Yangjiabu Woodblock New Year Pictures
01 · Historical Records
After the second year of the Longqing reign of the Ming dynasty (1568), Yangjiabu New Year print artisans founded four print shops: "Hengshun", "Tongshuntang", "Wanzengcheng", and "Tianheyong". During the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns of the Qing dynasty, Yangjiabu woodblock New Year prints began to flourish, reaching their peak in the Xianfeng reign. For a time the locality presented the splendid scene of more than a hundred print shops and a thousand print varieties, with talented print artisans emerging in large numbers; Yangjiabu woodblock New Year prints were once sold throughout more than half of China. After 1949, Yangjiabu woodblock New Year prints, which had fallen into decline because of the wars, sprang back to life like a withered tree in spring, renewing their vitality. In 1952, 7.8 million Yangjiabu woodblock New Year prints were printed.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Yangjiabu woodblock New Year prints are a form of folk printmaking transmitted in Yangjiabu, Weifang City, Shandong Province. The production method of Yangjiabu woodblock New Year prints is simple and convenient, the craftsmanship exquisite, the colors bright, and the content rich. The subjects of the prints are renewed every Spring Festival; once new ideas and new things appear, they are quickly reflected in the prints, playing a role in promoting social progress.
The four earliest Yangjiabu print shops
After the second year of the Longqing reign in the Ming, Yangjiabu artists founded the four shops Hengshun, Tongshuntang, Wancengcheng and Tianheyong, turning the craft from a household sideline into a shop trade.
The Tongshunde shop
The shop where Yang Luoshu has worked since 1952, holding eight hundred sets of blocks, twenty specialist staff and an annual capacity of about a million sheets, its signature works being prints of the four great novels.
An eye at the blade's tip, feeling in the knuckles
Yang Luoshu's own carving maxim, meaning the blade must see as an eye does and the turning points be governed by subtle force in the knuckles; his carving is deft, the forms exaggerated and the images archaic.
The Yangjiabu New Year Print Research Institute
Founded in 1979 by the former Wei county government, the institute collects, orders and renews Yangjiabu prints, which also record the region's dwellings and everyday life.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Yangjiabu woodblock New Year prints originated and are concentrated in Yangjiabu Village, Hanting District, Weifang City, Shandong Province, forming a contiguous area with the print workshops of neighboring Cangshang, Hanting, and other places. The area formerly belonged to Weixian County, hence the prints are also known as Weixian New Year prints. By the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty, Yangjiabu New Year prints had already reached considerable scale, forming a cluster of print shops with the Yang family as the mainstay. Among them, the "Tongshunde" print shop was run by Yang Luoshu, with eight hundred sets of printing blocks and twenty staff for painting, carving, printing, and mounting, producing about one million prints a year. Yangjiabu New Year prints spread from Yangjiabu Village to the print workshops of Weixian, Changyi, Gaomi, and other places, and their products were sold via the Weifang trade routes to destinations throughout Shandong and the Northeast.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In 1979, the former Weixian County government established the Yangjiabu Woodblock New Year Print Research Institute, dedicated to the excavation, organization, study, and innovation of Yangjiabu woodblock New Year prints. In addition, Yangjiabu woodblock New Year prints indirectly record the condition of Chinese domestic architecture and folk social life, and are of certain reference value for the study of ancient Chinese culture. Yang Luoshu (record from the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, of Han ethnicity, born in 1927, a native of Yangjiabu Village, Shandong. In 1951, he began learning the craft of woodblock New Year print production from his father; under his father's instruction and example, and through his own diligent effort, he mastered the entire production process of Yangjiabu woodblock New Year prints, becoming especially skilled at block carving. From 1952 to the present, he has produced woodblock New Year prints at the Tongshunde print shop in Yangjiabu; from 1989 to 1993, he gave block-carving demonstrations at the Yangjiabu Folk Art Grand View Garden. His carving technique is masterly, with exaggerated forms, full compositions, gorgeous colors, and plain, archaic images; he originated the carving mnemonic "the knife tip has eyes, the finger joints are nimble", and has made outstanding contributions to the protection, transmission, and creation of Yangjiabu woodblock New Year prints. The Tongshunde print shop he runs has 800 sets of printing blocks and 20 professional staff for painting, carving, printing, and mounting, with an annual production capacity of about one million prints. His representative works are woodblock prints based on the Four Great Classical Novels. Representative inheritor of Yangjiabu woodblock New Year prints, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the first batch.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yang Luoshu 01-0053
- Yang Naidong
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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