Development of Woodblock New Year Pictures in Laohekou

China folk woodblock New Year pictures have a long history, which began in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. After the prosperity of Ganjia in Qing Dynasty, New Year pictures gradually formed local schools.

Laohekou woodblock New Year pictures flourished from Qianlong to Guangxu in Qing Dynasty, which is a form of inheritance in ancient Chinese folk woodblock New Year pictures. It spread from Taohuawu, the birthplace of Nanpai woodcut New Year pictures, to Laohekou through Zhuxian Town, Henan Province.

Before the founding of New China, there were many woodblock New Year pictures workshops in Laohekou, such as Liu Yuansheng, Demaogong and Shuncheng 10. Woodblock New Year pictures are exported to Shaanxi, Henan and Sichuan. Laohekou has become the production base of woodblock New Year pictures in northwest Hubei and southwest Henan.

During the Cultural Revolution, the woodcut New Year pictures of Laohekou suffered a devastating blow, and artists changed careers one after another. Chen is the only old artist engaged in folk woodcut New Year pictures carving in northwest Hubei. Because of the "high risk" of creating woodblock New Year pictures, Chen's son did not inherit this craft.

1986, 1987 Chen participated in Hubei folk art exhibition and the first Chinese art festival, and many works were exhibited abroad in Southeast Asian countries. Some of his works were selected into junior high school art textbooks, and many of his works were collected by many provincial museums and participated in the 8th China Art Festival.

In 2007, the woodcut New Year pictures of Laohekou entered the intangible cultural heritage list of Hubei Province.

20 10 laohekou woodcut new year picture "better city, better life" was exhibited at Shanghai world Expo.

20 1 1 Laohekou woodblock New Year Pictures are listed in the national intangible cultural heritage list. As a representative figure of the woodcut New Year pictures of Laohekou, Chen was also selected as the representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage project.