As soon as the gongs and drums sounded, the footsteps of the Spring Festival were approaching. When you close your eyes and feel carefully, you can feel the laughter of family reunion in your ears, the tip of your nose seems to smell the fragrance of colorful flowers in the south, and the tip of your tongue seems to taste the excellent taste ......of hometown specialtiesIn Pujun South Road, Chancheng District, Foshan City, this street, which is called "thin alley" by the elderly, is surrounded by fireworks in the market, and an inconspicuous old shop stands quietly. When people approach, the gold and red New Year paintings and the faint aroma of ink that come into view evoke people's unique memory of "Nian", which is the charm of Foshan woodblock New Year paintings.
After ten years in the arts, Liu Zhongping, the representative inheritor of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative projects of Foshan woodblock New Year paintings, has been on the road of honing skills and inheriting intangible cultural heritage skills. As the Chinese New Year approached, she told the reporter of the Xinhua News Agency the story between her and the woodblock prints of Foshan.
Liu Zhongping, the representative inheritor of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative projects of Foshan woodblock New Year paintings.
"Door Spirit": It contains the expectation of a better life
Foshan woodblock New Year painting is known as "door god line" in the industry, and it is a folk cultural item with the theme of "door god" and other festival characters. Foshan is the main producer of woodblock prints in South China, and the industry was once very prosperous. The handmade Foshan New Year paintings are not only sold in Foshan and Lingnan areas, but also brought to Southeast Asia with the ancestors of the Lingnan area who "went to the South Seas" to make a living.
For a long time, the production skills of Foshan New Year paintings have been mainly inherited by families. Liu Zhongping's master Feng Jun is an old-timer of "Door Shenxing", and he is also called "Door Shenjun" by his peers, and the "Feng Junji" he operates is a time-honored brand in the industry. "'Feng Junji' can be regarded as what we now call IP or brand, listen to my ** Feng Bingtang said that the New Year's paintings made by the master were exempt from inspection when they were exported abroad. And because the master's craftsmanship is very good and he is very honest in business, Feng's old shop has become famous. Liu Zhongping introduced.
Foshan woodblock New Year paintings waiting to dry.
Today, the "fine alley" where Feng's woodblock New Year painting shop is located used to be a gathering place for the industry, and in its heyday, dozens of New Year painting workshops operated here, employing more than 4,000 people. "The more mature the industry grows, the finer its division of labor becomes. At that time, there would be different divisions of labor in the industry, such as painters, engravers, and engravers, such as 'Feng Junji', which was mainly engaged in the process of opening paper and overprinting. Liu Zhongping's ** Feng Bingtang grew up in the "fine alley" since he was a child, and learned the craft of making woodblock New Year pictures from his father.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, with the development of the times and society, woodblock New Year paintings gradually declined. The "thin alley" has also changed from a gathering place for New Year's painting shops to a residential area full of smoke and fire. In 1998, Feng Bingtang, who had already retired, learned about the country's support for traditional handicrafts at that time, coupled with the demand for New Year paintings in old neighborhoods, Feng Bingtang, who had a sense of mission to inherit family skills, decided to reopen Feng's woodblock New Year painting shop at the original site of the old shop in "Xixiang".
Liu Zhongping said with emotion, "When people are there, the skills are there." Although I hadn't been in contact with woodblock prints for more than ten years, the skills I learned from his father since I was a child would not disappear, but it would take time to become proficient again. In addition, after deciding to revitalize woodblock New Year paintings, I also spent a lot of time and energy to find a master to learn again, and constantly improve my craft. ”
The tools you need to carve woodblocks.
The main processes of Foshan woodblock New Year paintings include creation, engraving, printing ink line, overprinting, gold painting, opening phase, filling Dan, etc., each process has its own exquisiteness. "For example, in the creative stage, there will be professional painters who design the sketch according to the subject matter and theme. Since the subsequent engraving will be carried out, the lines of the sketch should not be too dense and too thin, otherwise the printed lines will not be clear enough. In addition, there should not be too much white space in the middle of the pattern, otherwise the paper will collapse when printing. She continued, "And because the New Year paintings represent auspiciousness and festivity, we require that 'the picture must be intentional and auspicious', and every element on the drawing must have its corresponding meaning." ”
The unique processes of Foshan woodblock New Year paintings integrate the unique Lingnan regional culture, which is also the highlight of Foshan woodblock New Year paintings compared with woodblock New Year paintings in other regions. Because the people of Lingnan pay attention to festivity and auspiciousness during the Spring Festival, the New Year pictures posted at home must be red, and this concept is reflected in the production process of Foshan woodblock New Year paintings, and there is an additional process of "filling in the Dan", that is, after printing the main character of the New Year paintings, the background color of the paper is painted red with paint. She smiled, "How do you recognize Foshan New Year paintings in the Chinese woodblock New Year painting exhibition?" First of all, if the background color of the door god is red, then there is a 99% probability that it is from Foshan; Look at it again, if you feel that the New Year painting is very grand or has rich gold painting, it is definitely the Foshan New Year painting. "The golden and red New Year paintings contain the traditional customs of the Lingnan people to celebrate the Spring Festival and their expectations for a better life in the New Year.
"Red Tongtong" Foshan woodblock New Year paintings.
There are many kinds of woodblock New Year paintings in Foshan, in addition to the "door god paintings", "god portrait paintings", "customs paintings of the year", as well as paintings of daily decoration items and folk sacrifices and religious beliefs, are collectively referred to as "Foshan woodblock New Year paintings". "Portrait paintings" occupy a considerable proportion of Foshan woodblock New Year paintings, from Confucianism, Taoism and Taoism to industry gods, which is also another feature of Foshan woodblock New Year paintings. "The expressions of the gods in the Foshan woodblock New Year paintings are very kind, even the statue of Zhong Kui also contains the beautiful meaning of 'leading blessings (bats) to return to the church'. She said that this is because Lingnan's concept of "harmony generates wealth" and "family and everything prospers" are integrated into the creation of Foshan woodblock New Year paintings.
Ten years of learning art: bury yourself in craftsmanship and look up at the world
Since 2014, Liu Zhongping, who has been in contact with Foshan woodblock prints for 10 years, considers himself a "practical player". She majored in tourism management at university, and at the recommendation of a friend, she came to Feng's woodblock New Year painting shop in 2014 as a docent. She believes that although she is only a docent, if she wants to really tell the story of intangible cultural heritage skills and "understand" this skill, she cannot read from the script, but try and fully experience the various processes of the skills by herself.
It's a craft, and visitors come to our shop not only to hear our stories and see our works, but also to try and experience it themselves, so I have to have a clear understanding of the whole process. So, in between her work as a docent, she started to learn slowly by matching colors. Her earnestness and hard work were also seen by **, and gradually taught her more knowledge and skills about woodblock prints.
Master Fung Bingtang (right) and Liu Zhongping (left).
On the road of learning art, Master Feng Bingtang's earnest teachings to Liu Zhongping benefited her throughout her life. "*The ideas that have been conveyed to me have a profound impact not only on learning and art, but also on being a person and for the future development. Liu Zhongping recalled, learning handicrafts is not like doing objective questions with standard answers, at a certain point in time may not be able to achieve "perfect", but do not rush to continue to hone, to a certain critical point will be opened, "* let me not be so anxious, when the practice reaches a certain level, 'paper will tell you, woodblock will tell you, carving knife will tell you'." ”
*He is also very concerned about current affairs and social changes", she continued, not only burying his head in crafts every day, but also looking up to see what is happening and changing in the world, "This also affects the apprentices, and we often go to the community and the market to set up stalls and pay attention to the needs and preferences of the current audience of New Year paintings." ”
Four-color overprinted Foshan woodblock New Year painting.
In 2019, after the death of Master Feng Bingtang, Liu Zhongping inherited the craft of woodblock prints with his mother and brother, while summing up his experience in learning art and constantly improving his skills. Zhong Ping is really attentive, and until now she continues to learn from teachers and wants to pass on this skill. Master Feng Bingtang's wife and Liu Zhongping's wife said to the reporter of the Xinhua News Agency with great emotion.
Artists often need to go through a boring and repetitive process, but Liu Zhongping can always face it with a steady mind. "Before I started to study, I used to read at my desk all day, so I knew I could 'sit still'. In the novice period of learning art, I was also mentally prepared, knowing that I would definitely go through the process of self-doubt, self-denial and encounter bottlenecks, as long as I kept telling myself that this was the only way to be an apprentice, I didn't think it was a big difficulty, and I would definitely be able to cross this hurdle. ”
She believes that in addition to asking the old-timers for their skills, they should also learn their mentality. * I once said that we are making works with auspicious meanings, and if we create them with a depressed mood, then this negative emotion will be conveyed to the audience through the work. Therefore, I don't put too much pressure on myself and always leave myself the option to 'give up', so that I can go on more comfortably. Liu Zhongping said frankly, "I don't dare to say that I have always been very determined, but I have unknowingly gone through 10 years on the road of art." With an eye to the future, I just need to be firm in every step in front of me. ”
Woodblock and carving tools in progress.
In her opinion, the greatest value of New Year's paintings is that they convey people's yearning for a better life. "Behind each work, there is an imagination of a happy future in the mind of a person or a family at different stages, and it is presented through auspicious patterns or god statues. ”
The decline and revitalization of woodblock New Year paintings are all related to 'people'. This is a point that Liu Zhongping firmly grasps in inheriting and carrying forward woodblock New Year paintings. "I've always wondered, 'What else do people want now?' The inheritor has to awaken these needs, create new ones, and adapt them to the needs of the users. ”
Intangible Heritage: Planting Seeds and Reviving Vitality
Intangible cultural heritage is the true witness and continuation of history, the cultural wealth that our ancestors have preserved in modern society through the use of daily life, and the "root" and "soul" of a nation. With the development of society and the emergence of modern production technology, the audience and market scale of Foshan woodblock New Year paintings have shrunk for a time, but as the country promotes the creative transformation and innovative development of intangible cultural heritage, and enters a new era, Foshan woodblock New Year paintings, the pearl of Lingnan culture, have regained their brilliance.
Liu Zhongping was impressed by the opportunity to participate in the Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritance Group Research and Training Program (hereinafter referred to as the "Training Program"). The program aims to provide academic and teaching resources from universities for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage, and to help intangible cultural heritage inheritors improve their professional and technical capabilities and sustainable development capabilities, and improve the level of intangible cultural heritage protection and inheritance by organizing intangible cultural heritage inheritors to go to universities to learn professional knowledge, research skills and technologies, and carry out exchanges, seminars and practices. At the same time, she was also selected for the "Lingnan Height" Lingnan 100 Young Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritors Support Program in the New Era initiated by the Guangdong Lingnan Culture and Art Promotion Association, continuously deepening her knowledge and understanding of the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage skills.
Liu Zhongping was awarded the "First Most Beautiful Intangible Cultural Heritage Person in Guangdong Province".
In 2016, I entered the Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University through a training program, and gradually introduced some new concepts to woodblock prints. It not only improved the production skills of woodblock New Year paintings, but also learned how to inherit intangible cultural heritage items. She said that she was very fortunate to have the opportunity to study not long after entering the industry, which saved her a lot of detours, especially through the guidance of teachers, and gained a new understanding of brand building.
I started to consciously build the inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage brand relatively early, so now that our brand is known by more audiences, I plan to cultivate my own IP in the next step. When the inheritor has a certain plan and direction for the development of the intangible cultural heritage brand, he will also focus on it when creating. ”
At present, Liu Zhongping is starting to promote the "Feng Family" Foshan woodblock New Year painting century-old shop and "Anxiety Relief New Year Painting Shop", two brands aimed at different audience groups. "'Century-old shops' are mainly traditional woodblock prints, like the people's cultural self-confidence is constantly increasing, and some classic, original works are still in the market. The 'New Year's Painting Shop' presents new elements and connotations, and now we are constantly exploring. ”
Liu Zhongping carried out Foshan woodblock New Year painting experience activities.
Among them, in view of the characteristics of contemporary young people, Liu Zhongping innovatively proposed the concept of "resurrection of the gods", that is, to tell the traditional stories and auspicious meanings contained in the New Year paintings in the language that young people are interested in, which has aroused widespread attention and discussion among young people and students. For example, through the "single artifact" and "peach blossom luck" to interpret the harmony and two immortals who bless marriage in traditional stories; Through "every exam must pass" to interpret the "test god" and champion and first place to bless learning; "One hundred million" is used to interpret the ...... of the God of Wealth, which symbolizes bringing wealthThrough a new form of blessing and wishing, the interaction and connection between New Year's pictures and young people are built, so that New Year's pictures can truly enter the lives of young people in the new era and be known by more people.
My philosophy is that the best museum for New Year's paintings is in everyone's home. Through the form of 'resurrection of the gods', different groups can express their wishes through New Year's paintings, such as children's New Year's pictures of 'every exam', parents' New Year's pictures of seeking wealth and career, and the elderly's New Year's pictures of health or birthday. According to reports, driven by the demand of young people eager to experience intangible cultural heritage skills, Liu Zhongping also upgraded the New Year's painting handicraft experience class to the "New Year's Painting Happiness Class" to further enrich the experience of traditional intangible cultural heritage skills, so that young people can get more satisfaction in the production process of New Year's paintings.
Liu Zhongping carried out the activity of "New Year's Painting Happiness Class".
In addition, we have spared no effort to promote intangible cultural heritage into the campus and community, and have achieved gratifying results. Liu Zhongping said that now the country vigorously promotes intangible cultural heritage skills and revitalizes traditional crafts, such as woodblock New Year paintings and a number of traditional skills through the "intangible cultural heritage into the campus", "intangible cultural heritage bazaar" and "intangible cultural heritage classroom" and other forms, appear in the life and campus of "post-00" and "post-10" children, so that they have an impression and understanding of traditional skills from an early age, and further promote the inheritance of traditional skills.
In terms of promoting intangible cultural heritage skills, Foshan has a very favorable policy. She said that under the promotion of the Nanhai District Education Bureau, in the summer of 2023, students in the district can choose to experience intangible cultural heritage skills such as Foshan woodblock New Year paintings, lion head color ties, and paper-cutting, "During the summer vacation, we held more than 50 woodblock New Year painting experience courses in 45 days, combining propaganda content with handicraft experience, and each session was 'full'." Through the method of "moisturizing things silently", the seeds of intangible cultural heritage have been planted in the hearts of children.
During the Spring Festival in 2024, Foshan woodblock New Year paintings will enter Guangzhou South Railway Station.
Stepping into the new year, Liu Zhongping also has her own plan for future development, and is moving forward step by step. "It is difficult for a person to go further, so I am currently actively seeking cooperation, such as cooperating with universities to set up 'intangible cultural heritage colleges' or 'master studios', etc., to further inherit intangible cultural heritage skillsOr cooperate with excellent designers and illustrators to give New Year's pictures a new look. At the same time, she hopes to be able to record the sincere teachings of the first and her own art experience, as the basis of the New Year's painting course or New Year's painting education, and continue to enrich and pass it on.
"My Craft Life" is a record written by Liu Zhongping in her circle of friends for her career in art, more than 3,700 days and nights, witnessing what she saw, thought and felt in honing her skills. The Spring Festival is approaching, and Liu Zhongping is still shuttling around Guangzhou and Foshan, running on the front line of promoting intangible cultural heritage skills. Intangible cultural heritage skills embody the crystallization of the wisdom of our ancestors and have planted seeds in the long history. In a new era, seeds are rooted in more fertile soil and continue to draw nutrients. With the efforts of groups of intangible cultural heritage inheritors, intangible cultural heritage skills have been integrated with the elements of the new era, flourishing and constantly rejuvenating. (Xinsha).