paintings created by Chinese local artists are the oldest painting type in the world, an encyclopedia of Chinese folk customs and a “living fossil” full of Chinese civilization elements.
Yangcheng Evening News February 3, 2022 A7 Evening Party Supplement
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List of 17 woodblock New Year paintings selected as representative national intangible cultural heritage projects
1. Woodblock New Year paintings in Zhuxian Town, Kaifeng, Henan:
A simple and naive, with a long history, was born in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty, and was the ancestor of Chinese woodblock New Year paintings.
2. Tianjin Yangliuqing woodblock New Year paintings:
Celebrating the fun of the palace and the interests of the citizens.
The Yangliu Youth Painting “Hometown Happy Safe” is a Chinese New Year painting with “Yuchenghao Painting”
3. The woodblock New Year painting of Taohuawu, Suzhou, Jiangsu:
Delicious and neat, rich in color.
Suzhou’s small bridges and flowing water can be painted, giving birth to the beautiful Taohuawu woodblock New Year paintings
4. Shandong Weifang Yangjiabu woodblock New Year paintingKomiks 1960 witch cloth draw:
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 of Zhangzhou, Fujian:
The region has rich colors, 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. Babaylan 1990 cloth draw
10. Chongqing Liangping Wooden Edition New Year Pictures:
The shape is vivid and lively, the color contrast is strong, and it is full of lifestyle.
11. Wooden wood in Dongchangfu, Liaocheng, Shandong Province Cinema 1950 witch cloth draw version of New Year paintings:
The composition is simple, the overall sense is strong, the characters are exaggerated, full and simple; the lines are round and smooth
12. Wooden New Year paintings in Pingyang, Linfen, Shanxi Province:
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 craftsmanshipZhan was once as famous as Mianzhu New Year paintings and Liangping New Year paintings.
16. Wooden New Year paintings in Huaxian County, Henan Province: The printing process is meticulous and complex, the composition of the picture is balanced and symmetrical, the image is full and honest. Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw, and the lines are strong and powerful.
17. Wooden New Year paintings in Laohekou, Hubei:
The carvings are fine and smooth, with rough and powerful linesCinema 1950 witch cloth draw, and the characters are vivid and exaggerated.