It is said that the origin of sketching is the grass that saved the emperor's life, but how did a grass save the emperor?

Straw painting, also known as straw painting, is one of the characteristic crafts in China and a kind of sticker cutting. Although it comes from the people, it is very rare. Straw painting began with the court craft in Sui and Tang Dynasties. It is an art of cutting and pasting, just like paper cutting and cloth pasting.

It is said that the origin of straw painting is to save the emperor's life, but it actually symbolizes harvest and wealth. According to legend, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty, was hunted by Wang Mang, but he had no choice but to hide in the wheat straw, which immediately turned into Liu Xiu for forest protection.

Straw has to go through many processes, such as smoking, steaming, bleaching, scraping, pushing, scalding, cutting, engraving, weaving and painting. According to the luster, grain color and texture of the straw itself, it is generally not colored, and it is cut and pasted as needed.

The material of wheat straw painting is only one kind of wheat straw, and all colors are ironed with a soldering iron without any dyeing. Golden, and then through the transition of different shades of color, to achieve the effect of a single color to express the overall color, for example, every feather of Yuanyang has been processed from light to dark color.

In 1970s, Wang Qiao Commune founded the first peasant painting academy in the province-Wang Qiao Peasant Painting Academy. 1200 people participated in the study and training of peasant paintings, and more than 400 peasant painters emerged. After the reform and opening up, their desire to get rich and think about literature became stronger.

The wheat straw painting in Runan, Henan Province, came from farmers' hands and was developed on the basis of farmers' paintings in Wang Qiao, this county. The former Wang Qiao Commune is now called Luodian Township, which is the "hometown of Chinese folk art".

Now, Henan straw painting has been announced by the State Council as the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative projects. Known as "the unique folk art in China", the grass painting gives people a simple, natural, noble and elegant aesthetic feeling.