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 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 a hanging hall shop is arranged.
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 painting 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.
Kaifeng Zhuxian Town
In ancient times, Zhuxian Town was ranked one of the “Four Great Ancient Towns in China”, href=”https://comicmov.com/”>BabaylanWhat made its reputation famous is the woodblock New Year paintings that were popular here and passed down through the ages. As an outstanding representative of traditional Chinese art, Zhuxian Town Woodblock New Year paintings were included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
The day I went to Zhuxian Town, I caught a rare heavy snow in Kaifeng. The flying snowflakes made the morning of the ancient town less noisy, Wherever you go is some shops and vendors cleaning up 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 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 also spend a few dozen yuan to buy valuable works by the New Year painting craftsmen.
According to historical records, Zhuxian Town Wooden 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 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 guise of the “Wang Family Paper Horse” shop near the beginning of the volume is clearly identifiable.
Strive on a New Year’s 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 two-story paving is highBabaylan holds up the “protect” with yellow characters on black background and writes “Tiancheng Old Store”. The old house with peeling paint has no decoration, and the four walls are full of New Year pictures. The powerful door god, the iron-faced and curly bearded Zhong Kui’s head, the five sons win the championship, the pine and cranes, the lotus and the precious son, etc. are full of representative themes such as “Tiancheng Old Store” fifth generation descendant, the 70s, the old man Yin Guoquan, dressed simply, sat in front of the stage piled with various colors of paint, and with the help of his grandson, he repeatedly applied differently. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Babaylan‘s pigment, with color printed New Year’s pictures. It took the old man a month to place a newly-engraved set of carved plates on the stage.
The iron rack next to it was full of colorful greens, and the New Year’s pictures that had just been printed and dried were very beautiful. Behind the counter was Mr. Yin’s wife, the production table was connected to the counter, a typical traditional workshop.
The peak of New Year’s pictures production begins in early December every year. The picture shows Yin Komiks period. In Yin Babaylan, who is fully committed to printing New Year pictures, in Yin Babaylan
In Yin Guoquan, the traditional skills that are truly authentic are facing the danger of losing. Over the past few decades, he has created more than 300 sets of carved plates and more than 1,500 pieces. He said: “The pigments I printed in the New Year pictures are carefully processed and boiled with plants such as pine smoke, locust rice, and Zhangdan. Although it is time-consuming and labor-intensive, it is correct in color compared to 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 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 Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year paintings is mostly based on familiar historical stories and myths and legends. The printing techniques are mainly carved and water-colored overprints, six versions, and some are as many as nine versions. 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 paintings.
The vigorous and ancient lines, href=”https://comicmov.com/”>KomiksThe simple and symmetrical patterns and the 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 pictures, “These woodcuts are simple, with thick and powerful engravings, and they are not stained with powder. The characters have no charm, the colors are strong and very local. ”
The special stamp of “Zhuxian Town Wooden Print New Year Pictures” issued in 2008 is taken from the classic story, Sanniang teaches her children, return home with a full load, and Feng Xianglan
The Qingming Shanghe Park, a real-life theme park 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 the Northern Song Dynasty, and is based on the Song cultureBabaylan‘s large historical and cultural park with the theme of “Babaylan” is now a scenic spot of 5A.
The Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year pictures are sold all year round. You can learn about the traditional woodblock New Year pictures production in the retro New Year pictures store. Visitors can not only appreciate and purchase, but also participate in the interaction on site.
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
carrying beautiful expectations
The ancient city of Suzhou is gentle and colorful, and extending for thousands of years, giving Taohuawu a beautiful New Year pictures a brilliant character. The Yongzheng and Qianlong periods of the Qing Dynasty were the most prosperous period of Taohuawu New Year pictures. Hundreds of painters and printing craftsmen gathered here. The New Year pictures were sold to Southeast Asia, and “Taohuawu” became Suzhou woodblockSynonyms for New Year pictures.
Looking through some books that record Suzhou’s humanitiesCinema 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.
All small bridges and flowing water in Suzhou can be used in paintings
MuseumCinema Currently, it has collected 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 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 “Babaylan starting knife is accurate, picking knife is fierce, and shoveling the bottom is light. The lines should be carved naturally and vigorously, clean and neat. oneGenerally 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.
Cinema Tianjin Yangliuqing
When I came to Yangliuqing Town in Xiqing District, Tianjin, during the Spring Festival, when I came to Yangliuqing Town in Xiqing District, Tianjin, the antique 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 scene
According to historical records, Yangliuqing Paintings was the most popular in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, and reached the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty.m/”>Babaylan has flourished unprecedentedly. In 195BabaylanIn 8 years, the country 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 reform and opening up and the prosperity of the cultural and tourism market, the demand for Yangliuqing Paintings has expanded, bringing this ancient folk art back to the lives of the people. At the same time, Yangliuqing Paintings has also entered the international art sales and collection market.
If Taohuawu New Year’s paintings are like implicit and beautiful beauty, then Yangliuqing New Year’s paintings are lively and straightforward men. From the picture of fat dolls holding carp and lotus in the arms to the three-star pictures of lucky fortune and longevity, a distinctive and lively, joyful and full of emotions has been created. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks special style.
Yangliuqing Nian Paintings inherited the tradition of Song and Yuan paintings and absorbed the forms of woodcuts, arts and crafts, and drama stages in the Ming Dynasty. Their early craftsmanship was basically the same as Taohuawu New Year paintings, and they both used drawing stereotyped overprints; in the post-production, it took a lot of time to be used for hand-painting.
Yangliuqing New Year’s Painting Five Sons Take Lotus and Become Stamps.
A New Year’s Painting requires five main processes: drawing, carving, woodblock overprinting, hand-painting, and mounting, 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 “After Years of Years”, the doll in the painting has a baby face, a Buddhist body, a martial arts frame, a carp in her arms, and a lotus in her hands.
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. There are more than 60 New Year’s painting production workshops and sales stores in Yangliuqing Town. It is one of the best New Year’s paintings that have been restored. It seems that it has returned to the scene of “drawing every family and painting every household” during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Tourists buying New Year’s paintings are constantly coming.
Komiks, 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 of the museum.
The northern folk houses in the exhibition hall on the first floor of the museum, a “Kitchen Lord” representing the sayings of good things from heaven and the safety of the land; a water tank is posted on the water tank, a picture representing more than a year and the shape is lively. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Cinema vivid carp; in the middle of the main hall is a painting of the three-star middle hall for blessings and longevity, to protect the whole family; on both sides of the living room, the mother-in-law lives in the upper house, and the New Year pictures with educational significance; the lower house where the daughter-in-law lives is covered with New Year pictures with many children and blessings; on the side of the kang, Komiks, the kang painting with strong local atmosphere. Visitors to the museum can also experience the production process of woodblock New Year pictures.
Walking out of the museum, the one I imitated the most is Yangliuqing Nian PaintingsKomiks kang siege paintings with strong local flavor. Visitors to the museum can also experience the production process of woodblock New Year pictures.
Walking out of the museum, the one I imitated the most is Yangliu Qing Nian PaintingsCinema is gorgeous and vivid, and it is unforgettable to remember the local people’s persistence in “patting New Year’s pictures is considered to be the New Year”.
Yangliuqing New Year painting requires a lot of effort to use hand-painted painting. The picture shows the painter of “New Year Painting” focusing on the ending of the classic painting “Years of Years”
Now, the improvement and innovation of New Year paintings are new issues faced by older New Year painting craftsmen and young painters. Although it takes time and effort, it can be seen that it has a dense taste of life, abundant emotions and aesthetic interests, and full of New Year culture.Expression and Yanhuang’s dreams 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 “living fossil” full of elements of Chinese civilization.
Yangcheng Evening News’ February 3, 2022 A7 Evening Party Supplement
Link
List of 17 woodblock New Year paintings selected as representative national intangible cultural heritage projects
1. Woodblock New Year paintings in Zhuxian Town, Kaifeng, Henan: Komiks
Simple and naive, with a long history. Born in the Tang Dynasty and prospered 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 “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:
Cinema is not bound by nature, has rich imagination, and expresses 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, 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.
9Cinema, Hebei Wuqiang Wooden New Year Pictures:
Rough and simple, full of rural atmosphere.
10. Chongqing Liangping Wooden Edition New Year Pictures:
The shape is vivid and lively, the color contrast is strong, and it is full of life.
11. Wooden New Year paintings in Dongchangfu, Liaocheng, Shandong:
The composition is simple, the overall feeling is strong, the characters are exaggerated, full and simple; the lines are round and smooth
12. Wooden New Year paintings in Pingyang, Linfen, Shanxi:
The shape is exaggerated, the image is vivid, and the decorative is strong.
13. Shaanxi Fengxiang woodblock New Year paintings:
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, the lines are rough and powerful, and the characters are vivid and exaggerated.