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 Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw, the feelings of 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 called Komiks 1960 witch cloth drawThe woodblock New Year pictures with Chinese classic 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 works of art, bidding farewell to the old and welcome the new, including daily housewarming, newlyweds, etc., and decorating hanging hall shops.
Especially, some New Year’s pictures are in the courtyards in the streets and alleys where New Year’s pictures are produced, “always replace new peaches with old charms”, New Year’s pictures hanging in the hall and door gods posted outside the two courtyard doors, and Ji RuiThe couplets of the word “Fu” and the festive red lanterns form a beautiful New Year scenery. It demonstrates people’s yearning for a better life, and exudes the beauty of the people’s inseparable from the hearts of the people.
The earliest form of New Year’s painting is the door paintings posted on the door of the New Year, namely the “door god”, which uses colors and techniques in different regions. Figure 1 shows the door god New Year painting created by Yin Guoquan, the national inheritor of Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year painting; Figure 2 shows the door god New Year painting of Yang Liuqing; Figure 3 shows the door god New Year painting created by Tai Liping, the national inheritor of Fengxiang woodblock New Year painting; Figure 4 shows the door god New Year painting created by Yang Fuyuan, the national inheritor of Yangjiabu woodblock New Year painting.
Zhuxian Town, Kaifeng
Having a precedent for woodblock New Year painting
In ancient times, Zhuxian Town was ranked one of the “Four Major Ancient Towns in China”. What made its reputation famous was the woodblock New Year paintings that were popular here and passed down through the ages. Zhuxianzhen woodblock New Year paintings, as an outstanding representative of traditional Chinese art, have been included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
The day I went to Zhuxian Town, I was caught up with a rare heavy snowfall in Kaifeng. The flying snowflakes in the sky made the morning of the ancient town less noisy, and the sight of some shops and vendors cleaning the snow in front of the door. This ancient town that has been covered with wind and rain for thousands of years cannot imagine its glory.
The Yuewang Temple, which was built here during the Ming Dynasty, is located on the side of Yuemiao Street. It is a wooden New Year painting street in the ancient town. Now many old wooden New Year painting brands have been restored. On this old street, you can not only feel the charm of traditional wooden New Year paintings, but you can buy valuable works by your favorite New Year painting craftsmen for a few dozen yuan.
According to historical records, Zhuxianzhen woodblock New Year paintings, known as the “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 to buy two-thirds of the country’s New Year pictures.
Meng Yuanlao’s “Dream of Tokyo” records that “in recent years, the market has printed and sold doors, gods, peach boards, peach talismans, etc..” The “Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw” that depicts the social life of the Northern Song Dynasty. The guise of the “Wang Family Paper Horse” shop near the beginning of the volume is clearly visible.
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, and the four walls are full of New Year pictures. There are a wide range of New Year pictures with majestic door gods, iron-faced and curly bearded Zhong Kui’s head, the Five Sons Win the Prize, the Song Crane Rebirth, the Lotus Prosperous Son, etc..
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 150 sets of carved plates.More than 0 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 paintings in Zhuxian Town is mostly based on the familiar historical stories and 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 the woodblock New Year paintings in Zhuxianzhen.
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 in Zhuxian Town, “These woodblocks are simple and simpleCinema 1950 witch cloth draw, with thick and powerful engravings, without any 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, and can also participate in the interaction on site.
In the ancient and vigorous Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year pictures, 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 pictures 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 walking in historical districts such as Shantang Street and Pingjiang Road, 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. Babaylan 1990 cloth drawIn 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 picture of “Good” and “Family Love”, “Babaylan 1990 cloth draw”, “Magu’s birthday presentation picture, “Shuangmei Love Flower Picture, and “Gusu Xuanmiao Temple” are displayed. 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 table, printing table, brown brush, brown rub, fist knife, etc., and several inheritors in their early thirties were placed.Carved meticulously. Holding the knife in his right hand, Babaylan 1990 cloth draw skillfully on the woodblock, sweat oozing out from the tip of his nose but he didn’t care to wipe it off. His concentration looked like making 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, but requires three steps: painting, engraving and printing, and is created through 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 spreads it to the people to unite the world as Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw‘s wish.
《A harmonious atmosphere》 is one of the representative works of Taohuawu woodblock New Year paintings
Since history, Taohuawu woodblock New Year paintings have carried the unique folk customs of Cinema 1950 witch cloth draw with a unique folk custom, that is, from the insideIt has social effects, called woodblock New Year pictures, but is 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 bid farewell to the old and welcome the new; when you pay attention to the beginning of spring, you should post a “Mingzhong Spring Picture”; when you pay attention to the Mid-Autumn Festival, you should post a “Moon Palace Picture”… and stick it, and 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. 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 New Year’s Painting Five Sons and Lotus was once selected as stamps.
A New Year’s Painting requires five main processes: drawing, carving, woodblock overprinting, hand-painting, and mounting.Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw, plus more than three monochrome overprints. 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’s paintings.
The content of the picture is mainly folk life, fat dolls, maids and historical stories. The most classic one is “Lian” href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks 1960 witch cloth drawYear of 1960″, the doll in the painting has a baby face, a martial arts posture, a carp in his arms, and a lotus in his hand, 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 Paintings
On the antique Ming and Qing Streets, Yuchengha, Yichengyong, Gu Liuxiang, Huayunzhai and others are dazzling. New Year’s painting workshops one by one, and there are more than 60 New Year’s painting production workshops and sales stores in Yangliuqing Town, which 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’s painting museum in Yangliuqing Town is always in full swing every year. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Cinema 1950 witch cloth draw will hold a series of activities “Appreciating New Year’s Paintings and Observing Folk Customs” in the northern folk houses in the first floor of the museum, on the stove is a “Kitchen God” who represents the sayings of good things from heaven and the safety of the land; on the water tank is a big carp that represents more than a year and has a lively and vivid shape; in the main hall of Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw, there is a painting of the three-star middle hall of Fu Lu Shou to protect the whole family; on both sides of the roomIn the living room, the upper house where the mother-in-law lives is attached with the New Year pictures that are educational; the lower house where the daughter-in-law lives is attached with the New Year pictures that are full of children and blessings; the edge of the kang is attached with the kang with a strong local atmosphere. Visitors to the museum can also experience the production process of woodblock New Year pictures.
Cinema 1950 witch cloth draw Walk out of the museum Cinema 1950 witch cloth draw The most imprinted by me is the gorgeous and vividness of Yangliu Youth Paintings, which I can’t forget the local people’s persistence in “only posting New Year’s paintings is considered 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 the full expression of the Chinese culture and the dreams of Yanhuang for thousands of years.
With more than 2,000 years of history, woodblock New Year paintings created by Chinese local artists, it is the oldest type of painting in the world, an encyclopedia of Chinese folk customs and a “living fossil” full of Chinese language elements.
Yangcheng Evening News’ February 3, 2022 A7 Evening Party Supplement
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Seventeen woodblock New Year paintings selected for national intangible cultural heritage representative projects
1. Woodblock New Year paintings 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, 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 “Yuchenghao Painting”
3. The woodblock New Year painting of Taohuawu, Suzhou, Jiangsu:
Delicate and neat, rich in color.
Suzhou’s small bridges and flowing water can be painted, giving birth to the beautiful Taohuawu woodblock New Year paintings
4. Shandong Weifang Yangjiabu woodblock New Year paintings:
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 paintings:
The writing is thick and the colors are rich.
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 it contains auspiciousness. It has a strong local characteristics.
8. Wooden New Year Pictures in Longhui, Hunan:
The colors are unrestrained, orange-red, and close-to-color combinations, round lines, strong sense of movement, and decoration Komiks 1960 witch clothes draw strong 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 sense is strong, the characters are exaggerated, full of simple; the lines are round and smooth
12. Shanxi Linfen Pingyang Wooden New Year Pictures:
The shape is exaggerated, the image is vivid, and the decorative is strong.
13. Shaanxi Fengxiang Wooden New Year Pictures:
The style is rough and exaggerated, the colors are filled with large pieces, the characters are dynamic and powerful.
14. Zhang Qiu woodblock New Year paintings in Yanggu, Shandong Province:
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. Hubei Laohekou woodblock New Year painting:
Exquisite carvingCinema 1950 witch cloth draw thin and smooth, rough and powerful lines, and vivid and exaggerated characters.