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 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. Cinema
Especially, some courtyard houses in the streets and alleys of New Year pictures, “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 good life in beauty and exudes a hundredIt is hard to give up the youth of Cinema in my heart.
The earliest form of New Year’s paintings is the door paintings posted on the door in the New Year, namely the “door god”, and the colors and techniques are very different 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 famous was the woodblock New Year paintings that were popular here and have been 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, 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 your favorite New Year 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, 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, buying thirds of the country.Two 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 exhibition “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.
The old man Yin Guoquan, the fifth generation descendant of the “Tiancheng Old Store”, dressed simply, sat in front of the stage where various colors of pigments were piled up, and with the assistance of his grandson, he repeatedly applied different pigments, and printed New Year pictures with the 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 greenery, and the New Year pictures that have just been printed and dried are very beautiful. Behind the counter was Cinema‘s wife, and the production desk was 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 made of plant essences such as pine smoke, locust rice, and Zhangdan.Although it is time-consuming and labor-intensive, it is color-correct compared with today’s 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 were slightly rougher than ordinary people, and the wrinkles on his face that were gullyed by the years, a kind of shock filled his heart.
The “Tiancheng Old Store” connected to the counter of the production stand is full of vicissitudes of time. The content of the woodblock New Year paintings in Zhuxian Town is mostly based on familiar historical stories and myths and legends. The printing technique is mainly made of woodblocked and water-colored overprints, six versions, and some are as many as nine versions. The colors of red, yellow, green and purple are bright and exaggerated. The characters have big heads and small bodies, and look rustic and cute. Most characters use white faces and red eyelids on their faces. This is its unique technique, and it is also href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Babaylan is a representative style of Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year paintings.
The vigorous and ancient lines, simple and symmetrical patterns, and a rough and thick atmosphere reflect the strong local art style of Zhuxian Town in the heart of the Central Plains. Mr. Lu Xun once commented on Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year paintings, “These woodblocks 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 Fengxianglan
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 the model. It is now a 5A scenic spot.
The wood-panel New Year pictures in Zhuxian Town are sold all year round. In the retro New Year picture shop, you can learn about the production of traditional wood-panel New Year pictures. Visitors can not only appreciate and purchase, but also participate in the interaction on site.
Custom and vibrantKomiks, Zhuxian Town Wooden New Year Pictures with Strong Local CharacteristicsIn the middle, the red, yellow, green and purple are bright and thick, the characters are 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, and has a thousand years of cultural heritage, giving Taohuawu woodblock New Year paintings a brilliant and outstanding 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 wandering in historical districts such as Shantang Street and Pingjiang Cinema, you can see the shops of “Taohuawu New Year Pictures”. There is also Taohuawu Street in Suzhou, which is a stone road that is not wide. The 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 came into view, and the New Year Painting Museum was quietly hidden in the lush green shade.
The small bridges and flowing water in Suzhou can be used in paintings. The museum currently collects hundreds of ancient New Year pictures 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. BabaylanThe 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, Komiks, “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 a table with engraving, engraving, printing platform, brown brush, brown rub, and punching knife placed on itWhen the printing tools were used, several inheritors in their early thirties were meticulously engraving the printing. 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 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 is created by a collective creation. 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 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, with several beautiful arch bridges across it.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. Its 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 spent on 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 “More than Years”》, The baby face and Buddha body in the painting, playful postures and martial arts, carp in the arms, and lotus in hand, 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
On the antique Ming and Qing Streets, Yuchengha, Yichengyong, Gu Liuxiang, Huayunzhai and others are dazzling. New Year’s painting workshops are one by one, and 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 endless all year round.
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.
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 Komiks at the Komiks Museum can also experience the production process of woodblock New Year pictures.
Walking out of the museum, what I imprinted most is the splendor and vividness of Yangliu Youth New Year’s paintings, and I can’t 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 time-consuming and labor-intensive,It can be seen that there is a dense taste of life, abundant emotions and aesthetic interests, and the full expression of the Chinese culture and the dreams of Yanhuang for thousands of years.
Babaylan Wood-print New Year paintings created by Chinese local artists with more than 2,000 years of history, are the oldest painting species in the world, encyclopedia of Chinese folk customs and “living fossils” full of elements of Chinese civilization.
Yangcheng Evening News’ February 3, 2022 A7 Evening Party Supplement
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List of Seventeen Woodblock New Year Pictures selected as representative national intangible cultural heritage projects
1. Woodblock New Year Pictures in Zhuxian Town, Kaifeng, Henan Province:
Simple and naive, with a long history, was born in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty, and was the founder of Chinese woodblock New Year Pictures.
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 “Hometown Happy Safe” is “Hometown Sadness”
3. The woodblock New Year painting of Taohuawu, Suzhou, Jiangsu:
Delicate and neat, Babaylan is rich in color.
Suzhou’s small bridges and flowing water can be painted, giving birth to the beautiful Taohuawu woodblock New Year pictures
Babaylan4. 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; href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Babaylan 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 Pictures in Foshan, Guangdong:
The image is delicate, rough and concise, strong and powerful, full composition, and contains auspiciousness, with strong local characteristics.
8. Wooden New Year Pictures in Longhui, Hunan:
The colors are unrestrained, orange-red, eye-catching, close-to-color combination, round lines , with a strong sense of movement and a strong decorative flavor.
9. Hebei Wuqiang Wooden New Year Pictures:
Rough and simple, full of rural atmosphere.
10. Chongqing Liangping Wooden New Year Pictures:
The shape is vivid and lively, the color contrast is strong, and the atmosphere is full of life.
11. Shandong Liaocheng Dongchangfu Wooden New Year Pictures:
The composition is simple, the overall feeling is strong, the characters are exaggerated, full of simple; the lines are round and flowing Chang
12. Wooden New Year paintings in Pingyang, Linfen, Shanxi: Exaggerated shape, vivid image, and strong decorativeness.
13. Fengxiang Wooden New Year paintings in Shaanxi:
The style is rough and exaggerated, with large blocks of colors, dynamic characters, and powerful.
14. Zhang Qiu Wooden New Year paintings in Yanggu, Shandong:
The composition is plump, evenly symmetrical and quaint.
15. Wooden New Year paintings in Jiajiang, Sichuan :
Bright colors and exquisite craftsmanship, and was as famous as Mianzhu New Year paintings and Liangping New Year paintings.
16. Wooden-print New Year paintings in Huaxian, Henan:
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-print New Year paintings in Laohekou, Hubei:
The carvings are fine and smooth, the lines are rough and powerful, and the characters are vivid and exaggerated.