Mianzhu New Year Posters

Mianzhu County, situated in the Southeastern Sichuan Province, is known for its abundance of bamboo resources. Mianzhu New Year woodprints have thrived within this area due to its ability to make high-quality tissue paper from bamboo.

Mianzhu woodprints are classed as one of the four main New Year’s paintings of China along with Yangliuqing, Weifeng and Taohuawu New Year posters. Each region has their own unique style and designs which reflect the local culture.

Mianzhu posters feature pictures of door gods, babies, water, fish and other symbolic images associated with good wishes for the New Year. Each poster represents people’s hopes for happiness, fortune and longevity. Legendary characters such as heavenly officials and the god of wealth are also popular designs. New Year woodprints can come in many forms such as door pictures, square pictures, long horizontal-hanging scrolls and narrow vertical scrolls for screens.

There are four main steps involved in creating a Mianzhu New Year woodprint. The outline of the design is first sketched onto a piece of paper with a pencil. The sketch is then transferred to the printing woodblock through engraving techniques. A print is produced by adding ink to the engraved outline on the woodblock and pressing it onto thin tissue paper. The woodblock poster is then coloured by hand according to the design and artist’s imagination. The same printing block can produce many prints in different colour co-ordinations. This unique step differentiates Mianzhu prints from other woodprint schools in China.

Originating in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Mianzhu New Year woodprints have a long traditional history. The folk art flourished in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) with over one thousand artists producing as many as twelve million woodprints a year in over three hundred Mianzhu workshops. Unfortunately, production gradually decreased towards the end of the Qing Dynasty. The art was severely neglected in the following years with many original woodprints destroyed in the century that followed. In 1980, with support from the central government, the Mianzhu New Year woodprints industry was restored and has continued to grow.

Mianzhu Woodprint posters are one of China’s protected traditional arts. In 2006, it was accepted into the “Intangible Cultural Heritage List” for Chinese tradition fine arts and crafts. With preservation, Mianzhu woodprint posters will continue to bring wishes of good luck and prosperity for the New Year.