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Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House

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Iluring

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e Spring Festival-the {-unar New Year, a most traditional festival in

China*peopXe in many placcs have the custom of sticking auspicious pictures inside anrl outsi<les the house, on the ctroors ancl walls, to drive

off evil spirits, bring good luck to the

fbrnitry and aCd to the festive mooetr. The pictures are renewed fbr the New Year, hcnee the tenn "New Year Pictures"" or nianua in Chinese.


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Contents

Chinese New Year

Picture

Yangliuqing New Year Prints

5

'

YangjiabuNewYearPrints' Taohuawu New Year Prints

Mianzhu New Year

'

Prints

9

""""'

13

17

2I


New Year Pictures

C ixrese e

&r ( hirtese

f,, Jmr"g

ie*wre

nhuu\

the Spring Festival-the Lunar New Year, a most traditional festival in

Chma-people in many places have the custom of sticking auspicious pictures inside

md ouside the house, on the doors and walls, to drive off evil spirits, bring good hr-k to the family and add to the festive mood. The pictures are renewed for the

\Ăśr- \ear.

hence the term "New Year Pictures", or nianhua in Chinese.

The history of nianhua originated with ancient peachwood charms. In ancient times peach wood was regarded as the cream of the wood serving as a protection against

all demons. In the Zhou Dynasty (10468.C.--t56 B.C.) rectangular planks, figures, talismans and charms made from peach wood were hung on both sides of the gate to s-ard off evil spirits. In the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D.220) josses were pasted on

doors, and peachwood charms began to convert to door gods. In the Song Dynasty

(960

1279) the invention of woodblock printing gave rise to woodblock prints

of New Year Pictures, the themes of which, no longer limited to mere exorcism, were enriched with Spring Festival greetings and wishes for happiness. And in the range Qing Dynasty (1616-1911) chinese New Year Prints covered even a wider

of subjects such

as good luck, long

as characters and scenes from

life, chubby moppets, beautiful women

folk tales and historical stories. As

became more and more thriving and popular.

'ilD,,filfr@ tlock for green printing i8imfrĂźd dockfor orange printing t,f,rrp mi hcklor red printing

as

well

a result, nianhua

ls



New Year Pictures lt7

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,,,ii' Tuoh.ru*., is located in the norlhern part of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. It has been well known Taohua (peach since Tang Bohu, a renowned painter and gifted free-thinking schoiar, built the

blossom) Nunnery there during the reign of Hongzhi

(1488

1506) in the Ming

Dpasty.

Taohuawu nianhua, the leading woodbiock prints in the region south of the lower Yangtze

River, started with woodblock printing in the Song Dynasty. woodblock prints were first used as illustrations for books, and in the

Ming Dynasty xylographic printing of illustrations

for opera plays and stories was very popular in Suzhou, gradually leading to the printing of nianhua. In the periods of Yongzheng and Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty nianhua in Suzhou many reached the apex of its development. Apart from traditional themes, there appeared

works that imitated the westem style of copper-plate printing. At that time there were 50odd afi workshops distributed at Shantangjie, Taohuawu, Beisita and Baoensi, with an annual

production of more than a million prints, which were transported to alt the major areas in

China. In 1860, picture workshops at Shantangjie were mostly destroyed in war and turmoil, and afterwards workshops were concentrated in Taohuawu. Since then New Year prints produced there have been known as Taohuawu New Year Pictures'

l-: l-.

a Gift Jrom the Kylin

'. L : t:.-'e not yet color printed, and

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color printed

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