New Year's painting is a unique painting genre in China, and it is also a traditional folk art closely related to New Year's customs, which contains the meaning of blessing the auspicious and festive New Year. Because it is accompanied by the spring celebration and the activities of exorcising evil spirits and avoiding evil, since ancient times, every household in China has to buy some New Year's pictures and paste them in the living room.
New Year paintings originated from the ancient "door god paintings", and their content is rich and diverse, including gods, mascots, etc., which are often expressed in bright colors and vivid images. The main production areas of New Year paintings are Yangliuqing in Tianjin, Taohuawu in Suzhou, Weifang in Shandong, etc., and these New Year paintings in these areas are known for their exquisite production technology and unique artistic style.
Historically, although China's traditional New Year paintings have gradually matured in the recitation of the self-proclaimed system, the definition of the name "New Year paintings" appeared in the late Qing Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, the New Year paintings were called "paper paintings", the Yuan Dynasty called them "cold pictures", the Ming Dynasty called them "painting stickers", in the early Qing Dynasty, Beijing called New Year paintings "Wei paintings", and Hangzhou called them "happy pictures" or "flower paper". Suzhou is called "painting zhang". During the Daoguang period, the term "New Year painting" appeared for the first time, but it was not accepted by people. During the Guangxu period, New Year's paintings were also called "pictures" or "paper paintings". Until the ** period, Shanghai's lithograph paintings were conventionally called "month card New Year paintings". Since then, "New Year paintings" have only been widely used.
In short, New Year paintings are not only an important part of traditional Chinese culture, but also an art form that is popular among the people, and every Spring Festival, people will buy and post New Year pictures to add to the festive atmosphere of the festival.