Text\Figure Tan Lifang
How to spend the traditional Spring Festival? In the new year, what are the simple and sincere wishes of every family? In the past, every New Year's Festival could always find a full range of colorful woodblock prints. They carry the texture of time, inherit the years, and warm the memories.
In the past, when the year came, every household had to paste a bright and colorful woodblock print, in order to remove the old cloth and the new, pray for blessings, and add a lot of happy and peaceful festive atmosphere to the festival. Woodblock prints, once an important role in the Spring Festival, are now gradually disappearing.
▲Shinkaiji Front Ryuan Woodblock Print "Poke The God of the Sword Gate"
Woodblock prints are an ancient folk art of the mainland. To this day, in some rural areas of Xinhui, there are many small monochrome woodblock prints pasted in front of the door, which are commonly known as "runes" by locals. These "runes", with the academic name "Shen Code", are the originators of woodblock prints and the only folk woodblock prints that have survived at xinhui. Compared with the north, Guangdong Xinhui Shen code contains the simple mellow and water town atmosphere of Lingnan Shen Code woodblock prints.
Xinhui folklore is a local feature
Because many rural households in Xinhui still retain the custom of attaching the god code, every year during the Spring Festival, scattered in the countryside, a very small number of folk artists still retain the skill of printing the god code in the temple. After these "runes" are printed, they are generally sold in the temple, and after the local villagers pray for the "runes" in the temple, they take them home and paste them at the door for the purpose of protecting the family in the town house. Due to the differences in the dialects and customs of xinhui, the specific name of this "rune" is also different. For example, the people of Tianma Village call it "Bogong Fu", the People of Shuangshui call it "Gate God Gong", the People of Qibao call it "Niangniang Paper", and so on. The small paper paintings vividly reflect the local folk beliefs.
▲ YamendongNan villagers and artists printed the god code in the Tianhou Temple
In Dongnan Village, Yamen Town, Xinhui, there are folk artists printing different patterns of god codes in dongnan Tianhou Temple. Compared with the traditional multi-color overprinted wooden board New Year paintings, the production process of shen code is relatively simple. Folk artists generally put the woodblock engraved with the idol on the table, brush it evenly on the template with ink, and then lay the red or orange clay copy paper towards the woodblock, and evenly rub the order from the middle and the back two sides, and the small god codes are printed successfully.
▲Yamen Town "Rune" "Wenchang Gong"
Although the process is relatively simple, in the process of making the divine code, every knife and every stroke of the folk artists is pinned on it. The free, rough and simple style of The Xinhui Shen code woodblock prints shows the atmosphere and simplicity of the local vernacular. In terms of modeling, the technique is concise and generalized, boldly using lines to form the outline of the object to be expressed, and highlighting the most representative features in a simplified way, so that the picture is full and full of tension. On the line, because the engraving uses a sharp knife method, the place is particularly carefully carved, dense and transparent, complex and not chaotic, making the line strong and powerful, full of power. In terms of image, he is good at using exaggerated performance techniques to highlight the portrayal of the head of the character, which not only shows the solemnity and might of the god, but also adds to the interest of the picture, which can be instantly fascinating.
Rich in connotation, unique in art
At present, the Xinhui shen code is all over Yamen, Tianma, Sanjiang, Gujing and other townships, with themes including Wenchang Gong, Northern Emperor, Guan Gong, Dragon Mother, etc., such as the Huicheng Tianma Village God Code "Chen Qiao Zushi", it is said that the ancestor of the Chen clan in Tianma Village, the second ancestor of the stone Chen Qiao, escaped into Lushan In the middle of the Yuan Dynasty, riding a crane to ascend the immortals, respected by future generations and happy to print the rune of "Chen Qiao Zushi" in front of the house to commemorate the ancestors and bless the peace of the family.
▲Huicheng Tianma Village God Code "Chen Qiao Ancestor"
In terms of craftsmanship, the artistic level of The Yamen Town Shen code is the most prominent. For example, dongnan village god code "Dragon Mother Heroic Martyr", in the painting of the Dragon Mother Niangniang smiling, wearing a Chinese dress, sitting dignified in the center of the lobby, the left and right sides are also accompanied by exquisite pillar patterns as a background. The whole work emphasizes the solemn shape, taking into account the artistic conception of the silhouette, the picture is coordinated, and the aesthetic sense is full.
▲ Yamen Town Dongnan Village God Code "Dragon Mother Heroic Martyr"
Declining is an intangible cultural heritage
With the rapid pace of economic globalization, the development of Xinhui Shen code prints has become increasingly weak in recent decades. At present, the Folk Woodblock Prints of Xinhui can be roughly divided into two categories. One type is the Xinhui Shen code woodcut prints, that is, "runes", which are monochrome woodblock prints. The other category is the woodblock prints used for festivals, such as the famous "Siqian Long'an Woodblock Prints" of Xinhui, which was excavated and listed as the intangible cultural heritage of Xinhui District in 2005. This type of New Year painting is a color woodcut, and the most special place is that the face part of the figure is painted and dyed in pink, which is rare in the national woodblock prints. In addition, it is different from other multi-color overprints. They are generally coated with artificial color after rubbing the ink line, and at the same time stamped with gold and silver locally, the color is bright and fine. Now, the "Siqian Ryuan Woodblock Prints" with the characteristics of Xinhui are no longer produced, and the only inheritor of the skill, Kanbei, is also in his 80s, and this folk art is facing the dilemma of extinction.
▲New Huisi Qianlong An woodblock print "Heavenly Immortal Sending Son", "Yuanyuan and Di"
These two types of folk woodblock prints in Xinhui are both local folk customs and folk skills, which not only reflect the connotation of folk beliefs in Xinhui and even Lingnan, but also reflect the art form of Xinhui folk woodblock prints in the cultural and ecological vision, which is a very attractive artistic wonder of Guangdong Wuyi folk.
In recent years, more and more folk art has been protected and valued in China, and the folk woodblock prints in many places have been listed as national intangible cultural heritage, and their folk significance, artistic characteristics and cultural values have also been excavated and inherited.
▲Yamendong Kitamura Divine Code "Eight Immortal Treasure Houses"
Danqing has a hundred thousand scenes, all on the New Year's wall. "Nian" is the lingering complex of the Chinese nation, and the expectations of Chinese people around the world for reunion, happiness and a happy life can be said to have reached a peak at this moment. As an important part of the "New Year culture", New Year paintings carry people's yearning for a better life. May this festive folk woodblock print carry the most simple and sincere New Year's wishes of xinhui folk and celebrate the most solemn festival of the whole nation.
Operation | new media department of Rong Media Center in Xinhui District
January 25, Xinhui Overseas Chinese Daily