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New Year picture

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A New Year picture ( Chinese : 年 画 ; pinyin : níanhùa ) is a popular Banhua in China. It is a form of colored woodblock print , used for decoration and the performance of rituals during the Chinese New Year Holiday. In the 19th and 20th centuries some printers began to use the genre to depict current events.

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35-568: The origins of the "New Year picture" are unknown, although the genre is thought to have begun with the printing of door gods during the Tang dynasty . By the 19th century door gods were joined by other household protective and auspicious deities including the Kitchen God , and the God of Wealth. Images of women and babies were common, as were depictions of New Year observances, popular narratives, and depictions of

70-544: A Chinese religious tradition characterised by a concern for salvation (moral fulfillment) of the person and the society. They are distinguished by egalitarianism , a founding charismatic person often informed by a divine revelation , a specific theology written in holy texts , a millenarian eschatology and a voluntary path of salvation, an embodied experience of the numinous through healing and self-cultivation, and an expansive orientation through evangelism and philanthropy . Some scholars consider these religions

105-549: A Confucian identity, with the foundation of the Holy Confucian Church of China which aims to unite in a single body all Confucian religious groups. Many of the movements of salvation of the 20th and 21st century aspire to become the repository of the entirety of the Chinese tradition in the face of Western modernism and materialism, advocating an "Eastern solution to the problems of the modern world", or even interacting with

140-610: A class of civil door gods intended to attract blessings and good fortune. Some deities are also thought to have guardians who serve a similar role at their temples, such as Mazu 's companions Qianliyan and Shunfeng'er . The 10th chapter of the Chinese novel Journey to the West includes an account of the origin of door gods. In it, the Dragon King of the Jing River disguised himself as

175-460: A human to outsmart the fortune teller Yuan Shoucheng. Since he was able to control the weather, he made a bet with Yuan about Chang'an 's forecast for the next day. He was nonplussed, however, when he received an order from the Jade Emperor telling him to give the city precisely the weather Yuan had predicted. The Dragon King preferred to win the bet and disregarded the order, going to Yuan to gloat

210-1326: A ritual for a sacrifice to the door spirit of a wealthy home recorded in the Book of Rites . In modern China, door gods do not make up a formal element of Taoism and are included as traditional decorations or as nods to popular superstition. There are, however, some deities worshipped for other reasons—including the Azure Dragon , the White Tiger , and Mazu 's companions Qianliyan and Shunfeng'er —who also serve as door gods at Taoist temples. Door gods are called Munsin in Korea. The following persons, some of whom are mythological figures, are known to have been worshipped as door gods. 1983 Shaw Brothers Movie Of Ghosts Galore Starring Chin Siu Ho And Chiang Kam In A Final Fight Against A Japanese Sorcerer ( Hwang Jang Lee ). Chinese salvationist religions Model humanity: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: Chinese salvationist religions or Chinese folk religious sects are

245-498: A single group they are said to have the same number of followers of the five state-sanctioned religions of China taken together. Scholars and government officials have been discussing to systematise and unify this large base of religious organisations; in 2004 the State Administration of Religious Affairs created a department for the management of folk religions. In the late 2015 a step was made at least for those of them with

280-416: A single phenomenon, and others consider them the fourth great Chinese religious category alongside the well-established Confucianism , Buddhism and Taoism . Generally these religions focus on the worship of the universal God ( Shangdi ), represented as either male, female, or genderless, and regard their holy patriarchs as embodiments of God. "Chinese salvationist religions" ( 救度宗教 jiùdù zōngjiào )

315-507: Is a contemporary neologism coined as a sociological category and gives prominence to folk religious sects' central pursuit that is the salvation of the individual and the society, in other words the moral fulfillment of individuals in reconstructed communities of sense. Chinese scholars traditionally describe them as "folk religious sects" ( 民间宗教 mínjiān zōngjiào , 民间教门 mínjiān jiàomén or 民间教派 mínjiān jiàopài ) or "folk beliefs" ( 民间信仰 mínjiān xìnyǎng ). They are distinct from

350-423: Is complete. In some production centers, most notably Yangliuqing, only the outline is printed while all of the colors are added manually. In other locations such as Mianzhu the pictures are drawn and colored entirely by hand. These traditional techniques survive in the present day, although most New Year pictures are now produced through chromolithography and color offset printing. The content of New Year pictures

385-408: Is diverse, but several main themes can be identified: Door gods Model humanity: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: Menshen , or door gods , are divine guardians of doors and gates in Chinese folk religions , used to protect against evil influences or to encourage

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420-532: Is widely regarded as being the most prominent and influential contributor to the New Year Picture industry. Although there are few reliable records on which to base the early history of New Year pictures, Wang Shucun argues that they were popularized during the Ming dynasty. This development can be attributed to Ming government policy, the spread of popular novels, the development of woodblock printing techniques. and

455-579: The Book of Rites . Some scholars even find influences from Manichaeism , Mohism and shamanic traditions . In the Ming and Qing dynasties many folk religious movements were outlawed by the imperial authorities as "evil religions" ( 邪教 xiéjiào ). With the collapse of the Qing state in 1911 the sects enjoyed an unprecedented period of freedom and thrived, and many of them were officially recognised as religious groups by

490-452: The Chinese folk religion consisting in the worship of gods and ancestors, although in English language there is a terminological confusion between the two. The 20th-century expression for these salvationist religious movements has been "redemptive societies" ( 救世团体 jiùshì tuántǐ ), coined by scholar Prasenjit Duara . A collective name that has been in use possibly since the latter part of

525-612: The Emperor Taizong of the Tang was being plagued by nightmares, he ordered portraits of his generals Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong to be affixed to gates. They eventually came to be considered divine protectors , replacing Shentu and Yulü and remaining the most common door gods to the present day. Qin and Yuchi, along with various other deified military leaders, make up a class of martial door gods intended to ward off evil spirits and bad influences. A separate group of scholars make up

560-705: The First Sino-Japanese War , the Boxer Rebellion , and railways. These themes and events have no connection with the New Year, and so the appropriateness of the New Year Picture nomenclature is questionable. Nonetheless, all images created by traditional printers are typically categorized as such. New Year pictures were printed throughout China. The best known production sites include Yangliuqing (Tianjin), Yangjiabu (Shandong), Wuqiang (Hebei), Fengxiang (Shaanxi), Taohuawu (Suzhou), and Mianzhu (Sichuan). Yangliuqing ,

595-475: The Tang . In cases where a door god is affixed to a single door, Wei Zheng or Zhong Kui is commonly used. The gates and doors of Chinese houses have long received special ritual attention. Sacrifices to a door spirit are recorded as early as the Book of Rites . By the Han , this spirit had become the two gods Shenshu and Yulü , whose names or images were painted into peachwood and attached to doors. When

630-480: The early republican government . The founding of the People's Republic in 1949 saw them suppressed once again, although since the 1990s and 2000s the climate was relaxed and some of them have received some form of official recognition. In Taiwan all the still existing restrictions were rescinded in the 1980s. Folk religious movements began to rapidly revive in mainland China in the 1980s, and now if conceptualised as

665-846: The Jade Emperor's order, and was delighted when Wei grew so tired with the long game that he fell asleep. A little while later, however, the Great Ancestor was told that a dragon's head had fallen from the sky. Wei awoke and told him that his spirit had left his body during his nap and gone to Heaven to carry out the Jade Emperor's order. The annoyed spirit of the Dragon King then haunted the Great Ancestor each night until his generals Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong volunteered to stand guard at his door. The emperor enjoyed his peaceful sleep but did not want to continue bothering his two generals. In their place, he had artists paint their portraits and paste them to

700-457: The Ming dynasty has been connected with the local production of New Year pictures. It contains a production room, a display room ( WangFang ; Chinese: 望房), an accountant's office, guest rooms, and rooms for the workshop's owner. The organization of the workshop indicates the New Year picture artisans' business model, whereby the artisans both produce and market their wares. The introduction of mechanized printing and changing aesthetic preferences in

735-533: The Qing dynasty is huìdàomén ( 会道门 "churches, ways and gates"), as their names interchangeably use the terms huì ( 会 "church, society, association, congregation"; when referring to their corporate form), dào ( 道 "way") or mén ( 门 "gate[way], door"). Their congregations and points of worship are usually called táng ( 堂 "church, hall") or tán ( 坛 "altar"). Western scholars often mistakenly identify them as " Protestant " churches. The Vietnamese religions of Minh Đạo and Caodaism emerged from

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770-411: The artist draws a rough sketch on paper. Second, the rough sketch is carved in relief on a woodblock. Third, separate blocks are carved for each of the colors to be added. Finally, the printer inks the outline block and presses paper onto its surface using a stiff brush. The procedure is repeated for each of the color blocks. In some cases color may be added by hand. The chromatic woodblock New Year picture

805-403: The court of the Emperor Taizong of the Tang —to execute him at noon the following day. He told him his best course of action was to ask Taizong for help and, taking pity on the Dragon King, the emperor agreed to save him. In order to do so, the emperor summoned Wei Zheng to play go with him in the morning. He endeavored to keep Wei from leaving until after noon, preventing him from carrying out

840-406: The development of large-scale production and marketing through New Year picture workshops (Chinese: 畫坊) (Pinyin:Huà fāng). Given the seasonal nature and ephemeral quality of New Year pictures, very few authentic examples can be dated to before the 19th century. Nonetheless, it is believed that the industry flourished from the late-Ming dynasty and throughout the Qing. In Weifang a workshop built in

875-400: The doors. This was then copied by his subjects. In modern use, door gods are usually printed images which are pasted to paired doors. They are usually replaced every Chinese New Year . Occasionally, they are sculpted in relief or placed as statues to either side of a door. The figures should face each other; it is considered bad luck to place them back to back. In ancient China, there was

910-583: The early 20th century posed a serious challenge to New Year picture printers, and production declined until by the 1930s only a few workshops could be found in the formerly prosperous printing centers like Yangliuqing and Yangjiabu. During the Anti-Japanese War of Resistance the Chinese Communist Party realized the propaganda potential of "peasant art" and began to promote "New New Year pictures". The traditional industry, however, did not recover and

945-538: The entrance of positive ones. They began as the divine pair Shenshu ( Chinese : 神荼 ; Jyutping : San syu ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī : Sîn-su ) and Yulü ( Chinese : 鬱壘 ; Jyutping : Wat leot ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī : Ut-lu̍t ) under the Han , but the deified generals Qin Shubao ( Chinese : 秦叔寶 ; Jyutping : Ceon Suk bou ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī : Chîn Siok-pó ) and Yuchi Gong ( Chinese : 尉遲恭 ; Jyutping : Wat ci Gung ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī : Ut-tî Kiong ) have been more popular since

980-589: The label "secret sects" ( 秘密教门 mìmì jiàomén ) to distinguish the peasant "secret societies" with a positive dimension of the Yuan, Ming and Qing periods, from the negatively viewed "secret societies" of the early republic that became instruments of anti-revolutionary forces (the Guomindang or Japan ). Many of these religions are traced to the White Lotus tradition ("Chinese Maternism", as mentioned by Philip Clart ) that

1015-497: The modern discourse of an Asian -centered universal civilisation. The Chinese folk religious movements of salvation are mostly concentrated in northern and northeastern China, although with a significant influence reaching the Yangtze River Delta since the 16th century. The northern provinces have been a fertile ground for the movements of salvation for a number of reasons: firstly, popular religious movements were active in

1050-418: The next day. Yuan remained calm and revealed that he had known the Dragon King's identity all along. Moreover, since the dragon had been so arrogant as to disregard an order from the Jade Emperor, his doom would be short in coming. The dragon was shocked to see his disobedience known and immediately pleaded with Yuan to save him. Yuan let him know that the Jade Emperor would send Wei Zheng —a senior minister from

1085-492: The region already in the Han dynasty , and they deeply penetrated local society; secondly, northern provinces are characterised by social mobility around the capital and weak traditional social structure, thus folk religious movements of salvation fulfill the demand of individual searching for new forms of community and social network. According to the Chinese General Social Survey of 2012, approximately 2.2% of

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1120-494: The same tradition of Chinese folk religious movements. A category overlapping with that of the salvationist movements is that of the "secret societies" ( 秘密社会 mìmì shèhuì , or 秘密结社 mìmì jiéshè ), religious communities of initiatory and secretive character, including rural militias and fraternal organisations which became very popular in the early republican period, and often labeled as " heretical doctrines" ( 宗教异端 zōngjiào yìduān ). Recent scholarship has begun to use

1155-552: The theater. Customarily, as each Chinese New Year arrives, every family replaces its New Year picture in order to "say goodbye to the Past and welcome the Future" (Chinese: 辞 旧 迎 新 ). In the late-19th and early 20th century woodblock printers began to supplement traditional religious and folkloric themes with depictions of current events and modern themes including the Sino-French War ,

1190-455: Was already active in the Song dynasty ; others claim a Taoist legacy and are based on the recovery of ancient scriptures attributed to important immortals such as Lü Dongbin and Zhang Sanfeng , and have contributed to the popularisation of neidan ; other ones are distinctively Confucian and advocate the realisation of a "great commonwealth" ( datong 大同 ) on a world scale, as dreamt of in

1225-524: Was nearly extinguished by the 1960s. Following the Cultural Revolution efforts were made to recover New Year pictures as a heritage industry, and workshops can now be found in most of the larger production centers. Production method: hand drawn pictures, woodblock printing, watermark trapping, half-drawing and half-painting, lithography, offset printing, and so on. Usually, chromatic woodblock New Year picture production follows four steps: First,

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