Photo/Text Luo Yayang
Entering the Waxing Moon, the air in Luxipu City is filled with the smell of "soaking soup meat", the adults are busy preparing for the New Year, a group of children light firecrackers and quickly throw them on the ground, covering their ears and flashing aside, waiting for the firecrackers to explode. The sound of firecrackers "snapping, popping" in the waxing moon can always pull everyone's tenderness, and it is inevitable that people will feel a little nostalgic.
Lap Yue is the time of homesickness, I have been away from my hometown for 17 years, and I am also homesick when I arrive at La Yue. For some reason, this year's Wax moon has a special urge to see Pushi, pat Pushi, and write about Pushi.
Pushi is an ancient town in its hometown, and it is the first of the four ancient towns in western Hunan Province, and it was once famous for its splendor. In 1990, he joined the "Rural Socialist Education" task force and spent a year in Pushi. Later, because of his work, he went to Pushi many times, but each time he rushed by. In the process of contact with Urawa City, I always felt that Ura City was very unique, but I couldn't tell where Ura City was unique. Sometimes I ask myself: Is the architecture of Urawa unique? It seems that it is not; is the township sound of Pu City unique? Doesn't seem to be right; is the pattern of Pu city unique? It doesn't seem to be accurate. Maybe it was this feeling of being both familiar and strange that made me feel this impulse.
Once, when collecting wind in Pushi, I saw a young man in Hubei Xiao Du in the Li family compound, printing New Year paintings by hand, and when I asked, I knew that he had been in Pushi for six years. Being alone in this place far from home, what makes the guys in Hubei have no New Year painting soil and no New Year painting atmosphere to stick to for six years, which makes me have a strong interest. One weekend, he went to Pushi alone with his equipment to visit Xiao Du.
New Year paintings are an important part of traditional Chinese New Year culture, and Pasting New Year paintings is an indispensable custom and belief in people's lives. The New Year paintings that originated from the Northern Song Dynasty's "Door God" ranged from the earliest peach runes, reed ropes, golden roosters, and divine tigers, to shendi and Yu Lei, and then to the later Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, Wei Chigong, Qin Shubao and Zhong Kui, Tianshi, Dongfang Shuo, and then to twenty-four kinds of six major categories in modern and modern times.
The New Year paintings have pinned on the chinese thousands of years, and the people's good wishes for driving out evil spirits and praying for blessings and good fortunes. Accumulated in China for thousands of years, people's aesthetic orientation and cultural values. With the proliferation of high-rise buildings, the design of single-door access, the imitation of scientific and technological means, and the reproduction of color printing, the handmade New Year paintings that have been circulating for thousands of years have gradually faded out of people's vision. But there are still a group of craftsmen who continue the blood of traditional New Year paintings with love and persistence.
Xiao Du is one of them.
This year's winter is particularly cold, when I went to visit Xiao Du, the sky seemed to be freezing rain, and the drenching on my face made myself who had shrunk into a ball a little more chill.
Xiao Du's handmade New Year Painting Studio was built during the Qing Dynasty during the Qing Dynasty, between the "Li Family Courtyard", the "Li Family Courtyard" and the "Qinglian Shidi". The Li family was one of the large families in Pushi during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the story of "One Gate and Five Counties Order" has been passed down to this day. The "Lee Family Compound" only has two entrances and a hall and a small garden, but now it seems so luxurious, and it is far away from how magnificent it was back then. The descendants of the Li family all worked in other places, so they rented the yard to Mr. Zhu, a member of the Pushi Chinese Artists Association, free of charge to build the Xiangxi Printmaking Institute. Xiao Du is a student of Mr. Zhu, who came to Xiangxi from Hubei to take care of the Xiangxi Printmaking Institute on the one hand, and on the other hand, he used his own specialty to print handmade New Year paintings to subsidize his living needs.
Xiao Du eats and lives in a box room next to the patio, in addition to buying daily necessities on the street, rarely goes out, basically in the courtyard in the first half of the year stereotyped, the second half of the year began to print New Year paintings. Xiao Du's workbench is in the past living room, because it is directly connected with heaven and earth, how many degrees are outdoors, and how many degrees are indoors. I stood for a moment and felt the chill. There is a table lamp on the Xiaodu workbench, which is convenient for observing the overprinting of the New Year painting without deviation. There is a roasting stove at his feet, which is Xiao Du's heating tool. Xiao Du wears a Chinese-style coarse cloth cardigan cotton coat, which looks very thin, and wears a pair of single-sided round-mouth cloth shoes on his feet. I still felt a chill in both the fleece and stormtrooper suits, and the series of movements of coloring, plastering, and overprinting made a thin layer of sweat ooze from his brain. He speaks softly, very quietly, he does things lightly, very quietly, and at first glance he gives people the impression of elegance.
Standing in front of the workbench, it seems that he is the king of this space at this time, authoritative, serious, steady, and focused. Although I stood in front of him, he was only immersed in the world of his new year paintings, not affected by my emotions, not disturbed by my shooting. Just brush the plate again and again, print again and again, print a good one carefully turn over one, and then carefully lay out one, print another, and repeat the cycle, and continue.
Being in his studio and seeing his working state, my emotions were deeply affected by him, and I couldn't help but become quiet and calm. In the whole compound, only the "brush, brush" sound of his printing and the "click, click" of my photo were heard. At this time, between us, language seems to be superfluous, and each of us is quietly feeling the joy and satisfaction brought by different arts to us both.
A large old courtyard, only he lived alone, if I changed to I would not dare. Because night falls, the empty courtyard must be eerily quiet, and those who are accustomed to being surrounded by city lights may flee into the wilderness. But Xiao Du not only lived here alone, but also lived here for six years. For Xiao Du, although there is no lively accompaniment of singing and dancing, there is a quiet stay away from the red dust, and life is enough.
The production process of the New Year painting is very patient and careful. If a line is crooked, it will be torn down and restarted; if the stereotype is too strong, the entire plate will be scrapped; if the printing is not aligned left and right, a New Year painting will be scrapped. It takes two to three months to engrave a plate, five colors to overprint a New Year painting, and hundreds or even thousands of times a day to repeat several actions. During this period, only the inverted lines and Xiao Du looked at each other, and only the "Shendi, Yu Lei" and Xiao Du who jumped into the rice paper looked at each other. Insisting on one day can be, insisting on six years is difficult for ordinary people to do, maybe only Xiao Du can do it.
I asked him, "Are you used to it in Urawa?"
He said: "I'm used to it, I like the tranquility here. ”
In fact, each of us has the peace of our own heart, and many times it is precisely because of the peace in our hearts that we make ourselves happy and happy, so that the neighborhood is harmonious and happy, and the world is peaceful and tranquil. Everyone wants to find, to get, to keep the peace of mind in their hearts, but many times it is just reverie and vision.
It should be the tranquility of the "Li Family Compound" that has been precipitated by the years and the tranquility that Xiao Du longs for in his heart, which has a strong resonance, which is the fundamental reason why Xiao Du has insisted on it for six years.
The current situation of New Year paintings gradually fading out of people's lives is very worrying, but because of Xiao Du's insistence and adherence to New Year paintings in Pushi, the New Year in Pushi has a more traditional taste.
History is like this, constantly turning what was once popular in history into history, and our Spring Festival is not like this. But if our Spring Festival now has more traditional New Year customs such as writing About the Spring Festival, sticking door gods, setting off firecrackers, hanging lanterns, etc., our Spring Festival will definitely have more local characteristics and Chinese taste.
It is late afternoon after leaving Xiao Du's handmade New Year painting studio, and the streets under the street lamps are sparsely populated, and the temperature seems to be lower than during the day. Fortunately, after the "little cold" and "Li Chun" have stepped forward, at that time, the world will be a warm spring and full of beautiful flowers.
I firmly believe that the spring of the New Year painting will also arrive as scheduled, and the future can be expected.
Visiting Xiao Du's handmade New Year painting studio, I learned a lot, learned a lot, and felt a lot. It seems to understand that the uniqueness of Pushi is unique, and foreign artists like Xiao Du have continuously collided with other local cultures, forming a unique fusion culture of Pushi, making Pushi unique and fascinating.
If you come to Urawa, you may wish to check it out too.