Zhong Jiantong
01 · Lineage & Regional School
He learned chisel-cut decoration and paper selection from his mother, Gao Lamei, and learned to coat scented powder paper and red paper and to print New Year pictures under his father, Zhong Haixian. Within the regional tradition and school record of Tantou Woodblock New Year Pictures in Longhui, Hunan: Tantou woodblock New Year prints are the only hand-made woodblock water-printed New Year prints in Hunan Province, forming a school of their own with a strong local character of southern Chu. In the early 20th century, the production of Tantou woodblock New Year prints reached its height, with 108 New Year print workshops and an annual output of more than 30 million copies, sold to the provinces south of the Yangtze and to Southeast Asia. After 1949, Tantou woodblock New Year prints were banned as feudal superstition; production resumed in 1958, was devastated once again after 1966, and resumed again in 1979. In 1984, Tantou Town was named a "Hometown of Modern Chinese Folk Painting" by the Ministry of Culture. In 1994, Tantou woodblock New Year prints received the Silver Prize of "Unparalleled Excellence of Chinese Folk Art" from the Ministry of Culture.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
Born in April 1965 in Longhui County, Hunan Province, he is of Han ethnicity. He not only commands the traditional techniques of New Year picture printing and has worked to restore printing from old blocks, but has also created many new Tantou woodblock New Year pictures. In 2011, together with local peasant painters, he created four New Year pictures on the theme of integrity in office: The Governor Who Took a Single Coin (Yi Qian Taishou), Yang Zhen Refuses Gold (Yang Zhen Ju Jin), Integrity as a Treasure (Yi Lian Wei Bao) and Clean Hands (Liang Xiu Qingfeng). In 2012 he redesigned and renewed the traditional picture Zhong Kui Seizes Ghosts (Zhong Kui Zhuo Gui) and the zodiac pictures Success upon the Horse (Ma Dao Cheng Gong), Three Rams Bring Prosperity (San Yang Kai Tai) and Instant Promotion (Ma Shang Feng Hou). In 2012 he established the Tantou Woodblock New Year Picture Techniques Transmission Centre, and has repeatedly travelled to Beijing, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other regions and to Thailand and other countries for intangible cultural heritage demonstrations and performances. Within the documented technical tradition of Tantou Woodblock New Year Pictures in Longhui, Hunan: Tantou Town is located in the southeast of Longhui County, Hunan Province. Its folkways are simple and honest and its customs distinctive; historically there appeared papermaking villages, carving villages, lanes for colored paper, decorative paper, and fragrant powder paper, and a New Year print street. Its handicraft industry was highly developed, with a clear division of labor and mutual coordination among the trades. Tantou has had a strong shamanic atmosphere since ancient times, and folk sacrificial activities were very popular. The many varieties of paper-horse (zhima) effigies used in sacrifices have an internal transmission relationship with the production techniques of the later Tantou woodblock New Year prints. According to the Longhui County Gazetteer, Tantou woodblock New Year prints have a history of more than three hundred years; according to folk oral historical materials, the first woodblock New Year print workshop in Tantou was established in the late Ming and early Qing by Wang Dongyuan, nicknamed "Wang Houzi" (Monkey Wang), which printed more than ten kinds of New Year prints, including "Qin Shubao" and "Yuchi Gong." During the Daoguang reign, Hu Qifu opened the "Heshunchang" New Year print workshop, adding new designs such as "The Brotherhood of the Peach Garden." During the Tongzhi reign, Tantou woodblock New Year prints were already sold throughout the country. In 2003, at China's First Grand Exhibition of Cultural Relic Replicas and Folk Arts and Crafts, Tantou woodblock New Year prints won the Gold Prize for Traditional Chinese Arts and Crafts. All the process steps of Tantou woodblock New Year prints, from papermaking to the finished product, are completed locally in Tantou, forming a complete production series — something rather rare in New Year print production nationwide. Traditional Tantou woodblock New Year prints comprise more than forty varieties, divided into three main categories: door-god portraits, auspicious themes, and opera stories. In the craft of Tantou woodblock New Year prints, the traditional process steps of steaming the paper, sizing with glue, and brushing on powder are all unique to Tantou, and "facial finishing" (kailian) is also a distinctive technique that sets it apart from New Year prints of other places. The difficulty of block-making in Tantou woodblock New Year prints lies in the carving of the line blocks; in this respect the "steep-knife upright line" (doudao lixian) technique of the "Gaofuchang" New Year print workshop is famous. Its knife angle is uniform, an even hidden force is applied, turns and crossings are handled steadily without disorder, and the whole relies entirely on feel and technical mastery. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "": "Archival Record of the Working Procedures": All the process steps of Tantou woodblock New Year prints, from papermaking to the finished product, are completed locally in Tantou, forming a complete production series — something rather rare in New Year print production nationwide.
Archival Record of the Working Procedures
All the process steps of Tantou woodblock New Year prints, from papermaking to the finished product, are completed locally in Tantou, forming a complete production series — something rather rare in New Year print production nationwide.
Core Technique I
Tantou Town is located in the southeast of Longhui County, Hunan Province.
Core Technique II
Its folkways are simple and honest and its customs distinctive;
Core Technique III
historically there appeared papermaking villages, carving villages, lanes for colored paper, decorative paper, and fragrant powder paper, and a New Year print street.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
He is a national representative bearer of Tantou Woodblock New Year Pictures, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. His zodiac picture Good News upon the Horse (Ma Shang Bao Xi) won a bronze award in the New Year picture competition of the Second China Spring Festival Tourism Products Expo.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
In the early 20th century, the production of Tantou woodblock New Year prints reached its height, with 108 New Year print workshops and an annual output of more than 30 million copies, sold to the provinces south of the Yangtze and to Southeast Asia. After 1949, Tantou woodblock New Year prints were banned as feudal superstition; production resumed in 1958, was devastated once again after 1966, and resumed again in 1979.
05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage
National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zhong Haixian | Longhui, Hunan | 01-0056 | Same declared area |
| Li Xianlu | Longhui, Hunan | 01-0057 | Same declared area |
| Zhong Jiantong | Longhui, Hunan | 05-2576 | This page |
| Liu Guoli | Longhui, Hunan | 05-2577 | Same declared area |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。