Mianzhu Woodblock New Year Pictures
01 · Historical Records
The middle section of the Longmen Mountains connects with the northern edge of the Chengdu Plain. Chengdu has been the center of woodblock printing in China since the Tang dynasty, and Mianzhu, influenced by it, is said to have been producing woodblock New Year prints as early as the Song dynasty. According to oral accounts, during the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns of the Qing dynasty Mianzhu had more than 900 people engaged in the New Year print trade and over 300 workshops of varying sizes; annual output — including door-god images, square designs (doufang), screen-hall pieces, miscellaneous strips, rubbings, and case pieces — exceeded 12 million prints, which were sold as far away as Yunnan, Guizhou, Shaanxi, the Qinghai-Tibet region, Hunan and Hubei, and all parts of Sichuan Province. In the early 20th century, Mianzhu woodblock New Year prints began to decline, growing ever more depressed thereafter, and many workshops went out of business. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, apart from Buddhist and Daoist deity subjects, opera themes already appeared in large numbers among Mianzhu woodblock New Year prints: Mianzhu painters drew New Year prints based on Sichuan opera plays, creating works such as “Bai Gou Zheng Feng” (A White Dog Contends for the Phoenix) and “Wu Zi Gao Mu” (Five Sons Accuse Their Mother). After the 1950s, Mianzhu woodblock New Year prints suffered devastating blows in successive political campaigns; many inheritors were deprived of the right to paint, and old printing blocks were also destroyed.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Mianzhu City lies on the northwestern edge of the Sichuan Basin and abounds in bamboo; the most famous local product, Mianzhu bamboo, is an excellent material for papermaking. Beyond traditional door-god images, the subjects of Mianzhu woodblock New Year prints also take in opera stories, landscape and flower-and-bird motifs, scenes recording real life, and auspicious patterns. Print production in different parts of Mianzhu was specialized: the urban center concentrated on rubbings, miscellaneous strips, square designs (doufang), and case pieces, and also took in door-god images; Qingdao Township concentrated on large-robe figures in colored washes; Zundao Township concentrated on beauties and children-at-play themes; and so on. In the heyday of Mianzhu woodblock New Year prints, a guild organization called the “Fuxi Society” (Fuxi Hui) appeared, which spontaneously appraised New Year print products. Mianzhu woodblock New Year prints are closely bound up with local customs; even their pasting up is governed by many rules that must not be broken. The various images in the prints also carry different symbolic meanings and interpretations, and are reflected in or presented through all manner of folk rituals. In terms of genre, Mianzhu woodblock New Year prints are divided into “red goods” and “black goods”: “red goods” are color-painted New Year prints, while “black goods” are woodblock rubbings printed with soot-based ink or cinnabar. The production of Mianzhu woodblock New Year prints includes process steps such as drafting the design, carving the blocks, printing the ink, applying colors, and stamping in flower details. Its artistic features are, first, hand coloring: because the coloring is done by hand, the same block yields different effects; second, symmetrical composition; third, the use of contrasts in hue and tonal value, with particular mastery of gold (as in gold outlining, gold relief, and gold-leaf application). By comparison, however, its most distinctive feature is “tian shuijiao” (literally “filling in the water-foot,” a style of applying leftover pigments). Over the past twenty years, the production of New Year prints has recovered, but the market has begun to shrink; consequently, some inheritors have sold their blocks and laid down their brushes, no longer engaged in making New Year prints.
Archival Records of Process Steps
The production of Mianzhu woodblock New Year prints includes process steps such as drafting the design, carving the blocks, printing the ink, applying colors, and stamping in flower details.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The craft of Mianzhu woodblock New Year prints is mainly distributed in Jiannan Town in the urban area of Mianzhu City and, in the north, Gongxing Town, Qingdao Town, Xinshi Town, Xiaode Town, and other places.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
After the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty, Mianzhu woodblock New Year prints produced famous masters generation after generation without interruption; the present principal inheritors of this craft include Li Fangfu and Chen Xingcai. Chen Xingcai (from the official archive of associated inheritors): male, Han ethnicity, born in 1920, a native of Mianzhu, Sichuan. In 1933 he took his eldest uncle Chen Shijin as his teacher, and has persisted in making New Year prints to this day. Over the decades he has re-carved many works in traditional designs, nearly identical to the old models, preserving the purity of Mianzhu New Year prints. A characteristic of Mianzhu woodblock New Year prints is that the line block serves as the outline rather than a set of registered color blocks; the coloring is painted within the outline according to each artist's individual style. Chen Xingcai's carving technique is highly practiced, and he is thoroughly versed in the methods and conventions of traditional modeling. Chen Xingcai can also color-paint New Year prints, though mostly in small formats. He passed the techniques of block carving and color-painted New Year prints on to his grandsons, who are now all able to work independently. Representative inheritor of Mianzhu woodblock New Year prints, a project of the first national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. In 1994 the Mianzhu County People's Government awarded him the title of “Mianzhu New Year Print Art Master.” In recent years his work “Shuang Yangbian” (Two Raised Whips) was selected for the “Unique Wonders of Chinese Folk Art” exhibition; in 2006 he received the Sichuan Bashu Literature and Art Award. Li Fangfu (from the official archive of associated inheritors): also known as Li Fangfu; male, Han ethnicity, born in August 1932, a native of Mianzhu City, Sichuan Province. At the age of twelve he entered the studio of Huang Anfu, a master of the western school of Mianzhu New Year prints, and around 1949 had already become a well-known print painter. Through years of practice, building on inherited traditional painting techniques, he created new painting methods such as “dotting the eyes” and “laying on the face.” His works cover historical allusions, legendary figures, and folk customs; the images are exaggerated and highly varied, unconstrained by minor details, the brushwork is fluent, and the colors bright, lively, and festive, making the works deeply loved by the common people. He has now passed the New Year print craft on to his son Li Daochun, his daughter Li Hong, and others. Representative inheritor of Mianzhu woodblock New Year prints, a project of the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Chen Xingcai 01-0059
- Li Fangfu 05-2579
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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