The picture shows Zhao Quanxi, a peasant painter from Wanggongzhuang Village in Minquan County, Henan Province, creating a tiger painting. Courtesy of respondents
(New Year to the grassroots) "The first village of Chinese painting tigers": from poor jingle to "riding" tigers to run well-off
Zhongxin Network Zhengzhou, February 14 Title: "China's First Village of Painting Tigers": From Poor Jingdang to "Riding" Tigers to Running Well-off
China News Network reporter Han Zhangyun
During the Spring Festival holiday that just passed, Wang Jianfeng hardly rested, and after the relatives and friends of the New Year dispersed, he poured all his thoughts on the painting case and rushed to make a tiger painting order from Jilin Province.
Wang Jianfeng is a peasant painter in Wanggongzhuang Village, Beiguan Town, Minquan County, Henan Province, whose village is "the first village of Chinese painting tigers". More than 900 of the more than 1,300 people in the village are engaged in painting and related industries, and the farmers who hoe the hoe turn into painters, opening up a unique way to get rich.
In early spring, walking into Wanggongzhuang Village, the village is neat and elegant, with many galleries, painting houses, painting halls, and painting halls lined up along the main road, and every household in the village hangs tiger paintings, and every household has a tiger painter.
The Tiger in the Year of the Tiger is the protagonist, and the tiger painting business in Wanggongzhuang Village has reached a climax, with orders from all over the country. "In October 2021, the village received a batch of orders from Jilin Province, ordering 800 Gongbi Tiger Paintings." Wang Jianfeng told reporters that the members of the "Wanggongzhuang Village Painters Association" undertook the drawing of this batch of orders, and now the orders have been nearly completed.
Painting tigers and selling tiger paintings are the pillar industries of Wanggongzhuang Village, but earlier it was a different picture. "Wang Gongzhuang, poor, poor, not enough to eat, go to escape..." A few words can glimpse the poverty of this village located on the old road of the Yellow River.
In the 1990s, the villagers of Wanggongzhuang who went out to seek a living found that tiger paintings in the market were very popular, and under the guidance of the village painters, the villagers began to copy tiger paintings, and the people of eastern Henan regarded the tiger as a town house and an auspicious spiritual object, known as the tradition of xihu, so the peasant tiger paintings of Wanggongzhuang sold at a good price in the market.
During the Spring Festival of the Year of the Tiger, peasant painter Zhao Quanxi created a series of paintings of the Tiger. Courtesy of respondents
After years of exploration, the villagers of Wanggongzhuang innovatively mixed the brush and the oil painting when painting the tiger, and the tiger hair on the paper was clear, powerful and soft, and the tiger painting was atmospheric and full of charm, and the artistic charm was unique. The market price of tiger paintings in Wanggongzhuang Village has also risen steadily, and now a tiger painting can sell for thousands of yuan.
Nowadays, the paintings of Wanggongzhuang Village are mainly gongbi paintings with tigers as the main theme, and also painting landscapes and landscapes such as female insects and fish. More than 90% of the paintings in the village are sold for production, and 30% of the works are exported to Japan, South Korea, Bangladesh and other countries and regions.
In order to promote the healthy development of the painting industry, Wanggongzhuang Village set up a farmers' painting cooperative to sell paintings on the e-commerce platform, and the villagers' online live broadcast of paintings also greatly increased their income. In 2021, the village created more than 90,000 paintings, with a sales output value of nearly 100 million yuan.
The change of the painting tiger to the village of Wang Gongzhuang is obvious. Zhao Quanxi is the second generation of painters in the village, and his family's house has been expanded twice because of the rich income brought by painting tigers, and there are studios and exhibition halls upstairs and downstairs. "Now young people like cute pets, and in the Year of the Tiger, I created a group of anime tiger works, which are cute and very popular with young people." Zhao Quanxi said that the sound of the tiger is like "blessing", "Many people buy tiger paintings in the Year of the Tiger is also an auspicious one, and tiger paintings also bring wealth to the village." ”
With the increase in the market popularity of wanggongzhuang peasant tiger paintings, more and more tourists come here to visit, observe and learn art. At the end of 2021, the Wanggongzhuang Cultural Tourism Scenic Spot was awarded the National 4A Level Tourist Scenic Spot, and the newly completed maker center and tourist reception center in the village have been put into use. Wanggongzhuang Village is transforming into a famous gongbi painting creation, sales distribution center and cultural tourism scenic spot in the country.
"A painting, ten acres of grain, riding a tiger to run a well-off." Now, a new song is sung in the village of Wanggongzhuang... (End)