Zhao Yincun told the children about the history and culture of Ningjin and Jin. Photo by Julina
In the workshop of the Gongbi Painting Cultural Compound, a student seriously creates works. Profile picture
Tourists take photos at the entrance of the Gongbi Painting Cultural Compound. Profile picture
The spring breeze brushes the green wheat fields with a paintbrush, and the villagers use the brush to draw a better life.
During the Spring Festival, this reporter came to Ningjin County, Hebei Province, a large agricultural county, to visit Chujiazhuang Village, Hequ Town, the "hometown of Chinese gongbi painting." As soon as you enter the village, you will see a picture scroll: the straight streets are clean and tidy, and the walls are hung with quaint wooden window ledges, embedded with vivid and elegant brush strokes. Zhao Yanfei's meticulously cared for Gongbi Painting Cultural Compound is located in this village.
Zhao Yanfei is a local ordinary farmer, who has studied and deeply cultivated the art of brush stroke for many years, and while improving his own artistic level, he insists on educating people with "painting", making "rich" with painting, and constantly doing a great work of brush painting cultural industry. In recent years, the cultural influence of Ningjin County has been expanding, and a cultural road to promote rural revitalization has been gradually explored.
The pulse of the quasi-market, "draw" the road out of poverty
Walking into this cultural compound, the owner is working on the case. "The painting I was painting was inspired by this year's Spring Festival Gala program 'Only This Green', and I invited them from the screen to the painting." Zhao Yanfei said.
On the silk silk as thin as a cicada's wings, a delicate painting has already taken shape: with the famous Chinese painting "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" as the background, a graceful dancer is dressed in flowing clothes and elegant shape. The green landscape is layered and exquisitely conceived.
"This painting has been booked." Zhao Yanfei said with a smile, "The creation of Gongbi painting is mainly based on ladies, flowers and birds, etc., and we keep up with the pulse of the times and create many hot topics." He opened his mobile phone to show his public account video, "During the Beijing Winter Olympics, the work based on the 'ice pier' received a lot of likes!"
Ningjin is the main grain producing area, in the past, most of the peasants relied on rough hands to "planing food in the soil", why did this land "grow" such a delicate and elegant art of brush strokes? How did this authentic peasant man embark on the road of artistic creation?
Zhao Yanfei's father, Zhao Yincun, was an art teacher at a local middle school before he retired, and he was good at painting brush strokes.
"In 1998, I went to Panjiayuan in Beijing with more than a dozen flower and bird works, but I didn't expect that all these paintings were acquired, and they sold for a total of more than 2,000 yuan, which was not a small number at that time." Zhao Yanfei said.
Painting can cultivate self-cultivation, but also to support the family, Zhao Yanfei is keenly aware of the market value of it, and strengthens the confidence of painting. Later, his younger brother Zhao Yanwen also joined in, and the father and son three thought about painting and took the first step of entrepreneurship.
In just a few years, the Zhao family built a new house. Seeing that the Zhao family improved their lives with paintbrushes, some villagers in the surrounding area sent their children to learn painting from teachers.
"At that time, my father set a rule that all those who came to learn painting would not receive any money, and special care should be taken of the disabled. When you come, you have two hands and go with your skills. Zhao Yanfei said.
In the past few years, some disabled children and left-behind women in the village have mastered a skill through the study of brush strokes, some of which can support themselves and some of whom have improved their lives. A few years ago, with the implementation of poverty alleviation, they also recruited some poor households to set up archives as apprentices, helping poor families to start businesses and get rid of poverty. In October 2018, their cultural compound was awarded the "Hebei Provincial Skilled Hand Poverty Alleviation Demonstration Base" by the Hebei Provincial Women's Federation.
Driven by the father and son of the Zhao family, Chujiazhuang Village has gradually become the "hometown of gongbi painting". The number of professional studios in the village has grown to more than 30, and about 300 people in the village paint. Chujiazhuang Village was identified by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs as the fifth batch of national "one village, one product" demonstration villages, and among the selected villages and towns in Hebei Province, Chujiazhuang Gong stroke is the only cultural industry project.
Inherit history and culture, enhance artistic accomplishment
There is a "Ningjin Wenshi Restoration Exhibition Hall" in the Gongbi Painting Culture Compound, and the four walls of the room are covered with long-scroll scrolls, which are Zhao Yincun's masterpieces "16 Scenic Spots of Ancient and Modern Scenic Spots in Ningjin and Jin": "Yao Shun Zen Rang", "Zhuangyuan Chuansong", "Shengxian Wen Temple", "Twilight Drum of The Pavilion", "Ancient Street Stone Fang"... The exquisite pictures seem to bring people back to the ancient county and stroll through the old alleys of the ancient city.
"Nowadays, these old buildings do not exist, and can only be reproduced through paintings, slowly reminiscing." Zhao Yanfei said. Due to various reasons, most of the ancient buildings in Ningjin County have not been preserved, and these 16 paintings restore the cultural prosperity of the hometown in the past, which is particularly precious.
The "treasure of the town hall" here is an 18-meter-long gongbi painting "Anning Jinfu Wenshi Map", which includes pavilions, small bridges and flowing water, city figures, and vendors. This is the style map of the ancient county town of Ningjin created by the three fathers and sons of the Zhao family through visiting local scholars and consulting a large number of literary and historical materials, and after several years of creation. The magnificent momentum, delicate brushstrokes, and meticulous layout show the creator's love for his hometown.
"The Gongbi Painting Cultural Compound is open to the public free of charge all year round, and has received visits from the surrounding masses and extracurricular activities organized by the school many times." Zhao Yanfei said, "By introducing the folk culture of their hometown to the children, telling the historical stories of Ningjin and Jin, such as 'Cao Nai Zhuangyuan', 'Cai Yao's School' and 'Ji Chang Xue Shooting', let the children feel the profound cultural heritage of the land under their feet, draw cultural strength, and cultivate the quality of Chongwen xiangxue and self-improvement." "The cultural compound has been publicizing the excellent history and culture of the hometown, carrying forward the spirit of the times, and spreading the voice of the party."
On March 4, the Beijing Winter Paralympic Games opened at the "Bird's Nest" at the National Stadium. Sun Longpan, a disabled student in the studio, created a work with the theme of short-track speed skating, "Together to the Future", in order to promote the spirit of self-improvement and hard work. "I would like to send this painting to the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee to express the support and love of a disabled person for the Olympic spirit." Sun Longpan said.
In recognition of the contribution of the Zhao family father and son to the dissemination of excellent culture and the enhancement of the artistic accomplishment of the masses, Zhao Yanfei was awarded the "Advanced Collective for Serving Farmers and Serving Grassroots Cultural Construction in Hebei Province" by the Propaganda Department of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee.
Create a characteristic town and expand the cultural industry
On December 29, 2021, under the warm winter sun, the Gongbi Painting Cultural Compound was particularly lively. On this day, the artists of the Chinese Gongbi Painting Society came here to visit, exchange painting skills with peasant friends, and guide peasant painting.
On the same day, the Ningjin County Gongbi Painting Development Conference was held, and experts and scholars from the China Artists Association, the China Gongbi Painting Society and other units gathered together to paint friends, talk about the future, and carry out in-depth exchanges on the high-quality development of Ningjin Gongbi painting and helping rural revitalization.
"At present, Ningjin County's gongbi painting is in a golden period of development waiting to fly. The county actively responds to the strategy of provinces and cities to accelerate the construction of characteristic towns and develop cultural and creative industries, focuses on promoting rural revitalization and achieving common prosperity, and plans to implement two major projects: the promotion of the industrial brush painting industry and the construction of the characteristic town of the river canal work stroke. Wang Tao, secretary of the Ningjin County PARTY Committee, said at the meeting.
The promotion of the Gongbi painting industry is to promote cooperation through the high-end platform, so that Ning Jingong Stroke can embark on the road of brand development. Ningjin County plans to further improve the industrial chain of Gongbi painting, strengthen talent training, continuously improve the quality, cultural connotation and artistic value of paintings, and make full use of the "Internet +" thinking to further develop the Gongbi painting market.
The construction of the Hequ GongBi Painting Town in Ningjin County has brought more hope to the revitalization of the countryside and the Gongbi Painting. "Based on the construction of Gongbi Painting Characteristic Town, taking the 'Rural Revitalization Global Tourism Development Conference' as an opportunity, we will coordinate and promote the integrated development of industry, ecology, cultural tourism and infrastructure construction, and strive to build Hequ Gongbi Town into a model and model for rural revitalization." A person in charge of the Ningjin County Rural Revitalization Bureau said.
Zhao Yanfei, who participated in the Gongbi Painting Development Conference, also shared his plan. "We must take advantage of the east wind of building a characteristic town to develop cultural and creative products of Gongbi Painting, integrate the elements of Gongbi Painting into daily necessities, and continuously expand the cultural industry, so that Gongbi Painting can 'fly into the homes of ordinary people'." In addition, we should also develop some homestay projects, so that tourists and students from all over the country who come to visit and study live in homestays, appreciate paintings, buy paintings, learn paintings, create one-stop services for accommodation, catering, consumption, and sightseeing, and drive the villagers to increase their income and become rich!"
There is already a Danqing covenant, and the countryside is picturesque. The peasant painters of Ningjin are constantly polishing the golden signboard of Gong's brush strokes, exploring a path for the cultural industry to empower rural revitalization and achieve common prosperity.