Revisiting traditional Spring Festival through wood pictures

The International Forum on Contemporary Inheritance of Traditional New Year Pictures opened on Dec 12 and will last until the 16th at the Feng Jicai Institute of Literature and Art, Tianjin University.

Many internationally famous sculptures and paintings are on display during the forum, some of which are hallmarks of social changes and the development of human civilization.

A Door God New Year Picture at the Feng Jicai Institute of Literature and Art, Tianjin University. [Photo/Tianjin University]

Wood-block New Year pictures, a traditional Chinese art form with more than a thousand years' history, are among them. The pictures combine sculpture and painting skills and are often used as decorations to celebrate Spring Festival, particularly in villages.

Rapid urbanization and commercialization in Chinese villages is threatening the inheritance of wood-block New Year pictures, and reducing their number.

A New Year Picture artisan demonstrates the carving process of a New Year wood picture for visitors. [Photo/Tianjin University]

At the opening ceremony of the forum, Feng Jicai, chairman of the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association, said people's indifference to New Year customs is another threat to the survival of such art works. Meanwhile, many elder artisans have passed away with their art traditions left uninherited.

After appeals from the Rescue Project of the Chinese Folk Culture over the past 15 years, Chinese Wood-Block New Year Pictures have finally been listed as a Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Jicai Feng, chairman of the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association, delivers a speech on the current protection work of wood block New Year pictures. [Photo/Tianjin University]

Furthermore, a New Year pictures database and website have been established that better protect the traditional art forms and, because foreign experts are involved, improve their global influence.

Zhang Rongqiang, a 45-year-old New Year picture master in Sichuan province, shared his knowledge on producing such pictures and the importance of maintaining the tradition.

Zhang Rongqiang, an inheritor from Sichuan Province, shares his experiences of exploring original methods of making New Year pictures. [Photo/Tianjin University]

Zhang said that Sichuan has been attempting to recover traditional crafts including New Year Pictures, including the extraction process and use of natural materials.

Experts and representatives of the Russian Embassy in China and the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association at Tianjin University, as well as representatives of Wood-Block New Year Picture circles are attending the forum.