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 the patron saint Komiks door paintings to color and color-set woodblock printing 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 17 domestic woodblock New Year pictures of the main origins, including Tianjin Yangliuqing, Jiangsu Suzhou, Shandong Weifang, Sichuan Mianzhu, Henan Kaifeng, Shaanxi Fengxiang, etc., and have been selected into the national 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 create based on real life, highlighting the character characteristics of the characters, and the pictures are prosperous and lively, full of expressiveness and attractiveness.
KomiksToday, woodblock New Year pictures with a long history and can be regarded as a classic Chinese cultural heritage have been picked up 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 welcome the new, including daily housewarming, newlyweds, etc., and a hanging hall shop.
Especially, some New Year’s paintings are produced in the courtyards of the streets and alleys, “always replace new peaches with old charms”, New Year’s paintings hanging in the hall and door gods posted outside the two courtyard doors, and Ji Rui’s blessingsCouplets and festive red lanterns form a beautiful New Year scenery. It demonstrates people’s yearning for a better life and exudes the youth that is difficult for the people 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; Cinema 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 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. As an outstanding representative of traditional Chinese art, Zhuxianzhen woodblock New Year paintings were included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.
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, 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 buy valuable works by the Cinema 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, buying thirds of the country.Two New Year pictures.
The prosperity of the woodblock New Year paintings in Zhuxian Town is inseparable from the fertile land of Kaikaifeng. 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, providing 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. There are a wide range of New Year pictures on the mighty door god, the iron-faced and bearded Zhong Kui’s head, the Wuzi’s winning title, the longevity of the pine and cranes, and the lotus giving birth to a son.
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. 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 greenery, 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 sculptures.Ma version has more than 300 sets 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 Zhangdan. Although it takes time and effort, it is more colored than 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 the wrinkles on his face being gullyed by the years, 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 Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year pictures, “These woodblocks are simple, with thick and powerful engravings, and they are not stained with powder. The characters are not charming, the colors are strong and very local.”
The special stamp of “Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year pictures” issued in 2008 is taken from the classic story Cinema, “Sanniang teaches children,” The Qingming Shanghe Park is located on the west bank of Longting Lake, Kaifeng Xianglan. 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.
Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year pictures are sold all year round. You can learn about the production of traditional woodblock New Year pictures in the retro New Year pictures shop. Visitors can not only appreciate and purchase, but also participate on site.interactive.
In the ancient and vigorous Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year pictures, red, Komiks yellow, green and purple colors are bright and thick, the characters are exaggerated, with a big head and a small body, and they look rustic 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. During the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods of the Qing Dynasty, 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.
Looking through some books recording Suzhou’s cultural tourism or walking in historical districts such as Shantang Street and Pingjiang Road, you can see the shops of “Taohuawu New Year Pictures”. 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 on Xiaochangqiao Road, which intersects Taohuawu Avenue, the Taohuawu Woodcut New Year Painting Museum was found. Walking in, a fresh and elegant garden comes into view, and the New Year Painting Museum is 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. The pictures of the word “Fu” are displayed, the pictures of the family, the pictures of Magu’s birthday, the pictures of the double beauty and the pictures of the mysterious view of Gusu, and other treasures. In the real scene display part, the living room Cinema is pasted with “three stars shining” and “eight immortals crossing the sea”, which means the seats are full of guests; in the bedroom, “flowers bloom and wealth” and “birth of noble children early”, which means the harmony of couples. These New Year pictures that reflect the living conditions of the people in ancient times are loved by modern people.
I saw a table with engraving tools such as engraving, engraving platform, printing platform, brown brush, brown rub, fist knife, etc., and several inheritors in their early thirties were engraving the version meticulously. Holding the knife in his right hand, skillfully carving lines on the woodblock, sweat oozing out of the tip of his nose, but he didn’t care to wipe it off. His concentration looked like he made the most precious treasure in the world.
The ancient Taohuawu historical classic woodblock New Year painting “Flowers Blooming and Rich”
According to reports, a Taohuawu woodblock New Year painting is not completed by a painter alone. It requires three steps of 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 painting is that it relies entirely on the printing plate printing. There is no stroke after printing, and it is known for its engraving skills.
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 “precise knives, picking knife, and shoveling the bottom”. The lines should be engraved naturally and vigorously and neatly. Generally speaking, it takes 5 years to learn the drawing 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 2008, a New Year painting “A Mutual Qi” created during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty was successfully reproduced in Puyuan. This can be called the classic work of Taohuawu New Year paintings. “A Mutual Qi” warns the people of the palace to live in harmony and spread to the people’s desire to unite and fulfill their wishes.
《A 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, it conforms to the seasons and borrows when different festivals and solar terms come every year. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Cinema Wood-print New Year pictures express different beautiful expectations.
For example, when bidding farewell to the old and welcome the new, “Happy Picture” is posted; when the beginning of spring, you should post a “Mingyuan Picture” is posted; when the Mid-Autumn Festival, you should post a “Moon Palace Picture” is posted… As you paste, the new year is coming again.
Yangliuqing, Tianjin
When you come to Yangliuqing Town, Xiqing District, Tianjin, during the Spring Festival, when you come to Yangliuqing Town, Xiqing District, Tianjin, ancient buildings with carved beams and painted buildings are immediately caught in your eyes. The frozen ancient canal quietly “hibernates” in the town, with several beautiful arch bridges across the town.Cross the ice surface.
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 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 forms of woodcuts, arts and crafts, and drama stages in the Ming Dynasty. 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, a Buddhist body, a martial arts posture, a carp in his arms, and a lotus in his hands. It caters to the folk “praying for blessings and blessings” and “many children and many blessings”a good wish Cinema.
Yangliuqing Door God New Year Pictures
On the antique Ming and Qing Streets, Yuchengha, Yichengyong, Gu Liuxiang, Huayunzhai, etc. are dazzling. New Year painting workshops one by one. There are more than 60 New Year painting production workshops and sales stores in Yangliuqing Town, which is one of the best New Year painting production sites. 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 buy New Year paintings are constantly coming.
Babaylan The first woodblock New Year painting museum in Yangliuqing Town is held every year in the first month of the year.
In the northern house in the exhibition hall on the first floor of the museum, there is a “Kitchen God” on the stove that represents the sayings of good things from heaven and the safety of the land; there is a big carp that represents more than a year and has a lively and vivid shape; there is a painting of the three-star middle hall of blessings and longevity in the middle of the main hall to protect the whole family; there is a painting of the upper house where the mother-in-law lives is attached to the upper house where the mother-in-law lives is attached to the New Year pictures with educational significance; the lower house where the daughter-in-law lives is attached to the New Year pictures with many children and blessings; there is a painting of the kang with strong local flavor on the side of the kang. Visitors to the museum can also experience the production process of woodblock New Year pictures.
When I walked out of the museum, what I impressed most was the gorgeous and vividness of Yangliu Youth New Year’s paintings, and I could not forget the local people’s persistence in “only posting New Year’s paintings is considered to be the New Year’s Day.”
Yangliu Youth Painting takes a lot of effort to use hand-painting. The picture shows the painter of “New Year’s Painting” is focusing on the ending of the classic painting “After Years and More”
Now, the improvement and innovation of New Year’s paintings are a new issue faced by older New Year’s 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 a full cultural expression and Yan Huang 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 News’ February 3, 2022 A7 Evening Party Supplement
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Seventeen 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, Babaylan has 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 Painting “Hometown Happy Safe” is a “Wuchenghao Painting”
3. Wood-print New Year painting 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
4. Yangjiabu woodblock New Year pictures in Weifang, Shandong:
Not bound by nature, rich imagination, and express 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. Babaylan
8. Wooden New Year Pictures of Longhui Tantou, Hunan:
Use unrestrained colors, eye-catching orange-red, close-up colors, round lines, strong sense of movement, and strong decorative flavor.
9. Wooden New Year Pictures of Wuqiang, Hebei:
Rough and simple, full of rural atmosphere.
10. Wooden New Year Pictures of Liangping, Chongqing:
The shape is vivid and lively, the color contrast is strong, and full of life.
11. Wooden New Year Pictures of Dongchangfu, Liaocheng, Shandong:
Simple composition, strong overall sense, exaggerated characters, plump and simpleBabaylan solid; the lines are round and smooth
12. Pingyang woodblock in Linfen, Shanxi Province Babaylan New Year paintings:
exaggerated shape, vivid image, and strong decorativeness.
13. Fengxiang woodblock in Shaanxi Province New Year paintings:
The style is rough and exaggerated, with large blocks of colors, dynamic characters, and powerful.
14. Zhang Qiu woodblock in Shandong Province New Year paintings:
The composition is plump, well-proportioned and simple.
15. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>CinemaJiajiang Wooden Printing New Year Pictures in Sichuan:
Bright colors and exquisite craftsmanship, and were as famous as Mianzhu New Year Pictures and Liangping New Year Pictures.
16. Wooden Printing New Year Pictures in Huaxian, Henan:
The printing process is detailed and complicated, the composition of the picture is balanced and symmetrical, the image is full and solid, and the lines are strong and powerful.
17. Wooden Printing New Year Pictures in Laohekou, Hubei:
The carvings are fine and smooth, the lines are rough and powerful, and the characters are vivid and exaggerated.