Editor's Note: This article is produced in collaboration with the Chongqing Institute of Foreign Studies as part of a series of ongoing reports exploring the city's abundant resources in intangible cultural heritages.
Liangping Woodblock Spring Festival Paintings.
On a square plank, there engraves a Spring Festival painting, which represents the quintessence of Chinese folk tales.
Liangping woodblock Spring Festival paintings, originated in the years of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (1522-1566), with a history of more than 500 years, and the rise of the painting has been witnessed by Chongqing People. Hidden in its long history lies the heritage and faith of the Chinese people.
Xu Jiahui is the inheritor of Liangping woodblock Spring Festival paintings, an intangible cultural heritage of Chongqing. Learning the technique from his father at a young age, he has been practicing the art for over three decades. Xu loves woodblock Spring Festival paintings as he loves his child. He is not only the designer of each painting but also the make-up artist of each character that appears in it.
A small plaque with three Chinese words inscribed, "De He Tai”, which means virtue, harmony and peace, hanging on the wall of Xu Jiahui's workshop, located in the Dashui Alley of Pingjin Town, Liangping District. Nevertheless, it is in such a humble workshop where Liangping woodblock Spring Festival paintings are passed down from generation to generation. Throughout the seasons, in front of the workshop always sits a middle-aged man who puts on a scarf in winter and changes into a shirt in summer. But what never changes is the nicking tool he always holds in hand. He sits there all alone, yet the world he depicts never stays the same.
The carving technique of Liangping woodblock Spring Festival paintings was nearly lost when passed down to the sixth generation. However, thanks to Xu Jiahui’s unremitting persistence, this art was successfully retained and revived. Now five apprentices are learning under him. When interviewed by reporters, he said in smile. “I have been fond of making crafts since I was a kid. My families make Spring Festival paintings, so I want to follow in their step. Our engravings are all carved by hand, different from those manufactured by machines. I hope that there will be more people interested in learning our Liangping woodblock Spring Festival paintings and this delicate art can be transmitted through successive generations.”
Spring Festival paintings are the symbol of the Spring Festival. In China, there is a proverb prevalent in rural areas, “You cannot call it a complete Spring Festival when you have fish and meat. It is only complete when Spring Festival paintings are put up”. When Spring Festival approaches, colorful Spring Festival paintings are pasted onto the door of every household. It is Xu Jiahui who has brought this traditional beauty back to people’s life and carried on this special Spring Festival culture.
The traditional woodblock watercolor register method is used in creating this style of New Year painting, resulting in rich and vibrant colors that reflect the diversity of people's lives. The modest and honest figure presented in the painting is a true reflection of the unaffected people. Besides, the neat design of the painting reveals the ingenuity of the artisan. Spring Festival painting can be divided into four categories, namely, Shuihuo, Tuohuo, Qingzhang, and Huajian. These categories vary in their printing quality, with the higher-quality prints representing the nobility and the lower-quality prints representing the common people in ancient times.
In the day-to-day repetitive work, the most crucial step is to apply an oval-shaped pink blush, known as "rouging," on the cheeks of every figure, regardless of their age, gender, or status.
As early as the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912), Liangping woodblock Spring Festival paintings have enjoyed nationwide fame and have been sold well in Southeast Asia. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-1945), Americans participated in the construction of an airport in Liangping. The construction workers and pilots spotted Liangping woodblock Spring Festival paintings and brought them back to their own countries, which were then collected by the national museums of the former Soviet Union, the United States, France, and other countries. It was at that time that this exquisite painting had gone global.
Regardless of the changing times and the advancement of printing technology, machines can never replicate the sense of history and humanity that are unique to those carved by hand. Therefore, it is necessary to keep the exuberance of characters in every painting to extend the long-lasting popularity of these artistic paintings.
Chinese script: Xiao Anhui
Tutored by: Wang Ruqian
Translation: Wu Liang
Tutored by: Zhou Yinzhi, Huang Yan
Voice-over: Wang Xin
Tutored by: Lei Yu