When did the Chinese folklore of big red and green begin?

Culture of Chinese New Year Painting Big Red and Green

It is one of the earliest-originated, longest-lived and most widely popularized paintings in the history of Chinese painting. It originated from the primitive religion in the ancient times, was nurtured in the MA culture of Han and Tang dynasties, was formed in the prosperous marketplace of Song dynasty, and matured in the Kangxi and Qian dynasty of Qing dynasty. It survives in our oral traditions and traditional festivals of Spring Festival, in the hot kangtou and on the walls made of red bricks. It is a simple scroll of social and secular life. + h* N9 h3 l& z) T

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' X% D5 t- h3 i1 t* g When I was a kid, every new year, the family has to remove the old New Year's Eve paintings from the wall and stick on the new New Year's Eve paintings, and the simple room suddenly became bright, and in the steam buns, boiled dumplings in the heat of the dense, and the strong smell of New Year.

( W) F3 w4 s% E6 ~5 Q New Year's Eve stickers, is a traditional custom in China. Li Guangting of the Qing Dynasty, "the township language to solve the Yi", "after the broom shed, will be posted New Year's paintings", categorized as "New Year's ten things" one of the earliest appearances of the "New Year's paintings" term. In fact, New Year's paintings have been rooted in China for more than 2000 years, just different times called different, such as the Song Dynasty, "paper painting", the Ming Dynasty Palace is called "painting stickers". But no matter which period of the New Year's paintings, left me the deepest impression is that it is the color of the festive and lively. - n, F' [& _3 P# J1 |1 Y) c7 `

7 q# @" U" } k) J) c. A Peach Blossom Garden New Year's Paintings Influence Japan's Ukiyo-e

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0 G) h1 ]9 f9 i Peach Red with Grass Green, Scarlet Red and Blue, Gold and Yellow, New Year's Paintings are always rendered in big red and green. The colors of red and green are always rendered in Chinese New Year paintings, and at a glance, the joy of celebration comes to the surface at once. 5 ~8 J3 e2 t6 M1 s. J/ E7 d

On the color of the New Year's paintings, Mr. Lu Xun in the "dog-cat-rat" has mentioned: "My bed in front of the sticker with two pieces of flowery paper, one is the 'eight quitters recruiting', full of paper with a big mouth and big ears, I thought it was not very elegant; the other one is the 'mouse getting married'. 'Mouse marriage' but lovely, from the groom, bride to the bridesmaids, guests, deacons, none of them are not sharp cheeks and thin legs, like the death of the readers, but wearing a red shirt and green pants." Among them, "flower paper" refers to New Year's paintings, and "red shirts and green pants" is a symbolic summary of the colors of New Year's paintings. f. F9 s8 @; z7 W2 p+ W }

These colors, which seem so "tacky" today, actually have very strict aesthetic rules. The creation of New Year's paintings, the use of color needs to be careful, the so-called "red between yellow, autumn leaves fall; red between green, flowers cluster; green between purple, better than death; powder cage yellow, win increase light", the color matching rules of self-contained system, and still affects our clothing habits.

& p2 e+ X- S* P% ]' o4 s ? In the New Year's paintings, you can also see the aesthetic tendency of the time. In the old days, the New Year's paintings artists summarized by word of mouth a set of "painting tips", such as painting beauty, "nose like a gall bladder, melon face, cherry mouth grasshopper eyes; slow walk, do not? Hands, to laugh, never open your mouth", which is not only the beauty standards, but also reflects the requirements of feudal society on the behavior of women.

- _$ W+ V3 \( n. g d; j1 e In addition, "two eyebrows into the temples, two eyes spirit, smooth movement, Fang is a nobleman", "mouth oblique chest convex, head low tilted to look up, teeth exposed eyebrow wrong, it must be a fine work", and. "The painting should have a play, a hundred look is not tired; the exit should be auspicious, in order to be in line with the people; the character should be handsome, can get people happy."

. d) U9 ` b+ J9 W" E The aesthetic ideas of New Year's paintings also y influenced the world culture, among which, the most y influenced is the Japanese ukiyo-e. Peach Blossom Wood New Year's Paintings are best known for their landscapes and ladies' drawings, and the ukiyo-e is also most famous for these two aspects. Especially in the case of the ladies, the two are even more interesting. The geisha in the ukiyo-e and the courtesans in the Peach Blossom Garden paintings, the posture is consistent, most of the low-necked chest, willow shoulders, slender, lowered eyebrows, light sadness.

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! A5 L9 P: K& i6 m The Door God, descending from the realm of the gods to the folk

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Though the New Year's paintings are on the decline nowadays, they are still loved by many people. In an interview with Xiao Fang, director of the Chinese Folklore Society and professor of folklore at Beijing Normal University, he also mentioned this. Mr. Xiao Fang personally likes this kind of folk art very much, and he thinks that the New Year paintings are Chinese-style auspicious allegorical mode, and the content of the subject matter expresses all the prayers of the general public for a better life - good luck and peace, good fortune, luck, longevity and happiness, and many children and many blessings, etc. In addition, the New Year paintings have the value of cultural research.

7 K+ {% Y- c* d3 a/ I Door God and Zaojun are the earliest forms of New Year's Paintings, originating in ancient times and finalized in the Han Dynasty, which contain the psychology of sacrificing to the door to seek for peace, and to drive away evil spirits and avoid filth. In a deeper sense, they are also closely related to the architectural intentions of the ancients in building layers of courtyard gates, city gates and mountain gates, all of which are meant to be closed, stabilized and resisted. - t) r( U9 m' N7 G. b% E2 O

There are two types of door gods: the Martial Door God and the Cultural Door God. Martial arts door god posted outside the door, the earliest step into the door god of the "Avenue of Stars" is the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" recorded in the Shentian and Yubi, "Canghai in the middle of the sea, there is the mountain of Dusuo ...... on the two gods and men, one is said to be Shentian, two is said to be Yubi! ...... evil and harmful ghosts, the executive reed rope, and to eat the tiger. So the Yellow Emperor was made a gift ...... portal painting Shentian, Yubi and tiger, hanging reed rope to the evil charm".

3 _+ O/ _" r4 n3 M According to Xiao Fang, the Shang Dynasty, "Son of Heaven five sacrifices", the Zhou Dynasty, "Son of Heaven seven sacrifices", also includes the sacrifice of the door god. With the development of the times, the new door god began to emerge first. From the divine figure Zhong Kui, etc., to the real character of Qin Qiong, Yuchigong, Yue Fei, Zhao Yun, etc., also joined the ranks of the door god, growing the door god team. In some areas of China, there are still people will be the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army honored as the door god.

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Z$ _5 \' S# y: P: D1 u" U% S Resurrection of the World from New Year's Paintings

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The subject matter of the New Year's paintings is all-encompassing, and everything in the world can be painted. Through the New Year's paintings, we can travel through the tunnel of time and witness the social scenes and cultural life conditions of the year.

1 s# y3 j" j# h7 g In the Song Dynasty "paper painting", we can see the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, colorful folk life, restaurants and workshops, people come and go; in the early Yuan, the early Qing Dynasty, the plowing and weaving map, people engaged in agricultural production, sericulture and weaving, harvesting the crops of the scene jumped out in front of us. We can also see 700 years ago, the goods man pushed the cart wandering in the streets and alleys, the sound of hawking seems to echo in the ears; two women are performing a miscellaneous drama, the sound of the broken jade out of the voice; more than 200 years ago, acrobats perform rope stepping play, the audience applauded; Suzhou Wannian Bridge on the officials arching congratulations, the bridge under the Dragon Boat, the merchant ships to and fro, the two sides of the wine shop constantly cheering! ...... / r# j/ z: \5 C7 v

New Year's Paintings are also characterized by tragic life situations and discordant social dynamics. The new thirty-two rows of profit map" is portrayed in the old Shanghai society under the singing, shaving, face reading, newspaper sales and other small people's hard life, today, many of these industries have ceased to exist, leaving only a fleeting glimpse of the Banbian yearbook.

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+ t9 \9 N# J5 J( z1 D# s In the late Qing Dynasty, internal and external problems came one after another, and the subject matter of the New Year's paintings began to combine with the current political situation, and even appeared in the satirical New Year's paintings of the acupuncture of the current evils. Visible, yearbook also has a certain historical research value, can make up for the lack of historical records. 8 [% K# v, S, {, J. h

Xiao put that, to a certain extent, also carries the ruling class, "pointing out the wise and the foolish, the invention of the rule of law and order" of the purpose, has a certain function of indoctrination. Song dynasty counties often hang plowing and weaving drawings and paintings, so that the people learn agricultural knowledge. Ming Jiajing years printed "Huangming Yitong geography of the map", is the earliest in the yearbook hung in the public **** place of China's map, so that the people understand the boundaries of the motherland. Yang Liuqing, Tianjin, had a "filial piety map", exhorting the world to abide by filial piety.

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Nianhua creates the miracle of world printing history ! ]) e- J; p6 F% _6 b$ g

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Nianhua prospered the publishing and printing industry and created a miracle in the world's printing history--long-lasting, widely disseminated, in a variety of forms, and produced on a huge scale, and was the first to apply the techniques of overprinting, watermarking, and so on, to the North Korea, Vietnam, and other countries had a remarkable impact on the printing industry. This point is the unexpected harvest of my interview.

6 ^9 ~( e& W4 C, I: a" u7 W And, after a visit, I also have an interesting discovery, history, after every publishing industry suffered a fatal blow, when the east rose again, the first to print without exception is the New Year's Paintings, which is very rare in the field of book printing.

, R2 q- A, W. M9 M& C4 @ During the Northern Song Dynasty, Kaifeng, Henan Province, was the national printing center. After the death of the Song Dynasty, it was transferred to Zhuxian Town, 45 kilometers away, resulting in a lineage of woodblock prints. Jin Dynasty had also opened in today's Shanxi Linfen and Pingshui printing workshop, became China's only northern, the longest (hundreds of years) of the publishing and printing centers, China's portrait prints, "the first map", the earliest woodblock prints in kind, "the four beauties" is the product of that time.

+ ~0 O3 f% I* K7 l { time passes, dynasties change, "Four Beauties" was eventually hidden in an ancient pagoda in Heshui City as a Xixia cultural relics. Qing Guangxu years, the Russian Kozlov from the tower stolen "Four Beauties", preserved in St. Petersburg, Alexander III Museum. 1915, a Japanese scholar saw the painting was surprised to see the praise, immediately wrote an article to say, 14 years later, another Japanese scholar again published research literature. Abroad to our local culture of extreme importance and surprise, caused the attention of the people of the country, through diplomatic channels, this "Four Beauties" finally copied back from the former Soviet Union, treasured in Shanxi Xiangfen Ding Village Folklore Museum. ; E: `2 }" q, w8 C4 f7 b

As for the other lost yearbook, still need to travel thousands of miles to foreign museums in order to have a feast. After a partial count of the domestic institutions that cherish Chinese New Year paintings, I found that the Shanghai Library has more than 3,600 pieces of New Year paintings, the largest collection of woodblock prints in China. But the old owner of these year paintings was also a foreigner - French missionary Henri Doré, who collected these year paintings when he was in China and hid them in the Xujiahui Collection. And while the local collection of Zhuxianzhen, a major town of Chinese New Year paintings, surprisingly has no more than a hundred paintings, the Moscow Museum collects 118 ancient versions of Zhuxianzhen New Year paintings. As for the Yangliuqing New Year paintings, there are about 2000 to 3000 of them in existence, but there are only about 1000 of them in China.

1 b. A) }; X4 i" D# W8 w& | The most regrettable thing is that the Peach Blossom Wood New Year's Paintings, which had influenced the ukiyo-e culture in Japan, is very rare, and is hidden in the Kobe Municipal Museum of Fine Arts, the Wangshecheng Treasure Museum, and the Tenri Library of Japan, etc., with a few of them being hidden in private hands. 1 i- g* i4 P* k0 ?

With the increasing attention being paid to the preservation of Nianhua, it is hoped that more Chinese people will reacquaint themselves with Nianhua from the perspective of their own culture, rather than facing up to this unique folk art because foreigners regard it as cultural heritage.