Zhangzhou Woodblock New Year Picture

Zhangzhou Woodblock New Year Picture

Zhangzhou woodcut New Year pictures belong to folk art, which began in the Song Dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The contents of the New Year pictures are mainly two categories: celebrating the new year and avoiding evil spirits. The engraving of Zhangzhou woodcut New Year's pictures can be divided into two types: positive engraving and negative engraving. The engraving of the background color (red) of the character of "Youshen" is negative engraving, which is unique in China. The edges of all lines and color blocks on the engraving are inclined outwards, which facilitates the adjustment of moisture during printing. Overprint is used in printing, first color plate and then black line plate.

Zhangzhou woodcut New Year pictures are mainly distributed in Xiangcheng District, South Fujian and Lingnan of Zhangzhou, and are exported to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia .

On May 20, 2006, Zhangzhou woodcut New Year pictures were selected into the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list of the People's Republic of China.

History of Development

Zhangzhou woodcut New Year pictures began in Song Dynasty. At that time, the woodcut industry in Fujian began to flourish, which prompted the development of Folk Woodcut printing technology. Zhangzhou woodcut New Year pictures also developed with the development of Fujian woodcut.

In the Ming Dynasty, Zhangzhou woodcut New Year pictures began to flourish. At that time, there were many bookstores in Zhangzhou, such as Quwenzhai and Duo Wenzhai, which also operated New Year pictures. Ye Dehui, a modern scholar, called "the prosperity of Song Dynasty's engraving books, the first to be promoted in Minzhong" in Shulin Qinghua. In the Qing Dynasty, 12 bookstores, such as Hu Qingtang, Junji and Jinyuan Tang, participated in the production and management of New Year's paintings. Thus, the art of Zhangzhou woodcut New Year painting is becoming more and more mature. The theme and composition of New Year's pictures have gradually stabilized, and painting skills, engraving and printing techniques have been continuously improved. During this period, the rise of Zhangzhou's foreign trade port "Moon Harbor" and the prosperous maritime trade also brought favorable conditions for the export of woodcut New Year pictures, and promoted the export of woodcut New Year pictures to overseas countries. The products were exported to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and Japan . The largest woodcut New Year painting workshop in the area is headed by Yan Jinhua's old shop of Yan's family. From the early "Jinhua Hall" painting and calligraphy workshop, through the efforts of generations of successors, to the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, basically formed a dominant pattern of Yan family. Before and after the Anti-Japanese War, Yan Jinhua's old shop became a master of Zhangzhou woodcut New Year pictures. Many of the outstanding Zhangzhou woodcut New Year pictures handed down are basically the precious editions of Yan Jinhua's old shop.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a large number of New Year's Painting Shops were gathered around Lianzi Street, Hong Kong Road and Taiwan Road in Zhangzhou, hence the name of Lianzi Street in Zhangzhou. Then, due to the introduction of advanced western printing, in the rapid social turbulence, the New Year painting industry began to decline. During the Anti-Japanese War, China's economy declined, and lost trade ties with Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Business was relatively depressed. Many art printing workshops in Zhangzhou went bankrupt. Until the 1950s, there were 89 families. Since then, the custom of sticking woodcut New Year pictures on festivals in rural areas of Zhangzhou has gradually disappeared, the market of woodcut New Year pictures has weakened, and most of the New Year pictures workshops have been closed down, and the situation is much worse than before .

During the Cultural Revolution, woodcut New Year pictures in southern Fujian were greatly impacted, and the carvings of Quanzhou New Year pictures were torched, almost none of them survived. In Zhangzhou, the Yan family kept more than 300 carvings of New Year's paintings in the countryside.

In 1957, Yan Jiajing, a descendant of Yan Jiazhuan, printed a set of Zhangzhou ancient wood engraving New Year pictures, which were designated by the state as folk art works to be exhibited in Eastern European countries of the Soviet Union; in 1986, Yan Wenhua printed another set of ancient wood engraving New Year pictures to participate in the Fujian folk art exhibition in Jinjing; in 1988, it was highly appreciated by the experts participating in the National Conference on Folk Art Work. In 1990, it was included in the Dictionary of Chinese Folk Art. In 2001, Lin Yupei, curator of Zhangzhou Museum of Art, won the 11th "Stars Award" (Mass Cultural and Scientific Research Achievement Award) Gold Prize for his article "Preliminary Exploration of Zhangzhou Folk Woodblock New Year Pictures".

In May 2006, Zhangzhou woodcut New Year pictures were listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list . In the same year, Yan Wenhua and Yan Shiguo's father and son, the fifth and sixth generations of Zhangzhou Yan's woodcut New Year pictures, co-founded Zhangzhou Yan Jinhua Wood Engraving New Year Gallery, and continued to print and sell woodcut New Year pictures with their old editions and traditional techniques.

On January 18, 2009, "Zhangzhou Woodblock New Year Picture" special stamp first issue and China 2009 World Postal Exhibition 60 cities cruise to Zhangzhou. The stamp of Zhangzhou Wood Engraving New Year Picture directly named by region is the second time that Zhangzhou boarded the "National Business Card" after Narcissus in 1990.

Category Form

There are many kinds of Zhangzhou woodcut New Year's pictures. In form, there are different kinds of door paintings, door top paintings, Zhongtang paintings, single paintings and comic strips for appreciation.

Door paintings such as "Heavenly Official Blessing", "Jiaguan Jinlu", "Hanhua Jinju", "Shentayulei", "Qinqiong Jingde", "Tianding Jinlu" and so on; Door top paintings such as "Eight Diagrams", "Lion Street Sword", "Five Tigers Embrace Money"; Zhongtang paintings such as "Fu Lu Shou Xichun", "He He He He He He He He Xian", "Sanxian Gu", "Zhaocai Wang Shizong" and "Spring Zhaocai Zizi". "Lian Zhaoguizi" and "Hundred Sons and Thousands of grandchildren" and so on; single picture and comic strip of bedroom decoration, such as "Guo Ziyi Shou" and "Meng Jiangnu's Front and Back Edition".

The door paintings are different from the rude and young gods and the literary and military gods. "Coarse spirit" refers to door paintings printed on the basis of scarlet or vermilion paper; "Youshen" is printed directly on natural color paper, the light red background of its characters, is also made by the artists of woodcut New Year's paintings, which need not be pre-dyed in the paper room. Whether it is a careless God or a young god, as long as the characters on the doors do not ride horses or insert flags, they are also called "Wen Shen". On the contrary, they are "Wu Shen". For example, Qinqiong Jingde, Tianxian on horseback, Lianzhao Caizi, and so on, their literary and military categories are different. In addition, all kinds of New Year pictures can be divided into different sizes, such as big cut, two cut, three cut, four cut, six cut and so on.

Content Subject

Phyllostachys

Zhangzhou woodcut New Year paintings have a wide range of themes, diverse contents and large size differences. Generally, the door god is printed on two pieces of paper. The largest single size is 53 *28 cm. The smaller door god is printed on one piece of paper. The size is only 18 *20 cm. All kinds of door god New Year paintings have several specifications from large to small to meet the needs of all levels and buildings.

(1) General type

There are two main categories: Shen Cha Yu Lei and Qin Shubao's Chi Gong. "Shen Ta Yu Lei" is dressed in military uniform, wearing armor, wearing a tiger skin crown, holding a golden melon hammer (symbolizing melon blossom), whipping weapons, or riding horses, or standing, eyes with Phoenix ring eyes and other styles and specifications. The modelling of "Qin Shubao Wei Chi Gong" is influenced by the modelling of military generals in folk operas. They are all wearing armour, with flags on their backs, and with two bracelets and a single whip in their hands. Qin Shubao has five long beards with Phoenix eyes, and his lieutenant has a square face and a long beard. These two kinds of door gods have been widely spread among the people and have become the main roles of door gods since Ming and Qing Dynasties. The purpose is to guard doors, expel demons and pray for luck and auspiciousness. This kind of door god mostly sticks to the door of the house.

His representative works are: Shen Ta Yu Lei (43 *23cm Ming Dynasty engraving), Shen Ta Yu Lei (Qing Dynasty engraving), Qin Shu Bao Wei Chi Gong (42 *23.5cm Ming Dynasty engraving), Qin Shu Bao Wei Chi Gong (32 *20cm Ming Dynasty engraving).

(2) Blessing type

There are several varieties, such as "Jiaguan Jinlu", "Hanhua Jinjue", and smaller "plum blossom luck", "plum blossom longevity", "Quexingchun", "five tigers Title money". The New Year's Picture, which regards an official as the door god, contains not only the meaning of "adding officials to the ranks of the people", but also the auspicious symbol of "blessings from the officials of heaven". The figures in the painting are dressed up for the officials, wearing official hats, pythons, jade belts at waist, boots at foot and five long beards. A hand-held bamboo board, a hand tray, there are peony, peony, crown, deer and other things on the tray, implying wealth and wealth, official prosperity, lucky stars, family prosperity, the title of the Golden List, reflecting the psychology of seeking wealth and nobility. This kind of door god mostly sticks in the main hall gate. The smaller "plum blossom fu" and "five tigers into treasure" are mainly posted on "Menge", rice vats, kitchen doors, cabinets and other places, with the local characteristics of Zhangzhou.

His representative works include: Heaven's Peace and Peace Blessing, People Welcoming Riches and Honours in Spring (31 *19 cm Qing Dynasty Sculpture), Hanhua Jinjue (50 *28 cm Qing Dynasty Sculpture), Hanhua Jinjue (Qing Dynasty Sculpture), Jiaguan Jinlu (22 20 cm Qing Sculpture), Jianqian Jinbao (18 20 cm Qing Sculpture), Meihua Fu (22 20 20 Cm * Qing Dynasty engraving), "Queen Star Doubt" (Qing Dynasty engraving).

(3) Praying for money and delivering children

1. Wealth-praying

Zhangzhou woodcut New Year's pictures show the God of wealth, catering to the people's thoughts of seeking money. Because the God of wealth is highly respected and powerful, people can only set up gods and worship them with incense, so the gods of doors appear as partial gods of wealth, mainly "god of wealth dedication", "daily wealth", "spring wealth recruiters", "king of wealth recruiting" and so on. New Year paintings are mostly designed with gold, money, wishful and other treasures. In Zhangzhou, the folk belief that the child is the God of wealth is widespread, and this kind of Fairy Child (Hehe Erxian) as the main image of the auspicious door god is loved by the folk in southern Fujian. "Recruitment King" expresses the traditional theme of "returning to the treasure". It used to be called "returning to the treasure" in the Western Regions. They are good at business and make great fortune, and returning each time has implications. In the picture, the God of wealth rides a lion, holds banana leaves, copper money, gathers a treasure basin before death or "Panzi" beside them. They all have gold, money, coral, Ruyi and other kinds of treasures. The display of treasure implies that we can make a fortune in front of us, and it also adds to the meaning of celebration. This kind of door god mostly sticks to the chamber door.

2. Feeder type

This kind of door god in Zhangzhou mainly has "the fairy delivers the son", "the year adds the Ding", "the hundred sons and thousands of grandchildren", "the lotus invites the noble son" and so on. Its "Tianxian Giving Sons" depicts Zhangxian, who protects the children of the world and has the function of "Giving Sons", dressed in gorgeous clothes, with five long beards, riding or standing, holding a golden bow and silver bullet ("bullet" is a homonym of "birth"), holding a baby with Ganoderma lucidum in one hand (Ganoderma lucidum implies longevity). "Tianding every year" is full of Fujian characteristics. There are two children playing with lanterns in their paintings. There is a custom in southern Fujian to send lanterns to married girls in the New Year. Wish their daughters have noble children early. This kind of department, together with the combination of "the God of wealth offering Rui" and "making money day by day", is affixed to the door of the newly married couple or the inner door.

His representative works include: The Goddess of Wealth Offers Rui Tian Xian to Send Zi (41.5 *23cm Ming Dynasty Sculpture), The Goddess of Wealth Offers Rui Tian Xian to Send Zi (32 *20cm Ming Dynasty Sculpture), The Third of His Representative Works, The King of Recruiting Wealth (49 *40cm Qing Dynasty Sculpture), The Fourth of His Representative Works, The Spring Recruitment of Wealth ( The Ming Dynasty engraving, Lian Zhaoguizi (19 *24cm * Qing Dynasty engraving), Hundred descendants (17 *22cm * Qing Dynasty engraving).

(4) Eliminating Evil Patterns

The doors of houses in southern Fujian, western Fujian and Taiwan often display paintings of door gods such as "Eight Diagrams", "Lion Title Sword", "Tianshi Town House", "Jiang Shang Here", with the aim of eliminating evil spirits and curbing evil spirits. "Eight Diagrams" is usually composed of two or eight diagrams of Taiji, Qian, Tui, Kan, Zhenzhen, Kun, Gun, Li, Su, and eight diagrams. The decoration of the corners and the patterns of bats and eight treasures are inscribed on the four corners, and the four characters of "Yuan Heng Li Zheng" are inscribed on the four corners. "Lion-titled Sword" is a picture with a lion's head as its front, full fur, round eyes, seven-star sword as its mouth and eight trigrams on its forehead. "Tianshi Town House" is a picture of Zhang Tianshi wearing a Taoist robe, wearing a Taoist crown, riding a tiger, handrail board, inscribed with signatures above. The picture of Jiang Shang here shows Jiang Ziya riding "Four Unlike", holding apricot yellow flag and whipping God whip, and the handwriting "Jiang Shang Here" below. This kind of New Year pictures are mostly pasted on the doorway or cabin during the holidays, or on the upper beams when building houses and installing beams. In order to dispel the disaster and suppress evil, in order to achieve peace and tranquility.

His representative works include: Lion Title Sword (34 *45cm Qing Dynasty Sculpture), Bagua (Qing Dynasty Sculpture), Jiang Shangzi (45 *35cm Modern Sculpture), Guangming Town House (34 *17cm Qing Dynasty Sculpture) .

Customs and Festivals

Zhangzhou is close to the sea and mountainous, with active external communication. Folklore and folklore, while maintaining the characteristics of southern Fujian, are closely related to external civilization, which has become a major feature of Zhangzhou woodcut New Year pictures.

(1) Lantern paintings and paper-tied paintings

Lantern paintings and paper-tied paintings are a major category of Zhangzhou woodcut New Year's paintings. Zhangzhou has always been a festival of months and months, and people have always had the custom of controlling lamps. In December of the year, the people have made the Yingshen lanterns: Kirin lanterns in January, Bogu four-screen lanterns in February, filial piety lanterns in March, monkey and deer lanterns in April, Chang Baxian lanterns in May, litchi lanterns in June, City lanterns in July, Da Baxian lanterns in August, dragon lanterns in September, peace lanterns in October, lions in November. Lights, December hang rich and noble longevity test lights. New Year pictures for lanterns are designed in various forms according to their requirements. It can be divided into story-type lanterns and paintings such as "Emperor City", "Rich Life Examination", "Li Yuan's Help", "Losing Huashan" and so on; figure-type lanterns such as "Flying Fairy", "Eight Immortals", "Four Hiring Pictures", "Sacrificing Fairy Daughters" and so on; decorative lanterns and paintings are mostly based on patterns of birds, animals, flowers, birds, fish and insects, such as "Bogu Flower Window", "Six Cranes in the Spring". "Danfeng Chaoyang", "Monkey and Deer Fighting" and so on. Because of the small size, large demand, diverse themes and wide usage of lanterns, they are printed separately or in sets. After printing, they can be cut and used separately. Some can be used as lantern paintings, some as decoration of walls and windows, and also as decoration of "Lingcuo" with paper binding and paving. The usage is more flexible.

His representative works include: Eight Immortals Qingshou (29 *30 cm Qing Dynasty Sculpture), Feitian Fairy (30 *30 cm Qing Dynasty Sculpture), Bogu Flower Fighting (34 *25 cm Qing Dynasty Sculpture), Danfeng Chaoyang (26 *25 cm Qing Dynasty Sculpture), Jiaguan Jinlu (Qing Dynasty Sculpture), Qin Shubao Wei Chigong (35 *27 cm Engraving), Dragon and Phoenix Chengxiang (27 *37cm * Qing Dynasty engraving), Liuhe Tongchun (36 *30cm * Qing Dynasty engraving), Monkey and Deer Fighting (29 *36cm * Qing Dynasty engraving), Jiuzidengke (19 *22.5cm * Qing Dynasty engraving), Guoziyi Shangshou (19 *32cm * Qing Dynasty engraving), Huangdu (32 *22cm * Qing Dynasty engraving). Engraving.

(2) paintings of secular life

Secular life painting involves all aspects of customs and daily life. This kind of New Year pictures are designed and carved according to folklore and festival customs. For example, storytelling comic strips such as "Shuo Tang", "Anti Tang", "Meng Jiangnu", "Qiyuan of Shuangfeng", "Romance of Fengshen", "Twenty-four Filial Piety", "Chen Sanwuniang" and so on; custom New Year pictures such as "Rat Married Daughter", "Nine Flows Picture", "Dragon Boat Festival" and "Great Sage Training" and so on; entertainment gadgets such as "Huluben" (divided into sea and land). Story comic strips are usually about 30 x 40 cm in size. They are divided into two parts, each of which reflects the brilliant and important plots of fiction and opera in 8-9 turns. They are divided into two parts, and they are promoted one by one, thus becoming an auxiliary picture for elders to "tell the ancients" to their children and grandchildren. The custom New Year painting "Rat Married a Woman" is the representative work of Zhangzhou custom New Year painting. It shows the people's psychology of fear of rats and hate rats, and also the people's wish to pray for blessings. The story is somewhat ironic. New Year pictures such as "Jiuliu Tu" and "Dragon Boat Festival" show the social life scene at that time, especially those who fight and sell plaster, shavers and other vendors in the New Year pictures. Hulu Ben, a recreational gadget, is an ancient game circulated in southern Fujian. It has both recreational function and literacy function. As a recreational toy, it still exists in some places of Zhangzhou and Xiamen during festivals and leisure time.

The representative works are "Mouse Married Daughter" (28 *44cm Qing Dynasty Sculpture), "Jiuliu Tu" (28 *44cm Qing Dynasty Sculpture), "Twenty-four Filial Piety" (26 42cm 2 Qing Dynasty Sculpture), "Shuangfeng Qiyuan, Jiuwenty-four Edition" (30cm 43cm 2 Qing Dynasty Sculpture), "Talking about the Pre and Post-Tang Women's front and rear editions (30cm * 40cm * 2 * Qing Dynasty sculpture), Litchi Records (30cm * 41cm * 2 * Qing Dynasty sculpture), Three Kingdoms'front and rear editions (Qing Dynasty sculpture), Leifeng Tower front and rear editions (32cm * 49cm * 2 * Qing Dynasty sculpture), Dragon Boat Festival (32 * 44cm * Qing Dynasty sculpture), Grand Sage Training Soldier (26 * 42cm * * * * The Sculpture of the Republic of China, Hulu Ben (34 x 40 cm Qing Dynasty Sculpture) .

Religious sacrifices

There are more gods in Zhangzhou woodcut New Year pictures because of the strong religious beliefs and folk customs of ancestor worship in Zhangzhou. There are many common gods and burning paper horses to worship gods and pray for God's protection. They are different according to their beliefs and professions, but they all show a kind of religious belief.

(1) New Year paintings of temples

The woodcut New Year pictures used by temples and religions are a unique variety in Zhangzhou. They are printed on special black paper in white, yellow, blue, red and other colors, just like lacquer paintings. They are unique varieties in Chinese woodcut New Year pictures. Patterns are mostly auspicious. Such as "Four Seasons Flowers" (Lotus, Plum Blossom, Peony, Lotus), "Four Beasts", "Four Spirits", "Fortune and Longevity", "Historical Stories" and other subjects, dedicated to the use of temple Taoism for merit. Another kind of New Year picture is printed on jade button paper, which can be used for pasting lanterns and pasting Lingcuo paintings. Such as "horseback riding generals" (also known as "fantasy blowing"), "four seasons fighting", "lace", "flower blocking", "tiger window" and so on.

The representative works are: Sirui Beast (30 *22cm *2 * Qing Dynasty Sculpture), Fulu Shouxi (25 *19cm *2 * Qing Dynasty Sculpture), Siruiling (25 *36cm * Qing Dynasty Sculpture).

(2) New Year pictures of worship of gods

Zhangzhou woodcut New Year pictures also often offer sacrifices to gods. Most of these pictures mainly focus on seeking wealth, peace and high officials, such as "General Qiao", "Guan Dijun", "Xuan Tian Di", "Dao Gong", "Fuzheng Divine", "Kitchen King", "Kitchen King", "Sanxian Gu" and so on. And so on. This kind of New Year's pictures need not be put on doors, but should be pasted or hung indoors for worship.

Representative works: Sanxian Gu (43 *39 cm Qing Dynasty Sculpture), Guanyin, Kitchen King, Land Public Statue (32 *22 cm Qing Dynasty Sculpture), Ford Zhengshen (46 *39 cm Qing Dynasty Sculpture), Guandi King Statue (36 *22 cm Qing Dynasty Sculpture), Antarctic Xianweng (25 16 cm Qing Dynasty (70 * 26cm * modern engraving) and "Siming Zaojun" (19 * 12cm * modern engraving).

(3) Paper horse

Paper horse is also called "armored horse" or "armored horse paper". Paper horse has different appellations everywhere, such as "Heaven and Earth Paper", "Moon God Paper", "Wealth God Paper", "Happiness God Paper", "Lishi Paper", "Shenma", "Shoujin" and so on. Despite the different appellations in different places, they are all used as a kind of thing to burn or abandon at roadside bridges to dispel disasters and pray for good luck. Paper horses in southern Fujian are called "Shoujin". They are printed yellow on tin foil paper, representing gold foil, and then printed red on the pattern of paper horse application objects. Zhangzhou folklore is festive every month, so paper horses take respecting heaven, Fazu, dispelling disasters and seeking wealth as the main content. The common "Samsung Tu" (Samsung Fu Shou), in the form of Tianguan Baohuo, Shouxing holding peaches, Lu Xinghuai boys. The figures are square in shape and vary in size .

artistic characteristics

Zhangzhou woodcut New Year's pictures have unique artistic techniques and technological processes. Their engraving lines are different in thickness, rigid and flexible, mainly strong black lines. Pursuing concise contrast with color, the printing process adopts plate-splitting, color separation and manual overprinting, which is called "decorative plate". There are two kinds of pigments: water quality and powder quality. They are bright red, light red, black and paper of natural color. Zhangzhou New Year's pictures are generous in composition and exaggerated in shape, especially those printed on black paper, which are rare in other areas .

The engraving of Zhangzhou woodcut New Year's pictures can be divided into two types: positive and negative engraving. The engraving of the background color (red) of the character of "Youshen" is negative engraving, which is unique to China. The edges of all lines and color blocks on the engraving are inclined outwards, which facilitates the adjustment of moisture during printing. In printing, plate overprinting is used, first color plate and then black line plate.

New Year Picture Making

Carve and print

The wood used in the engraving of Zhangzhou wood engraving New Year's pictures is usually hard and delicate pear wood, red Coca wood, jujube wood and so on. When carving, the wood surface to be carved is first treated with cooked boards about 2.5 centimeters thick (about 5-6 centimeters double-sided carving). Then the revised drawings of the New Year's pictures are drawn on the edge paper and the final drawings are accurately pasted on the back of the drawings. When carving, first of all, we must divide Yin and Yang, and use the methods of "generation", "branch", "pick" and "heel knife" to carve. The clothing pattern on the carving should show the blade, and the carved lines should be straight and smooth, until the bottom of the dregs is clear, it can be calculated to be completed.

To color

Because the overprint coloring method of Zhangzhou woodcut New Year pictures requires more primary colors, less or no intermediate colors, the pigments used are mainly acidic and silky, such as grinding powder, turquoise, fotou blue, vermilion, golden yellow, peach red, Sophora yellow, golden powder, etc. . Before mixing, the colors are separated and drifted for several days. When mixing, they are melted with cowhide gum or peach gum, infiltrated with appropriate amount of alum (to prevent cracking) and ice sugar (to increase height), and stirred evenly with the colors. Rats in Mouse Married Daughter use tripod bottom black smoke, which is scraped and grinded fine, sifted through a sieve, and then blended with the above methods, the printed rat fur appears light gray, which is more realistic than that printed with ink and white powder .

Paper

The paper used in Zhangzhou woodcut New Year's pictures is "Jade Button Paper" of Changting and Liancheng in West Fujian (Liancheng Four Castles were once one of the printing places of woodcut books in Song Dynasty) and "Fushu Paper" of Xikou. These papers are hand-made with bamboo fibers. They are white in color, smooth in surface, flexible in texture, uniform in tension, strong in water absorption, not easy to wear and tear, and low in cost. These papers are processed into bright red, vermilion and black by Zhangzhou folk dyeing paper workshop as the base paper of Zhangzhou woodcut New Year pictures. In Zhangzhou woodcut New Year pictures, there are also New Year pictures printed with natural color (beige), "Jade button paper", but if they are printed with natural color paper, "Menshen" New Year pictures need to be printed with a pale red as the background color. The woodcut New Year pictures printed with this kind of paper are called "Juvenile God", while those printed with dyeing paper mill are called "Coarse God" .

process

The basic production process of Zhangzhou Folk Woodcut New Year's pictures is: first, the pictures are carved into various color block plates and line plates on the wooden plates such as pear wood, and then the color separation and plate separation are carried out, and the short version is overprinted on paper.

1. Draw all kinds of sketches (powder) on paper as required, and then stick them back to the poles that have been made to be carved. After drying, thin sketches are ground with cuttlefish grass to make them more transparent and clear and easy to engrave.

2. The wood used for engraving (mostly pear wood, Acacia wood, red Coca wood, pomegranate wood, etc.) is soaked for one month, then dried for three months, planed out for reply.

3. Carving should strictly comply with the requirements of "powder edition". Generally, the face of the character is the first, followed by the hand-foot-body. The other parts are large at first and small at last until they are finished.

4. According to different kinds of New Year's pictures, paper with different colors, such as natural color, bright red, vermilion and black, is selected. In addition to the non-pre-production of the original color paper, the bright red, vermilion and black paper must be pre-dyed by the folk dyeing workshop with the original color paper of Western Fujian. On the "young god", the pale red character background is engraved by the wood engraving artist himself, and the red color is printed on the color paper.

5. In acidic dyes or silky pigments, clay powder and cowhide glue are mixed into pots according to green, yellow, red and blue colors; the color of the faces of people is made of local clay powder (chalk) or lead powder, and rice paste with appropriate amount of golden yellow (acid dye); black smoke and clay colors are mixed separately for reserve.

6. After drying each color, print the second color; after printing all the color plates, print the "black line" version finally. Those without black line edition are all unfinished products.

Workshop situation

Zhangzhou Woodblock New Year Picture Workshop is divided into "Red Room" and "Black Room": "Black Room" refers to the workshop that prints written books, whose products are used by examinees in Fuzhou, Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou and other places for the imperial examinations; "Red Room" refers to the workshop that specializes in printing New Year Pictures, in addition to festivals and festivals, as well as ordinary households. In addition to the New Year pictures used for appreciation, they also make "confessions" for meditation activities (such as pasting "paper" and "doing merit" and so on). Workshop owners are usually able to create both sketches and stereotypes, or both. The workshop employs a number of workers, who arrange various jobs, such as carving, painting, printing, painting, paper cutting, sales and purchasing materials. There are dozens of employees in large workshops and three to five in small workshops. The area of the workshop is hundreds of square meters in size and tens of square meters in small size. According to textual research, there are more than a dozen workshops in the towns of Dai Zhangzhou. From the Qing Dynasty to the beginning of the Republic of China, there were more than twenty workshops in Zhangzhou woodcut New Year paintings. The larger one is Yutai Workshop on Hong Kong Road, with Lin Niu as its owner; the other one is Fengsheng Workshop, with Zheng's owner as a joint stock; the other one is Runan Workshop, which produces single New Year's pictures. There is also the "General Assembly" workshop in Dongmen Street, the owner Cai Houpi; the other is the "Tongsheng" workshop, the owner Wu Dongzi. There is "You Wenyuan" Workshop on Xiamen Road. In Taiwanese Road (Fukou), there are three New Year Painting Workshops: Caiwen Tower and Luoyang Tower. There are three engraving bookstores: Chongwen, Yuwen and Tongwen. There is a "Jinwen" New Year Picture Shop in Lianzai Street.

The Yan Family Workshop, located between Hong Kong Road and Zhencheng Lane, is one of the largest New Year's Painting Workshops in Zhangzhou. It employs dozens of people and operates two businesses of "red" and "black" houses. During the period from Daoguang to Guangxu in Qing Dynasty, because of the operation of Yan's generations of workshop owners, their industries gradually expanded, so they annexed some small workshops in the form of redemption and established their monopoly position. In the process of annexing the small workshop, the Yan family gathered a large number of old and contemporary versions of the previous generation, with a complete variety of versions .

However, since the 1950s, the custom of pasting woodcut New Year pictures on New Year's Day in the countryside of Zhangzhou has gradually disappeared, the woodcut New Year pictures market has weakened, and most of the New Year pictures workshops have been closed .

Inheritance Significance

With the deepening of social change, the traditional consciousness gradually disappeared, and folk custom activities changed accordingly. The appreciation of Zhangzhou wooden board New Year pictures based on local folklore increased, while the practicability of seeking good fortune and avoiding evil weakened, resulting in the depression of the New Year pictures market. With the shrinkage of the original folk New Year's Painting market, the number of people engaged in the production of Zhangzhou wooden board New Year's Painting has been greatly reduced . Faced with the situation of woodcut New Year pictures, Zhangzhou Municipal Culture Department has appealed many times, hoping that the relevant departments allocate space to rescue woodcut New Year pictures and collect woodcut.

Yan Shiguo, the successor of Yan family's woodcut New Year pictures, believes that although modern printing technology is improving day by day, the simple and rough artistic style of manual printing is irreplaceable. New Year's pictures are a kind of prayer, a kind of decoration, and also a kind of traditional folklore . Nowadays, with the development of the times and the change of folk customs, the artistic value of woodcut New Year painting as an art decoration is irreplaceable. As long as its intrinsic artistic value is rediscovered and new era connotation is endowed, woodcut New Year pictures can still be recognized by the society.

The academic value of Zhangzhou Folk Woodcut New Year pictures lies in its appearance, which makes the academic circles understand the origin relationship between Taiwanese woodcut New Year pictures and Zhangzhou woodcut New Year pictures. In Chinese folk art, it is a unique variety of Southern Folk Woodcut New Year pictures with ruggedness and beauty.