Why do you use calendars and New Year pictures every year?

Calendars should be new, while New Year pictures were handed down a long time ago.

brief introduction

New Year pictures are a kind of Chinese paintings. It is a kind of painting unique to China. It is often used to post posts and decorate the environment during the New Year, which means auspicious and festive New Year, hence the name. Traditional folk New Year pictures are mostly made of wood watermarks. The main producing areas are Yangliuqing in Tianjin, Taohuawu in Suzhou and Weifang in Shandong. There are "Moon Brand" New Year pictures in Shanghai, as well as in Sichuan, Fujian, Shanxi, Hebei and even Zhejiang. The old version of New Year pictures has different names because of different frame sizes and processing methods. The whole painting is called "Palace Tip", three pieces of paper are called "Three Talents" and many detailed processes are called "Painting Palace Tip" and "Painting Three Talents". The colors of gold powder coating are called "Golden Palace Tip" and "Golden Tricks". Products before June are called "green edition", and products after July and August are called "autumn edition".

The appellations of New Year pictures vary greatly from place to place, such as "Draw a picture" and "Protect a picture" in Beijing, "Draw a picture" in Suzhou, "Flower Paper" in Zhejiang, "Divine Symbol" in Fujian and "Doufang" in Sichuan. Today, New Year pictures are gradually called "New Year pictures".

New Year pictures are a folk craft for Chinese people to pray for good luck and welcome the New Year, and it is also a folk art expression that carries people's yearning for a better future. Historically, people called New Year pictures "paper paintings", called "painting stickers" in the Song Dynasty and "painting" in the Qing Dynasty. Until the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, scholar Li Guangting wrote in his article: "It is a child's ear to paste New Year pictures after sweeping the house." New Year pictures got their name from this.

New Year pictures are simple in lines, bright in colors and warm and pleasant in atmosphere, such as pictures of spring cows, New Year's Eve, Jia Sui, playing with babies, family happiness, watching lanterns and fat dolls. Some take immortals, historical stories and dramatic figures as themes. Many of them are used to paste door paintings, which are mixed with the concept of "God only protects the house", such as "Tiancha", "Tianguan" and "Qin Qiong respects virtue". The genre (or form) includes door paintings (single painting, folio painting) and single painting with four screens. There have been records about New Year pictures in the Song Dynasty, and the earliest woodcut New Year pictures seen at present are the graceful appearance of the Southern Song Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty. In the middle of Qing dynasty, it was especially popular. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), New Year pictures became more popular and brought forth new ideas.

The art of New Year pictures was initiated by China, and it also reflected the history, life, beliefs and customs of China society. Every Lunar New Year, I buy two New Year pictures and stick them on the door, which is the case in almost every family. From the gate to the hall, there are all kinds of colorful New Year pictures symbolizing good fortune. The reason why the Spring Festival is full of joy and excitement is that New Year pictures have played a certain role in it. Generally speaking, rich people always like to hang birthday stars, purple stars, blessings, blessings and longevity characters in the hall. Flowers and birds, such as Zhi, Mei Lan and Zhu Ju, are naturally popular.

source and course

New Year pictures originated from ancient door-god paintings and appeared as early as the Yao and Shun period. According to the Dictatorship of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were statues of Shen Tu and Lei Yu posted on the door in the Han Dynasty. The earliest existing New Year's picture is the Song version of "Graceful and graceful with the DPRK", which was painted by Wang Zhaojun, Zhao, Ban Ji and Lv Zhu, commonly known as "Simitu".

Another said: It started in the Tang Dynasty. It didn't become popular until the Song Dynasty, but the door gods were still posted, so the New Year pictures can include the door gods.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Japanese discovered two kinds of Song Dynasty New Year pictures in Gansu: one is Simitu, both of which are court dresses with long sleeves for VIPs; The other is Kitchen God and Guan Shengdi. Both paintings are stamped with the words "Pingyang Ji Jia Diao Lang", which shows that the New Year pictures of figures have taken shape in the Song Dynasty.

Because Zhu Yuanzhang advocated posting Spring Festival couplets for the New Year, New Year pictures were particularly developed. Today, there are the most popular color overprint woodcut three-star pictures "Fu Lushou" and "God Bless the People" in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. The sculpture is quite exquisite and is still imitated by people today. There are also practical calendar paintings, such as: spring cattle, kitchen horses, mountain gods and so on; There are more historical stories, such as "my adopted son" and "Yue Fei picked the king with a gun". Cowherd and Weaver Girl, Legend of the White Snake and so on. As for the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin and other classical literary masterpieces, they are also adopted as the theme of New Year pictures. From the late Ming Dynasty to Chongzhen, Tianjin Yangliuqing New Year pictures are very famous, and the picture content is getting richer and richer.

In the Qing dynasty, there were many talented people, and the theme of New Year pictures was more extensive. In addition to figures, flowers, landscapes and other works of art, there are allegorical paintings such as "A mouse married a woman" and "Wang Po scolded a chicken", as well as comic strips composed of two-part allegorical sayings, which give people a sense of humor. There are also various kinds of printing, such as wood, lithograph, offset printing, Chinese painting, watercolor painting, pattern and single-line flat painting. There are charcoal, antiques, creations and even reprints of western paintings. For example, the "Western Theater" in Gusu New Year Pictures is.

Folk New Year pictures and door gods, commonly known as "happy pictures", were very popular in the old society. People posted New Year pictures indoors and door gods at home to wish a happy New Year and drive away evil spirits. New Year pictures are one of the most popular works of art in China. At the end of each year, most places have the custom of posting New Year pictures, door gods and couplets to increase the festive atmosphere of the festival. New Year pictures are called "New Year pictures" because they can be replaced or posted within one year and can be enjoyed for one year.

New Year pictures are an ancient folk art in China. Like Spring Festival couplets, they originated from "door gods". According to Shan Hai Jing, when Li Shimin was ill, he often heard amityville horror's voice in his dreams and couldn't sleep at night. At this time, generals Qin and Weichi Gong volunteered to stand on both sides of the gate. As a result, the palace is safe. Li Shimin felt guilty that the two generals had worked too hard, so he ordered the painter to paint their mighty images on the door of the palace, which is the so-called "door god". According to Cai Yong's Random Thoughts in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were statues of Shen Tu and Lei Yu stuck on the door in the Han Dynasty, which evolved into woodcut New Year pictures in the Song Dynasty. Later, people rushed to follow suit, and after several evolutions, they formed their own unique style, that is, the current New Year pictures. The earliest existing New Year picture in China is the Song version of Meitu of the Sui Dynasty.

Folk New Year pictures are a major category of folk art in China. From the early nature, worship and belief in gods, they gradually developed into festival activities to exorcise evil spirits, pray for disaster relief, celebrate happiness and decorate and beautify the environment, expressing people's thoughts and feelings and yearning for a better life. Folk New Year pictures have a long history, many producing areas, are very popular and popular, have a large number of readers and have had a very prosperous development. No matter the theme, carving technique or artistic style, it has its own distinctive characteristics. It not only has a far-reaching influence on other categories of folk art, but also blends with other paintings to become a mature painting with the characteristics of appealing to both refined and popular tastes.