What are the characteristics of Yangliuqing New Year Pictures?

Yangliuqing, a famous New Year picture in the north, is named after it was produced in Yangliuqing Town in the southwest of Tianjin. It began at noon in Chongzhen, Ming Dynasty, and flourished in the early years of Yongzheng, Qianlong and Guangxu in Qing Dynasty. Yangliuqing New Year pictures have a large output and fine production. Most of the techniques are to carve the lines of the image on the woodcut first, and then print them. Some paintings are hand-drawn, combining traditional meticulous painting with heavy colors, adding powder to paint gold, or simply using the shade of ink. The important parts of the head, face, clothes and so on are mostly smudged with lead powder and gold powder, which has a unique style. At the same time, it is also influenced by the painting traditions of Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties and the woodcut and perspective painting methods of the Qing Dynasty Painting Academy. The composition is full, the strokes are even and the colors are bright.