Woodcut New Year pictures (Huaxian woodcut New Year pictures)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: woodcut New Year pictures (Huaxian woodcut New Year pictures)

Applicant: Hua county, Henan Province

Project No.: 841

Project No.: Ⅶ - 65

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional art

Region: Henan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Hua county, Henan Province

Protection unit: Huaxian people's Cultural Center

Introduction to woodcut New Year pictures (Huaxian woodcut New Year pictures)

Applicant: Hua county, Henan Province

Woodcut New Year picture is a popular traditional art style for Chinese people to welcome the new year and receive blessings on the occasion of new year's festival. It conveys the life ideals of the general public, reflects many characteristics of social life and folk culture, and becomes an important part of Chinese folk art. Woodblock New Year pictures are printed by traditional woodblock watermarking method, which is closely related to woodblock printing. Woodcut New Year pictures have a long history. It is said that they appeared in the Han Dynasty. They were called "Paper paintings" in the Song Dynasty and "Huatie" in the Ming Dynasty. They were officially named "New Year pictures" in the Qing Dynasty. In the course of thousands of years of development, a number of relatively concentrated woodblock New Year pictures producing areas have gradually formed. Each producing area not only maintains the technical exchange relationship with other regions, but also maintains its own originality in theme and form. From the perspective of subject matter, woodcut New Year pictures can be divided into five categories: driving away evil spirits, praying for good fortune, drama and legend, festive decoration, and living customs. The main styles include Gongjian, Zhongtang, duiping, Lihua, Kangwei, etc. Woodcut New Year pictures have various techniques and bright colors, and have various styles due to regional differences. It has high aesthetic taste, distinctive artistic features, large information carrying capacity, and contains profound national psychology and traditional humanistic concepts.

Huaxian woodcut New Year picture is a kind of folk art style spread in Huaxian County, Henan Province. It originated in the period of emperor Wuzong of Ming Dynasty. It has a history of more than 500 years after 27 generations of inheritance. Huaxian woodcut New Year pictures have more than 100 forms of expression, such as genealogy, nave, couplet, etc. most of them take historical allusions, legends, auspicious patterns and other traditional content as the theme. It uses high-quality pear wood plate engraving, the printing process is meticulous and complex, the picture composition is balanced and symmetrical, the shape is exaggerated and concise, the image is full and solid, the line is strong and powerful, the color is bright and bright, showing the rough and bold character of the folk art in the Yellow River Basin. Compared with Zhuxian woodcut New Year pictures, Huaxian woodcut New Year pictures are characterized by the simplicity of original folk art, the spiritual belief and aesthetic taste of rural society, and the research value of folklore and sociology.