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 rooted in the heart, the feelings of praying for a better life are in harmony and hard 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.
Suzhou Taohuawu, which is praised by the world as “Southern and Peach and Northern Willows”, is the most dazzling painting of Tianjin Yangliu Youth Paintings, shining 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 works of art, 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 New Year’s paintings, “OnlyCinemaReplace the new peach with old charms”, the New Year pictures hanging in the hall and the door god posted outside the two courtyard doors form a beautiful New Year scenery with Jirui’s couplets and festive red lanterns. It highlights people’s yearning for a better life and exudes the beauty that the people cannot give up in their hearts.
The earliest form of New Year’s paintings is the door paintings posted on the door of the New Year, namely the “door god”, with different colors and techniques in different regions. Figure 1 is the door god New Year’s painting created by Yin Guoquan, the national inheritor of Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year’s paintings; Figure 2 is the door god New Year’s paintings of Yang Liuqing; Figure 3 is the door god New Year’s paintings created by Tai Liping, the national inheritor of Fengxiang woodblock New Year’s paintings; Figure 4 is the door god New Year’s paintings created by Yang Fuyuan, the national inheritor of Yangjiabu woodblock New Year’s paintings. Zhuxian Town, Kaifeng
Having a precedent for woodblock New Year paintings
In ancient times, Zhuxian Town was ranked one of the “Four 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. Zhuxian Town Woodblock New Year paintings, as an outstanding representative of traditional Chinese art, were included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
The day I went to Zhuxian Town, I caught a rare heavy snow in Kaifeng. The snowflakes flying all over the sky made the ancient town go up. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>BabaylanThere is less noisy and bustle in the afternoon. Some shops and vendors are cleaning the snow in front of the door. This ancient town that has been covered with thousands of years of wind and rain cannot imagine its glory.
The Yuewang Temple built here during the Ming Dynasty is located on the side of Yuemiao Street, which 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 spend a few dozen yuan to buy valuable works by your favorite New Year painting craftsmen.
According to historical records, Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year paintings, known as the “ancestor of Chinese woodblock New Year paintings”, 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 paintings flourished. Many merchants gathered here from the current Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Ningxia and other regions, and bought thirds of the countryTwo 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 center of politics, economy and culture in the country. The huge urban class activated the demand for folk culture and provided 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 highBabaylan holds up the “protect” with black background and yellow characters, and writes “Tiancheng Old Store”. 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.
The fifth generation successor of the “Tiancheng Old Store”, the old man Yin Guoquan, who is in his seventies, dressed simply and sat in front of the stage where Cinema materials were piled with various colors. With the help of his grandson, he repeatedly applied different pigments 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 shelf next to it is full of colorful green hangings, and the 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 pigments 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-corrected compared to current industrial pigments.”
“You can’t lose what the older generation has passed down. My two sons and grandsons are heirs.” Looking at his hands that are slightly rougher than ordinary people, and the wrinkles on his face that are gullies from time to time, a kind of shock filled his heart.
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 the woodblock New Year paintings of Zhuxian Town. “These woodcuts are simple, with thick and powerful engravings, and they are not stained with powder. The characters have no charm, the colors are strong and very local.”
The special stamp of “Zhuxian Town Wooden 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 real-life theme park Qingming Shanghe Park, which was 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.
The ancient and vigorous KomiksThe woodblock New Year pictures of Zhuxian Town with strong local characteristics, the red, yellow, green and purple are bright and thick, and the people arecmov.com/”>BabaylanThe image of the object is exaggerated, with a big head and a small body, looking rustic and cute
Suzhou Taohuawu
Carrying beautiful expectations
The ancient city of Suzhou is gentle and colorful, extending for thousands of years, giving Taohuawu woodblock New Year paintings a brilliant and elegant character. The Yongzheng and Qianlong periods of the Qing Dynasty were the most prosperous period of Taohuawu New Year paintings. There were hundreds of painters and printing craftsmen gathered here. The New Year paintings were sold to Southeast Asia. “Taohuawu” became synonymous with Suzhou woodblock New Year paintings.
Looking through some books recording Suzhou’s cultural tourism or walking in historical districts such as Shantang Street and Pingjiang Road, you can see ” Taohuawu New Year’s Pictures shop. 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 the New Year’s picture. In the Puyuan Garden of Xiaochangqiao Road, which intersects Taohuawu Street, I found the Taohuawu Woodcut New Year’s Picture Museum. Walking in, a fresh and elegant garden comes into view, and the New Year’s Picture Museum is quietly hidden in the lush green shade.
Small bridges and flowing water in Suzhou can be painted by people. The museum currently collects hundreds of ancient New Year pictures collections. The picture of the word “Fu” and “Family Love” of Magu, the picture of Magu’s birthday, the picture of Double Beauty Love Flowers, and the mysterious view of Gusu. 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 wealth” and “Give a Premium” are pasted, 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 modern. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Cinema people like it.
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 the 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. Their concentrating look was like making the most precious treasure in the world.
The ancient Taohuawu historical classic woodblock New Year painting “Flowers Bloom”
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 is created by a collective creation. Compared with New Year paintings in other regions, the characteristic of Taohuawu New Year paintings is that they rely entirely on plate printing, and there is no trace after printing., knowing the excellence of his merit.
A fist knife that is just clenched by the palm can evolve into four types: starting knife, placing knife, picking knife, and Komiks re-knitting knife. It emphasizes “precisely starting the knife, picking the knife, and lightly shoveling the bottom”. The lines should be carved naturally and vigorously, 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 you bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, you should post a “Happy Picture”; when you are in the beginning of spring, you should post a “Mingyuan Picture”; when you are in the Mid-Autumn Festival, you should post a “Moon Palace Picture”… As you paste, the new year is coming again.
Yangliuqing, Tianjin
Thoughly influenced by multiculturalism
During the Spring Festival, when I came to Yangliuqing Town, Xiqing District, Tianjin, ancient 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. The woodblock New Year paintings of Yangliuqing are therefore deeply influenced by the diverse Babaylan culture.
Tianjin Ancient Culture Street is a Scenery
According to historical records, Yangliuqing Painting first appeared in the Ming DynastyDuring the Wanli period of the Qing Dynasty, it achieved unprecedented prosperity during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. In 1958, the country established the Yangliuqing Painting Club for the rescue of New Year painting art, collected and organized Yangliuqing Painting 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 lucky longevity, a unique style of vivid, joyful and full of emotions has been created.
Yangliuqing Nian Painting inherited the tradition of Song and Yuan paintings, and absorbed the form of the Ming Dynasty woodcut printing, arts and crafts, and drama stage. The early craftsmanship is basically the same as Taohuawu New Year paintings, and both use the stereotyped overprint of the drawings; in the post-production, it takes 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 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 and a Buddha body, a playful posture, 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 “more children and blessings”.
Yangliuqing Door God New Year’s Painting
The antique Ming and Qing StreetCinema, Yuchenghao, 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. It is one of the best New Year’s paintings that have been restored. It seems that it has returned to the scene of “drawing every family and painting every household” during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Tourists buying New Year’s paintings are constantly coming.
The first woodblock New Year painting museum in Yangliuqing Town is held every year in the first month of the year. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks” series of activities.
The northern folk house in the exhibition hall on the first floor of the museum, on the stove is a picture of “Kitchen God” representing good things to the heaven and the earth to ensure safety; on the water tank is a picture of a big carp representing more than a year and lively shape; in the middle of the main hall is a picture of the Three Stars of Fu Lu Shou, blessing the whole family;
Two<a On the living room on the side of Komiks, the mother-in-law lives in the upper house, and the New Year pictures with educational significance are attached; the daughter-in-law lives in the lower house is attached to the New Year pictures with many children and blessings; the kang is attached to the edge of 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 pictures, 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 dream of Yanhuang for thousands of years.
With more than 2,000 years of history, woodblock New Year paintings created by Chinese local artists can be regarded asThe oldest painting species in the world, an encyclopedia of Chinese folk customs and a “living fossil” full of elements of Chinese civilization.
Yangcheng Evening News’ February 3, 2022 A7 Evening Party Supplement
Linked
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 Province:
Simple and naive, with a long history. It was born in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. It is the founder of Chinese woodblock New Year paintings.
2. Tianjin Yangliuqing woodblock New Year painting:
Celebrating the fun of the palace and the interests of the citizens.
The Yangliu Youth who contains the meaning of auspiciousness and happiness, “Yu Chenghao Painting” is painted by Cinema “Homes and Family Saluting”
3. Wood-print New Year paintings of Taohuawu, Suzhou, Jiangsu:
Delicious and neat, rich in color.
Small bridges and flowing water in Suzhou can be painted, giving birth to the beautiful Taohuawu woodblock New Year pictures
Cinema4. 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:
FreeworkBabaylan has a strong taste and a strong color.
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:
Cinema‘s style is rough and exaggerated. Babaylan, with large blocks of colors filled, the characters are dynamic 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 meticulous 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.