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 to the Qin and Han Dynasties or earlier patron sacred sacred paintings such as exorcism and evil spirits, 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.
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 expression of New Year 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 painting created by Yin Guoquan, the national inheritor of Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year painting; Figure 2 is the door god New Year painting of Yang Liuqing; Figure 3 is the door god New Year painting created by Tai Liping, the national inheritor of Fengxiang woodblock New Year painting; Figure 4 is 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 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, was 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 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 in wind and rain for thousands of years cannot imagine its glory.
Ming<a The Yuewang Temple, which was built here during the Cinema 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 Babaylanwooden 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, Zhuxian Town Wooden Printing 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. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it reached more than 300 New Year painting workshops. 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 to buy two-thirds of the country’s New Year paintings.
The prosperity of Zhuxian Town Wooden Printing New Year paintings 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 paintings.
Meng Yuanlao’s “Dream of Tokyo” records that “In recent years, the market has printed and sold door gods, peach boards, peach talismans, etc. “On the River During the Qingming Festival” which depicts the social life of the Northern Song Dynasty, the cover of the “Wang Family Paper Horse” shop near the beginning is clearCan be distinguished.
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. 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 more than 300 sets of carved plates and more than 1,500 pieces. He said: “The paints I printed in New Year’s paintings are carefully processed and cooked with plants such as pine smoke, locust rice, and Zhangdan. Although it is time-consuming and labor-intensive, 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 that are gullies by the years, a kind of shock is permeated.
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 and myths.om/”>Cinema Legend. The printing technique is mainly a carved water-colored overprint, six-page one set, and some sets are as large as nine-page. The red, yellow, green and purple colors 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 is also the representative style of Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year pictures.
The vigorous and ancient lines, simple and symmetrical patterns, and rough and thick atmosphere reflect the strong local art style of Zhuxian Town located in the heart 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 have no charm, and the colors are strong and very local. ”
Komiks
The special stamp of “Zhuxian Town Wooden Print New Year Pictures” issued in 2008 is taken from the classic story, Sanniang teaches children, return home with 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 realistic painting “Along the River During the Qingming Shanghe Park” by Zhang Zeduan, a painter in Northern Song Dynasty, and is mainly based on Song culture. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Cinema‘s large historical and cultural park is now a 5A scenic spot.
The park sells woodblock New Year pictures in Zhuxian Town 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 colors are bright and thick, with exaggerated characters, big head and small body, looking rustic and cute. Suzhou Taohuawu carries beautiful expectations. Suzhou ancient city is gentle and colorful, and has a long history of culture, giving Taohuawu woodblock New Year pictures a brilliant character. The Yongzheng and Qianlong periods of the Qing Dynasty were the most prosperous times of Peach Blossom New Year pictures.During the period, hundreds of painters and printing craftsmen gathered here, and New Year’s paintings were sold to Southeast Asia, and “Taohuawu” became synonymous with Suzhou woodblock New Year’s 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 is covered with “three stars shining” and “eight immortals crossing the sea”, which means the seats are full of guests; the bedroom is covered with “flowers bloom and wealth” and “becoming a noble son 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 antique Taohuawu historical classic woodblock New Year painting “Flowers bloom and prosperityCinema“
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 the PuKomiks Garden, which can be called the classic pioneering work of Taohuawu New Year paintings. “A Mutual Qi” warns the people of the palace to live in harmony and spread to the people to the desire of the world to unite and fulfill their wishes.Babaylan
《YituanCinemaHarmony” 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, called woodblock New Year paintings, but not limited to New Year postings and hangings. Instead, in accordance with the seasons, when different festivals and solar terms come every year, woodblock New Year paintings should be used to express different beautiful expectations.
For example, when bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new, “Happy Picture” should be posted; when the beginning of spring, the “Mingyuan Picture” should be posted; when the Mid-Autumn Festival, the “Moon Palace Picture” should be posted… and the new year is here again.
Yangliuqing, Tianjin
So deeply influenced by multiculturalism
During the Spring Festival, when we came to Yangliuqing Town, Xiqing District, Tianjin, antique buildings with carved beams and painted buildings immediately came into view. The frozen ancient canal quietly “hibernateKomiks” in the town, with several beautiful arch bridges spanning the ice. Yangliuqing, surrounded by Ziya River, Nan Canal and Daqing River, was an important wharf for north-south cargo circulation 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 Scenery
According to historical records, Yangliuqing Paintings first appeared in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, and reached unprecedented prosperity during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. In 1958, the state established the Yangliuqing Painting Club to rescue the New Year painting art, and painted Yangliuqing PaintingsCollect and organize, and cultivate a group of excellent 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 picture is mainly about 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 “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.
The northern folk houses in the first floor of the museum, on the stove are posted a “Kitchen God” who represents the saying of good things and the safety of the land; on the water tank is posted a big carp that represents more than a year and has a lively and vivid shape; in the middle of the main hall is posted a painting of the three-star middle hall for blessings and longevity 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; on the lower house where the daughter-in-law lives is posted a painting of the New Year with many children and blessings; on the edge of the kang is posted a painting of kang circumference 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 impressed most is the gorgeous and vividness of Yangliu Youth New Year’s paintings, which unforgettable to 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 “Years of Years”
Now, the improvement and innovation of New Year’s paintings are a new issue faced by the elderly New Year’s painting craftsmen and Babaylan light painters. Although it takes time and effort, it can be seen that it has a dense taste of life, rich emotional and aesthetic taste, and the full expression of the Chinese culture and the dreams of Yanhuang for thousands of 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 “revitalized stone” full of Chinese civilization elements.
《Yangcheng EveningBabaylan News” February 3, 2022 A7 Gala 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:
Quif=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks Naive, with a long history, was born in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty, and was the ancestor 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 Yangliuqing New Year painting “Hometown Happy Sadness” with “Yuchenghao Painting” is “Hometown Happy”
3. Jiangsu Suzhou Taohuawu woodblock New Year painting:
Delicious and neat, rich in color.
Small bridges and flowing water in Suzhou can be painted in the paintingsKomiks, which nurtures and nourishes the beautiful Taohuawu woodblock New Year pictures
4. Yangjiabu woodblock New Year pictures in Weifang, Shandong:
Not bound by nature, rich imagination, expressing the theme with generalization, romance, symbolism and meaning; the compositionBabaylan is complete, full and well-proportionedKomiks; Exaggerated, concise and simple.
5. Sichuan Mianzhu Wooden Paper New Year Pictures:
Traditional meaning and colorful.
6. Fujian Zhangzhou Wooden Paper New Year Pictures:
Real region colors are rich and gods and Buddhas are rich and diverse.
7. Guangdong Foshan Wooden Paper New Year Pictures:
The image is delicate, rough and concise, strong and powerful, full composition, and auspicious, with a strong local characteristics.
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. Babaylan
11. Wooden New Year Pictures of Dongchangfu, Liaocheng, Shandong:
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 Pictures of Pingyang, Linfen, Shanxi:
The shape is exaggerated, the image is vivid, and the decorative is strong.
13. Shaanxi Fengxiang woodblock New Year paintings:
The style is rough and exaggerated, with large blocks of colors, dynamic characters, and powerful.
14. Zhang Qiu woodblock New Year paintings in Yanggu, Shandong:
The composition is plump, well-proportioned and simple.
15. Sichuan Jiajiang Wooden New Year Pictures:
Bright colors and exquisite craftsmanship, and was as famous as Mianzhu New Year Pictures and Liangping New Year Pictures.
16. Wooden New Year pictures in Huaxian County, Henan Province: The printing process is 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, and the lines are rough and powerful, and the characters are vivid and exaggerated.