Where did woodblock prints originate? How exactly are woodblock prints made?

Woodblock prints originated in Zhuxian Town, Henan Province.On May 20, 2006, woodblock prints of Zhuxian Town were approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. Woodblock prints are a traditional folk art form with a long history in China, with a history of more than a thousand years. By the middle and late Qing Dynasty, folk New Year paintings reached their peak. In Chinese folklore, New Year's paintings are the symbol of the New Year, and it is not the New Year without them. Because of their cultural and artistic value, New Year paintings are not only decorations for festivals, but also an encyclopedia reflecting the life of Chinese folk society.

The woodblock prints of Foshan, Guangdong Province, are a marvel of folk culture in south China. South China has always been the hometown of the Hakka people who defected to the southern part of the Central Plains. It naturally brought a lot of things from the Central Plains culture, among which woodblock prints are the most important folk art. In Foshan, an important industrial and commercial town in Lingnan, which is far away from the Central Plains and close to Guangzhou, China's most important foreign port, the people's social and cultural life gradually differed from that of the traditional Central Plains society and culture. Most of the adult males do not work in agriculture and take up commerce, industry and going abroad as their occupation, so those who stay at home pray for good luck, get rich and avoid harm.

So the varieties of Foshan woodblock prints are relatively simple, mainly door god paintings, idol paintings, list side paintings and so on. In addition, as Guangdong culture is still popular, it is believed that red color represents vigorous vitality and prosperous business, so red color is the most prominent local feature of Foshan door god paintings, there are ? The red color is the most prominent local characteristic of Foshan door god paintings. reputation, reflecting the cultural characteristics of Lingnan. There are dozens of origins of woodblock prints, including Liangping in Chongqing, Yangliuqing in Tianjin, Wuqiang in Hebei, Weifang in Shandong, Taohuaowu in Suzhou, Zhuxianzhen in Henan and Mianzhu in Sichuan.

In the late Qing Dynasty and early Republican era, New Year's paintings were used all over the country, including Taiwan Province, except Tibet. on June 7, 2008, woodcut New Year's paintings were approved by the State Council to be included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritages list. During the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a specialized selling of New Year paintings? Painting Market? which was then called "painting paper". Painting Paper. Bianliang was the political, economic and cultural center of China. Coupled with the maturity of engraving and printing technology, engraved New Year's paintings had replaced hand-painted door god paintings, and there were more than 300 government-run and private workshops. By the Song and Jin dynasties, there were ? The Four Beauties? This is the earliest woodcut in existence. The simple Mianzhu New Year's Paintings in Sichuan inherited the tradition of painting lines and coloring techniques from the Tang and Song dynasties, forming a bright, simple and rich local flavor and distinctive national characteristics.