Text and picture/Wang Yuanchang
The year is gone with the sound of firecrackers, and the spring breeze brings warmth to the Tu Su SuKomiks 1960 witch cloth draw. In the sun, thousands of households always replace the old charms with new peaches.
——《Cinema 1950 witch cloth drawYear Day”
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 17 woodblock New Year pictures of Tianjin Yangliuqing, Jiangsu Suzhou, Shandong Weifang, Sichuan Mianzhu, Henan Kaifeng, Shaanxi Fengxiang, etc., including 17 domestically produced woodblock New Year pictures, selected into the national 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, a wooden board with a long history and a classic Chinese cultural heritageNew Year pictures have been picked up by more and more people, and have changed 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 welcoming the new, including daily housewarming, newlyweds, etc., and hanging halls and 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’s painting is the door painting posted on the door in the New Year, namely the “door god”, with different 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 ancient town less noise and bustle, 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, flourished in the Song Dynasty, and reached 3 times during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.More than 00 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 Babaylan 1990 cloth draw merchants gathered here from the current Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Ningxia and other regions, and bought two-thirds of the national New Year paintings.
The prosperity of woodblock New Year paintings in Zhuxian Town is inseparable from the fertile land of Kaifeng. Kaifeng during the Northern Song Dynasty was the center of politics, economy and culture in the country. The huge urban class activated the demand for folk culture and provided a rich soil and market for the creation of New Year pictures.
Meng Yuanlao’s “Dream of Tokyo” records that “in recent years, the market has printed door gods, peach boards, peach talismans, etc..” The “Along the River During the Qingming Festival” depicting the social life of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the guise of the “Wang Family Paper Horse” shop near the beginning of the volume is clearly identifiable.
Strive on a New Year Painting Street close to the ancient canal, the old houses on both sides are mottled, and the rugged eaves show the vicissitudes of the years it has experienced, and the original flavor is full of nostalgia.
A second-floor pavement is high with the “protect” with black background and yellow characters, and the “Tiancheng Old Store” is written on it. There is no decoration in the old house with peeling paint. The four walls are full of New Year pictures, including the mighty door god, the iron-faced and curly bearded Zhong Kui’s head, the five sons win the championship, the pine crane prolongs life, the lotus gives birth to a noble son and other representative themes.
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 pictures in Zhuxian Town is mostly based on familiar historical stories, 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 Zhuxianzhen woodblock New Year pictures.
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 pictures in Zhuxian Town. “These woodblocks are simple, with thick and powerful engravings, and they are not stained with powder. The characters are not charming, the colors are strong and very local.”
The special stamp of “Zhuxian Town Woodblock 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
1998Babaylan 1990 clothes DrawThe real-life theme park Qingming Shanghe Park, which was opened to the public in 2019, 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, but also participate in the interaction on site.
The ancient, vigorous and strong Zhuxian Town with rich local characteristicsIn the 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 most prosperous period of Taohuawu New Year paintings. Hundreds of painters and printing craftsmen 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 shops on Taohuawu Street, it is not difficult to find the shadow of the New Year paintings. 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 guest room was posted with “three stars shining” and “eight immortals crossing the sea”, which meant that there were a lot of guests; in the bedroom, “flowers bloomed and wealthy” and “birth of children early”, which meant that the couple was harmonious and beautiful. These New Year pictures that reflected the living conditions of the people in ancient times were loved by modern people.
I saw a table with engravings, engraving tools such as engravings, engravings, printing platforms, brown brushes, brown rubs, fist knives, etc., and several inheritors in their early thirties were engravings 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 peachCinema 1950 witch cloth drawHuwu historical classic woodblock New Year painting “Flowers Bloom and Wealth”
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 drawing of the Taohuawu New Year paintings, 4 years to engrave the layout, and 2 years to print.
ChinaBabaylan 1990 cloth draw One of the main steps of traditional Chinese woodblock New Year paintings in early 2008Komiks 1960 witch clothes draw, a pictureKomiks 1960 witch clothes drawThe New Year painting “A Mutual Qi” created during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty was successfully replicated in Puyuan, which can be called the classic creation 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 Kitchen of Harmony is one of the representative works of Taohuawu woodblock New Year paintings.Komiks 1960 witch cloth drawKomiks 1960 witch cloth Draw New Year pictures express different beautiful expectations.
For example, when bidding farewell to the old and welcome the new, you should post a “happy picture” when bidding farewell to the old and welcome the new; when you should post a “Mingyuan Picture” when you should post a “Mingyuan Picture” when you should post a “Moon Palace Picture” during the Mid-Autumn Festival… As you post it, the new year is coming again.
Yangliuqing, Tianjin, deeply influenced by multiculturalism
During the Spring Festival, when you came to Yangliuqing Town, Xiqing District, Tianjin, ancient buildings with carved beams and painted buildings immediately came into your eyes. The frozen ancient canal quietly “hibernate” in the town, and several beautiful arch bridges span the ice surface.
Quziya River, South Canal, DaKomiks 1960 witch clothes drawYangliuqing, Tianjin surrounded by the Qing River, was an important terminal for north-south cargo circulation and overseas trade during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Yangliuqing woodblock New Year paintings were therefore deeply influenced by multiculturalism.
Tianjin Ancient Cultural Street is a Scenery
According to historical records, Yangliuqing 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, collecting and organizing Yangliuqing Painting, and cultivating 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 Painting has expanded, bringing this ancient folk art back to the lives of the people. At the same time, Yangliuqing 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 fortune and longevity, a unique style of distinctive lively, joyful and full of emotions was created.
Yangliuqing New Year 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. The early craftsmanship is basically the same as Taohuawu New Year paintings, and both use drawing stereotyped overprints; in the post-production, it takes a lot of time to be used for hand-painting.
Yangliuqing Nian Painting Five Sons and Lotus was once selected as a stamp.
A New Year’s painting requires five main processes: drawing, carving, woodblock overprinting, hand-painting, and mounting, plus more than three monochrome overprinting. Because of the combination of printing and painting, it is quiet, elegant and lively.Babaylan 1990 clothes The visual effect of draw is beyond the reach of other folk New Year pictures.
The content of the picture is mainly folk life, fat dolls, maids and historical stories. The most classic one is “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. It 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, Guliuxiang, 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. 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.
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, and a picture of “King of the Stove” representing the sayings of good things from heaven and the safety of the land.”My God”; 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 in the middle of the main hall to protect the whole family; there is a painting of the mother-in-law living in the upper house, and an educational New Year painting; there is a painting of the daughter-in-law living in the lower house with Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw New Year painting with many children and blessings; there is a painting of kang with strong local atmosphere on the edge of the kang. Visitors to the museum can also experience the production process of woodblock New Year paintings.
Walking out of the museum, the most imprinted thing is the gorgeous and vividness of the Yangliu Youth painting, which is unforgettable to the local people. witch cloth draw‘s persistence in “patting New Year’s paintings is considered to celebrate the New Year”.
Yangliuqing New Year painting takes a lot of effort to paint by hand. The picture shows the painter of “New Year Painting Zhang” is 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 the full expression of the New Year 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 are the oldest painting type in the world, an encyclopedia of Chinese folk customs and a “living fossil” full of Chinese civilization elements.
Yangcheng Evening News February 3, 2022Cinema 1950 witch cloth drawA7 Evening Party Supplement
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Seventeen woodblock New Year paintings selected as representative projects of national intangible cultural heritage
1. Woodblock New Year paintings in Zhuxian Town, Kaifeng, Henan Province:
Simple and naive, with a long history, born in the Tang Dynasty, prospered in the Song Dynasty, and the ancestor of Chinese woodblock New Year paintings .
2. Tianjin Yangliuqing woodblock New Year Pictures:
Celebrating the fun of the palace and the interests of the citizens.
Contains auspicious and happy meanings, Yangliu Youth Painting “Hometown Happy Safe”
3. Taohuawu, Suzhou, JiangsuCinema 1950 witch cloth draw Woodblock New Year painting:
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, with full composition, which contains auspiciousness and strong local characteristics.
8. Wooden New Year Pictures in Longhui, Hunan:
The colors are unrestrained, orange-red, and close-up colors are matched, with round lines, strong sense of movement, and strong decorative flavor.
9. Wooden New Year Pictures in Wuqiang, Hebei:
Rough and simple, full of rural areas
10. Chongqing Liangping Wooden Paper New Year Pictures:
The shape is vivid and lively, the color contrast is strong, and it is full of life.
11. Shandong Liaocheng Dongchangfu Wooden Paper New Year Pictures:
The composition is simple, the overall sense is strong, the characters are exaggerated, full and simple; the lines are round and smooth
12. Shanxi Linfen Pingyang Wooden Paper New Year Pictures:
The shape is exaggerated, the image is vivid, and the decorative is strong.
13. Shaanxi Fengxiang Wooden Paper New Year Pictures:
The style is rough and exaggerated, the colors are filled with large pieces, and the characters are dynamicCinema 1950 witch cloth draw, is powerful 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 paintings 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 honest. Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw, 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.