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.
Especially, some courtyard houses in the streets and alleys of the New Year pictures are produced, “always replace new peaches with old charms”, New Year pictures hanging in the hall and door gods posted outside the two courtyard doors form a beautiful New Year scenery with Jirui’s 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.
New Year’s paintingsCinemaThe earliest expression of New Year’s paintings was 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 paintings created by Yin Guoquan, the national inheritor of Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year’s paintings; Figure 2 is the door god paintings created by Yang Liuqing’s paintings; Figure 3 is the door god paintings created by Tai Liping, the national inheritor of Fengxiang woodblock New Year’s paintings; Figure 4 is the door god paintings created by Yang Fuyuan, the national inheritor of Yangjiabu woodblock New Year’s paintings. Zhuxian Town, Kaifeng
The precedent of woodblock New Year paintings
In ancient times, Zhuxian Town was ranked one of the “Four Ancient Towns in China”. What made its reputation a success 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, 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. Among the snowflakes flying all over the sky, href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Babaylan makes the morning of the ancient town less noisy, and the sights are 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 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, there is a “Chinese woodblock<a The Zhuxian Town Wooden New Year painting, known as the founder of 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 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. During the Northern Song Dynasty, Kaifeng 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 board, peach talisman, etc. “Displaying the “Along 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 of the volume is clearly identifiable.
Strive on a New Year’s Painting Street that is closely linked 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.
Komiks A second-floor shop has a high “profile” with black background and yellow characters, and the letter “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 and the longevity of the lotus, the lotus gives birth to a noble son and other representative themes.
The fifth generation successor of the “Tiancheng Old Store”, href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Babaylan The old man Yin Guoquan, who was in his seventies, was dressed simply. He sat in front of the stage with various colors of paints. 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 set of carved plates on the stage.
The iron rack next to it was hung with colorful greens. The New Year 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.
Every year, it begins to enter the peak period of New Year’s painting production in early December. The picture shows Yin Guoquan, who is fully focused on printing New Year’s paintings. In Yin Guoquan’s view, the truly authentic traditional skills 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 New Year’s paintings 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 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 Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year paintings is mostly based on familiar historical stories and myths and legends. The printing technique is mainly carved and water-colored overprinted, six versions per set, and some sets are as large 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 Cinema technique, and it is also the representative style of Zhuxian Town woodblock New Year paintings.
The vigorous and ancient lines, The simple and symmetrical pattern and the 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 woodcuts are simple, with thick and powerful engravings, and 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’s Children’s Teaching Children, Returning with a Full Load and Feng Xianglan
1998Cinema‘s real-life theme park Qingming Shanghe Park is located on the west bank of Longting Lake, Kaifeng City. It is based on the realistic painting “Along the River During the Qingming Shanghe Park” by Zhang Zeduan, a painter in the Northern Song Dynasty. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Babaylan template, a large historical and cultural park with the theme of Song culture, 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, vigorous and strong New Year’s New Year pictures of Zhuxian Town, which have strong local characteristics, the red, yellow, green and purple are colorful and rich, the characters are exaggerated, with a big head and a small body, and they look rustic and stupid.Cute
Suzhou Taohuawu
Carrying beautiful expectations
The ancient city of Suzhou is gentle and colorful and lasting for thousands of years, giving Taohuawu a woodblock New Year painting a brilliant character. During the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods of the Qing Dynasty, the most prosperous period of Taohuawu New Year paintings. Hundreds of painters and printing craftsmen were gathered here. New Year paintings were sold to Southeast Asia, and “Taohuawu” became synonymous with Suzhou woodblock New Year paintings.
Looking through some books recording Suzhou’s cultural tourism or walking in historical districts such as Shantang Street and Pingjiang Road, you can see the shops of “Taohuawu New Year Pictures”. There is also a Taohuawu Street in Suzhou, which is a stone road that is not wide. Houses with pink walls and black tiles are arranged on both sides. The hanging lanterns and Spring Festival couplets exude the joy of the New Year.
In the shop 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.
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 Rich”
According to the introductionShao, a Taohuawu woodblock New Year painting is not completed by a painter alone. It requires three major 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 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, 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 Painting first appeared in Wan of the Ming DynastyDuring the years, the Qing Dynasty achieved unprecedented prosperity during the Qianlong period. 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 straightforwardKomiks men. From the picture of fat dolls holding carp and lotus in hand to the three-star picture of lucky and longevity, we have created a unique style that is vivid, lively, joyful and full of emotions.
Yangliuqing Nian Painting inherited the tradition of Song and Yuan paintings and absorbed the forms of woodcuts, arts and crafts, and drama stages in the Ming Dynasty. The early craftsmanship is basically the same as Taohuawu New Year paintings, and both use the stereotyped overprint of the drawings; in the post-production, it takes a lot of time to be used for hand-painting.
Yangliuqing Nian Painting Five Sons Take Lotus was once selected as a stamp.
A New Year’s painting requires five main processes: drawing, carving and drawing, woodblock overprinting, hand-painting, and mounting, plus more than three monochrome overprinting. Because of the combination of printing and painting, it has a quiet, elegant and lively visual effect, which is beyond the reach of other folk New Year pictures.
The content of the picture is mainly about folk life, Babaylanfat dolls, maids and historical stories. The most classic one is “After Years of Life”, the doll in the painting has a baby face and a Buddha body, a playful posture, 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 Picture
Anti-colored and quaintOn the Ming and Qing Streets, Yuchengha, Yichengyong, Gu Liuxiang, Hua Yunzhai and others were dazzled. New Year painting workshops were next to each other. There were more than 60 New Year painting production workshops and sales stores in Yangliuqing Town. It is one of the best New Year painting production sites to restore. It seems that it was back to the scene of “drawing every family and painting every household” during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Tourists bought New Year paintings 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 museum can also experience the production process of woodblock New Year pictures.
When I walked out of the museum, what I impressed most was the gorgeous and vividness of Yangliu Youth New Year’s paintings, and I could not forget the local people’s persistence in “only posting New Year’s paintings is considered to be the New Year’s Day.”
Yangliu YouthKomiks painting takes a lot of effort to paint by hand. 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 facing 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, Babaylan is the oldest type of painting in the world, an encyclopedia of Chinese folk customs and a “living fossil” full of elements of Chinese civilization.
Yangcheng Evening News’ February 3, 2022 A7 Evening Party Supplement
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Seventeen representative national intangible cultural heritage itemsKomiks‘s wooden plate New Year painting list
1. Wood plate 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, and was the founder of Chinese wood plate New Year paintings.
2. Tianjin Yangliuqing woodblock New Year painting:
Cinema caters to 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.
Suzhou’s small bridges and flowing water can be painted, giving birth to the beautiful Taohuawu woodblock New Year paintings
4. Yangjiabu woodblock New Year paintings in Weifang, Shandong:
Not bound by nature, rich imagination, expressing the theme with generalization, romance, symbolism and meaning; the composition is complete and full and symmetrical; the shape is exaggerated and simple.
5. Sichuan Mianzhu woodblock New Year painting Cinema:
Write is rich in meaning and colorful.
6. Wooden New Year Pictures of Zhangzhou, FujianBabaylan:
The regional colors are rich and the themes of gods and Buddhas are rich and diverse.
7. Wooden New Year paintings in Foshan, Guangdong:
The image is delicate, rough and concise, strong and powerful, with a full composition, which expresses its auspiciousness and is highly distinctive.
8. Hunan Longhui Beach Head Cinema Wood-print New Year pictures:
Use unrestrained colors, eye-catching orange-red, close-to-color matching, 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.
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. Komiks Wooden New Year Pictures in Huaxian, 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.