Woodcut New Year pictures (Jiajiang New Year pictures)

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

Applicant: Jiajiang County, Sichuan Province

Project No.: 841

Project No.: Ⅶ - 65

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional art

Region: Sichuan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Jiajiang County, Sichuan Province

Protection unit: Jiajiang Cultural Center

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

Applicant: Jiajiang County, Sichuan 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.

Jiajiang New Year picture is a unique folk art style in Jiajiang County, Sichuan Province. According to county records, Jiajiang New Year picture is as famous as Mianzhu New Year picture and Liangping New Year picture, and is one of the three major new year pictures in Sichuan Province. About the middle of Ming Dynasty, new year's painting workshops appeared in Jiajiang County. The famous Dong daxingrong workshop has a history of more than 200 years. In 1949, there were more than 20 new year's painting workshops in the suburbs of Jiajiang city. They were usually printed in leisure time and sold at the end of the year. The works were exported to Yunnan, Guizhou and other provinces, and the farthest to Southeast Asia, with an annual sales volume of more than 4 million copies. Jiajiang New Year pictures are rich in themes, mainly including statues of gods, door gods, landscapes, flowers and birds, drama stories, myths and legends, and many works reflecting folk life and criticizing current abuses. Among these works, "Huangdan door god" is the most popular. The image on the screen is vivid and exaggerated, which is in harmony with the overall auspicious and festive atmosphere. Jiajiang New Year pictures are printed by wood block printing. There are four sets of color plates and eight sets of color plates. The production process is different from Mianzhu New Year pictures and Liangping New Year pictures. First, black smoke is used to print ink lines, black hair, eyebrows, eyes and clothing accessories. Then yellow is printed. Then green, Zhangdan, blue and purple are overprinted. Finally, red is used to print clothing patterns. Jiajiang New Year pictures are exquisite in craftsmanship, distinctive in features, gorgeous in color, and never fade for a long time. They have high artistic appreciation value, which can provide a useful reference for the study of folk customs and folk crafts in Southwest China.