New Year picture
new year picture chinese 年画 pinyin níanhùa popular banhua china form colored woodblock print used decoration performance ritual chinese new year holiday th th century printer began use genre depict current event origin new year picture unknown although genre thought begun printing door god tang dynasty th century door god joined household protective auspicious deity including kitchen god god wealth image woman baby common depiction new year observance popular narrative depiction theater customarily chinese new year arrives every family replaces new year picture order say goodbye past welcome future chinese 辞旧迎新 lateth early th century woodblock printer began supplement traditional religious folkloric theme depiction current event modern theme including sinofrench war first sinojapanese war boxer rebellion railway theme event connection new year appropriateness new year picture nomenclature questionable nonetheless image created traditional printer typically categorized new year picture printed throughout china best known production site include yangliuqing tianjin yangjiabu shandong wuqiang hebei fengxiang shaanxi taohuawu suzhou mianzhu sichuan yangliuqing widely regarded prominent influential contributor new year picture industry although reliable record base early history new year picture wang shucun argues popularized ming dynasty development attributed ming government policy spread popular novel development woodblock printing technique development largescale production marketing new year picture workshop chinese 畫坊 pinyinhuà fāng given seasonal nature ephemeral quality new year picture authentic example dated th century nonetheless believed industry flourished lateming dynasty throughout qing weifang workshop built ming dynasty connected local production new year picture contains production room display room wangfang chinese 望房 accountant’s office guest room room workshop’s owner organization workshop indicates new year picture artisans’ business model whereby artisan produce market ware introduction mechanized printing changing aesthetic preference early th century posed serious challenge new year picture printer production declined workshop could found formerly prosperous printing center like yangliuqing yangjiabu antijapanese war resistance chinese communist party realized propaganda potential peasant art began promote new new year picture traditional industry however recover nearly extinguished following cultural revolution effort made recover new year picture heritage industry workshop found larger production center production method hand drawn picture woodblock printing watermark trapping halfdrawing halfpainting lithography offset printing usually chromatic woodblock new year picture production follows four step first artist draw rough sketch paper second rough sketch carved relief woodblock third separate block carved color added finally printer ink outline block press paper onto surface using stiff brush procedure repeated color block case color may added hand chromatic woodblock new year picture complete production center notably yangliuqing outline printed color added manually location mianzhu picture drawn colored entirely hand traditional technique survive present day although new year picture produced chromolithography color offset printing content new year picture diverse several main theme identified immortal auspicious symbol commonly depicted immortal include door god kitchen god god wealth auspicious symbol may include lion tiger deer crane phoenix auspicious bird lotus peony flower money tree pot wealth object express wish good fortune happiness secular life folk artist created idealized depiction rural domestic life showing productive agriculture family life festive custom humorous anecdote etc baby beauty image baby typically male alone company young mother common motif image beauty alone company baby narrative narrative adapted historical event folk story myth legend novel drama surimono madeline yue dong “the fortune folk tradition yangliuqing new year’s pictures” james cook joshua goldstein sigrid schmalzer ed visualizing modern china rowman littlefield james flath cult happiness nianhua art history rural north china university british columbia press