Tantou Woodblock New Year Pictures
01 · Historical Records
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 · Core Techniques & Process
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.
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.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
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.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Today, having retained their splendor through more than three hundred years, Tantou woodblock New Year prints have crossed vast oceans and become treasures in the collections of major museums in Britain, the United States, Japan, and other countries. In recent years, however, the market for Tantou woodblock New Year prints has shrunk sharply, the workshops cannot make ends meet, and artisans have changed trades in large numbers; only two New Year print workshops still keep their shopfronts, of which "Jinyumei" has essentially ceased production and "Gaolamei" can barely hold on, with annual output of less than 50,000 sheets and none of the workshop owners' children inheriting the family business. Tantou woodblock New Year prints have been damaged or have drifted away, and many techniques have already been lost; rescue and protection are urgently needed. Zhong Haixian (record from the official archive of the associated inheritor): In 1955, during the joint public-private ownership transition, Zhong Haixian, by virtue of his specialized skill, became a worker at the Tantou Town dye-paper cooperative; during the "Cultural Revolution" period, Zhong Haixian was forced to stop making New Year prints, and most of the more than eighty printing blocks he had inherited from the "Chengrenfa" New Year print workshop were consigned to the flames. After retiring in 1988, he took up his old craft again. He mastered the techniques of woodblock New Year print production: his carved lines are fine and firm, fluid and rounded, resistant to wear, and highly expressive; the unique special processes of "steaming the paper," "sizing with glue," and "brushing on powder" give Tantou woodblock New Year prints not only brilliant color but also a relief-like artistic effect. His main representative works include "The Mouse Wedding," "Portrait of a Miao Hero," and "Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong." Male, Han ethnicity, born in 1928, died in 2009, native of Longhui, Hunan. He was a representative inheritor of Tantou woodblock New Year prints, included in the first national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects. Li Xianlu (record from the official archive of the associated inheritor): Afterward, owing to historical reasons such as the "Cultural Revolution," his New Year print production was interrupted for a time; he resumed production after retiring from the factory in 1988. His technique was highly accomplished; he commanded the complete set of Tantou woodblock New Year print processes, including block carving, printing, and coloring, and was one of the very few New Year print artisans in the Tantou area who were both the most senior in experience and of superb skill. Male, Han ethnicity, born in 1934, died in 2010, native of Longhui, Hunan. He was a representative inheritor of Tantou woodblock New Year prints, included in the first national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage projects.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Zhong Haixian 01-0056
- Li Xianlu 01-0057
- Gao Lamei 04-1747
- Zhong Jiantong 05-2576
- Liu Guoli 05-2577
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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