Woodblock New Year paintings are an art of deep local flavor that can be found everywhere in China.As many as 12 New Year painting items have been listed as having intangible cultural heritage of the state in China.The paintings in each locality have the quality of that particular region and embody the mode of thinking and aesthetic features of the local people.The New Year paintings of Taohuawu of Jiangsu Province reflect the softness and exquisiteness of the people of East China.The New Year paintings of Zhuxianzhen of Henan Province have the profundity and grandeur from the Central Plains.The New Year paintings of Mianzhu of Sichuan Province bear the features of the stage figures of Sichuan Opera.The New Year paintings of Yangliuqing of Tianjin Municipality are rich in elegance.The New Year paintings of Wuqiang of Hebei Province are full of warmth and vigor.New Year paintings are a folk art capable of clearly reflecting the different cultural features and spirits of different regions.From the New Year paintings of the three places we have chosen,it is possible to see these features.The New Year Paintings of Wuqiang,Hebei The New Year paintings of Wuqiang get their name from the name of the place that produces them:Wuqiang,Hebei Province.According to legend,they were first created during the reign of Emperor Yongle(1403–1424)of the Ming Dynasty.By the time of Emperors Kangxi and Jiaqing(1662–1820)of the Qing Dynasty,the New Year paintings of Wuqiang entered a booming period.At that time,there were nearly 1,000 factories and workshops with more than 10,000 employees producing various kinds of New Year paintings in the whole county.More than 60 wholesalers
of Wuqiang New Year paintings were found in different parts of the country.The highest annual yield reached more than 100 million paintings,
accounting for about one third of the total sales of New Year paintings of China then.Wuqiang has enjoyed the reputation as the“home of New Year paintings.”In1993,Wuqiang was named by the Ministry of Culture of China as“the home of woodblock New Year paintings.”
The process of Wu qiang New Year paintings is as follows:first,the design is engraved on a woodblock,then it is printed on paper and point dyed with various colors.Therefore,they are also called woodblock print New Year paintings through the use of water.The artists have inherited the woodblock printing skills invented in ancient China and adopted handicraft workmanship in a complete way,using black,red,green,yellow,purple and pink to chromatographically print with the use of water,closely combining woodblock engraving with painting and printing with the use of water and bearing the artistic style of primitive simplicity.
The New Year paintings of Wuqiang have a strong local flavor and characteristics.They have a wide scope of subjects and many varieties,including door paintings,calendar paintings,window paintings,lantern paintings,couplets and vertically hung paintings.Of the traditional New Year paintings,Lions Playing with an Embroidered Ball and Tigers have enjoyed good reputation over
generations.They are bold in shape and in the use of lines and colors.With the images of lions and tigers with their eyes and mouths wide open,heads held high and tails whipping about,they are bold but not ferocious,and majestic and lovely.
The New Year paintings of Wuqiang are mainly used during Spring Festival.On this occasion,every family sweeps and whitewashes the house and courtyard and then pastes the New Year paintings on the doors,inside the rooms,barn,well and horse stable,as well as a picture of the god of land in a shrine to express their wish for happiness and to avert calamities.This adds a festive atmosphere to the peasants’small courtyards.The paintings of Wuqiang are also pasted during the Dragon Boat Festival,mainly to avoid evil spirits.Early summer arrives in the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar when all kinds of poisonous insects begin to thrive,and the people aside from hanging the odorous herb and drinking medicated wine soaked with realgar to repel insects and inoculate themselves,paste New Year paintings at home to ward away evil and drive out demons.Of the New Year paintings,the ghost-eating tiger and the house-pacifying eagle are the most welcomed.It is said that by putting up a picture of tiger or eagle at home the family will be kept safe every year.Especially when the family has a little child less than one year old,a picture of tiger and eagle will prevent the child from being frightened.
In Wuqiang,there is a museum of New Year paintings,which has a collection of more than 3,800 New Year pictures printed with old woodblocks and more than 3,000 old New Year paintings.No visitor to the museum will be unmoved by the rich and colorful collections.
The Puffed New Year Paintings of Gaomi,Shandong
Puffed New Year paintings are an old type of painting among China’s folk New Year paintings,called by the painters’community as“a folk freehand brushwork.”They exist only in Gaomi County,Shandong Province.Puffed New Year paintings were first found in the reign of Emperor Chenghua(1465–1487).Legend has it that they were first invented by Mr Wang of Beixiang Township of Gaomi County,more than 500 years ago.
The process of making a puffed New Year painting is complicated.First,a carbonized willow twig is used to sketch the contours of the design and then a piece of paper is used to print from it.This way several pictures can be made.Such pictures will be painted by hand through powdering faces,applying colors,tracing the design in gold,sketching the contours and daubing the focal points with oil.