Yangliuqing New Year Posters

The town of Yangliuqing, situated on the outskirts of Tianjin, is historically known for its amazing and elegant New Year woodprints and artisans. Since the 1700’s, Yangliuqing has been the centre of vivid and imaginative New Year prints.

The New Year tradition came to Yangliuqing when the folk artist, Huo Yutang moved to the town during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) where he sold festive images engraved on jujube tree bark.  The local villagers soon discovered the financial prospects of creating New Year prints and learnt the skills of Huo Yutang. The tradition of New Year woodcuttings grew into a successful market for Yangliuqing as businessmen would come to the town to buy prints to sell across China during the Spring Festival.

New Year Woodcuttings formed into woodprints in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Painting arts emerged during this time due to the abundance of high quality paper and water colour pigments that were shipped from southern China to the north. Popularity of New Year posters peaked throughout the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). Many Yangliuqing New Year posters were favoured by the imperial family during this time. Hundreds of woodblock craftsmen came to Yangliuqing to set up their workshops and sell their art. By the middle of the Qing Dynasty, hundreds of painting workshops had been built in Yangliuqing with over three thousand craftsmen specializing in New Year woodcuttings and paintings. This was considered the ‘golden era of Yangliuqing’. Most households were involved in the production process of New Year woodprints. Yangliuqing quickly became known as “The Home of the New Year Woodprint”.

The end of the Qing Dynasty saw a sharp decrease in the popularity of New Year posters across China due to social unrest and the Second Opium War (1856-1860).

After many years of neglect, the tradition of New Year posters was reintroduced throughout China after the formation of the People’s Republic of China (1949). In 1958, The Tianjin Yangliuqing Woodprint Workshop was established to help revive the neglected traditional folk art. In the 1960’s, government support and financial help was given to Yangliuqing craftsmen to promote and create New Year posters current to modern ideals and values.

Yangliuqing New year posters combine wood carving, water marking, colour painting and mounting to produce original and stimulating designs and prints. Yangliuqing artisans are especially known for their fine detail of the human face and remarkable skills in calligraphic writing on the New Year prints. Unlike other regional artisans, Yangliuqing artists stand only upright when painting and paint on special door planks. Each painting takes approximately two or three weeks to finish.

Most designs on Yangliuqing New Year posters represent the worker’s good wishes for the New Year and their appreciation for life and art. Themes mainly focus around the activities of the Spring Festival and auspicious topics. The style of Yangliuqing New Year posters originally featured simple backgrounds and followed a strict procedure for designs. In the Jiaqing (1796-1820) and Daoguang (1821-1851) Periods of the Qing Dynasty, the posters began to feature more lively and cheerful images and involved much more colour. There are three main schools for Yangliuqing posters. The Qi School represents posters that are historical in nature while Dai school involves novels and dramas. The Huo school emerged in the late Qing Dynasty and incorporates historical stories with novels and dramas. These three categories became known as the “three powers of Yangliuqing New Year posters”.

Huo Youqing, from the Huo School, is the main Yangliuqing New Year artist who has spent over thirty years reviving the traditional folk art. He established “The Yangliuqing New Year Posters Family Museum” which features many ancient materials and memorabilia of New Year posters including old woodblocks, printing presses and pictures.

The Museum of Yangliuqing New Year Pictures holds a large collection of famous New Year prints from Yangliuqing. It is situated within the courtyard of the Huo family mansion and features many posters created throughout history.

Yangliuqing New Year paintings and woodprints symbolize the essence and joyfulness of the New Year festivities. New images are being combined with old themes to create relevant pictures for modern society. Slowly, the tradition and culture of Chinese New Year posters is being reintroduced to the world of today.