Chapter 31 Memories of New Year Pictures

A few days ago, I was chatting at the house of my old friend Zhang Yuci, just in time for him to open his suitcase to get a leather jacket to keep out the cold. At the bottom of the suitcase, he found several New Year pictures brought from the mainland to Taiwan. In the lower right corner of each picture, there is Covered with a small ink paper produced by Dai Lianzeng, because it is wrapped in a curtain of fine cattail grass, not only is it not wrinkled, but even the color has not changed. One is "Jiqing Youyu", a chubby boy with two buns on his head, a red belly with black cloud head around his neck, and a big carp jumping around in his arms.One is the year when the family received the God of Wealth to make dumplings on the 30th night. The children wore cotton jackets and trousers, covered their ears and put Taiping flowers on their ears.The fire in the house was raging, and women, young and old, gathered together. Some sat on the kang to make dumplings, and some were holding dumplings wrapped in a dustpan, and were about to send them to the stove for cooking.Another woman was standing in front of the stove, using a colander to put the dumplings on the plate.The whole family is happy and harmonious, which is the year of New Year's Eve for ordinary families in the north.

The other one is a story in the novel "The Black Demon Fox Explores the Sky Tower at Night". The King of Xiangyang stole the emperor's crown robe and shoes from the white chrysanthemum Yan Fei and put them on the Sky Tower full of various institutions.The black demon fox Zhihua went upstairs at night, but was unfortunately caught by the crescent guillotine upstairs. Fortunately, there was a treasure bag hanging on the lower abdomen for cushioning. Although the skin was not injured, he couldn't get out for a while.His apprentice, Xiaoxia Ai Hu, borrows the seven-treasure sword from his adoptive father Ouyang Chun, intending to use it to destroy the crescent guillotine and save his master from danger.The prince of the palace is planning to go upstairs to catch the thief, Ai Hu's nervousness and Zhihua's anxiety are all vivid on the paper.

After seeing these three New Year pictures, besides being excited, I suddenly felt an infinite sense of intimacy with the old people. There are many places to see ancient Chinese paintings in Taiwan, but it is really difficult to see a New Year picture.I think these New Year paintings may be of great help to the design of costumes, props and sets if they are shown to friends who are engaged in film and TV dramas. Over the past ten years, Taiwan has spared no effort in promoting the ancient folk art. In recent years, the art of paper-cutting has developed vigorously.However, the New Year pictures that were the most widely circulated and welcomed by big houses and small households were rarely mentioned. In a few years, few people will know what New Year pictures are.

The birthplace of New Year paintings is in the Yangliuqing and Shengfang areas of Dajin. It is said that during the Kangxi period, the Dai family of Yangliuqing was a painter who specialized in painting towers, halls, feathered figures, flowers, birds, insects and fish on the carved beams of the temples.Most of them work in places where the eaves and sills are scattered and the high pavilions are in the sky. It is more difficult than painting on spread paper.However, the Dai family was able to ingenuity and luck, and the paintings were not only bright in color, but also lifelike. It was passed on to Dai Zhongming and Dai Shuming brothers. To make a living, he painted New Year pictures in three steps: engraving, printing, and coloring.Except for the engraving and printing, which are operated by the two brothers themselves, the coloring is shared by the family.

Since the creation of New Year paintings by the Zhongming brothers became popular, Yang Liuqing has more than 20 New Year painting workshops, which can be described as very prosperous.It was passed on to Dai Lianzeng, who kept on striving for innovation in coloring. The New Year pictures were pasted on the wall for a year, and the colors were still bright and bright without fading.Since then, Dai Lianzeng has become the shop name, and Dai Lianzeng has also become synonymous with New Year pictures—everyone who buys New Year pictures knows Dai Lianzeng. Dai Lizeng's New Year pictures were sold as far as Shanxi, Shanxi, Gansu and Sui in their heyday, but Dai Lengzeng's New Year pictures were not sold as soon as they crossed the Yellow River, and even the term New Year pictures is not well known.The author spent the New Year in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and other places, and I have never seen New Year paintings. There are only a few big cigarette companies in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Nanyang, and some famous artists in Manduo Yuguang are invited to draw beautiful landscape pictures.As for why Dai Lianzeng’s New Year pictures could not be sold in the south, according to my guess, the New Year pictures painted in the Yangliuqing area are completely depicting the local people in the northern country. The market cannot cross the river and go south!

In the Pingjin area, as soon as the twelfth lunar month enters, there are people selling New Year pictures along the street. Qi Ru said before his death: "The sound of Beiping is soft and soft, and the tone is ups and downs. The best thing to hear is those who sell jasmine, fresh water chestnut, and New Year pictures. Don’t hesitate to sell them." The person is thick and dull, but his voice is clanging, which makes people feel kind and handsome." Anyone who has heard these three kinds of voices may think that what Qi Rulao said is indeed reasonable.A person who sells New Year pictures in the street carries a roll of reed curtains on his back. Although the roll is not big, it contains everything, such as "Peng Gongan", "Shi Gongan", "Legend of the White Snake", " There are not many New Year pictures that tell stories, such as "Ji Gong Zhuan" and "Biography of Ji Gong", but there are not many New Year pictures with auspicious words about getting rich, welcoming gods and receiving blessings, returning pig fat to home, and attracting wealth and making treasures.Because most of the sellers of New Year pictures wandered around and always drank in front of the mansion. Some young masters, as soon as they heard the call for New Year pictures, ran out to surround the sellers of New Year pictures, and spread reed curtains on the horse-mounted stone. Zhang, there are also sets to buy.

I have bought paintings for so many years, but I have never seen a complete set of Chinese New Year paintings or a whole set of Peking opera New Year pictures posted in the living room, study hall and flower hall of the mansion gate. So where are the New Year pictures they bought posted?There are large glass windows in the front and back of the deep houses in Beiping. Every day when the lamps are turned on, the wooden window panels are covered (this job is the sole responsibility of the night watchman). All the New Year pictures are pasted on the window panels. The inside fan is closed, and the children can enjoy it from the front and rear windows when they have nothing to do at night.

After Laba, take Beiping as an example, in the open squares in front of Dongsi, Xidan, and Drum Tower, some people hired workers to set up reed mat sheds to sell New Year pictures.It is said that Duan Ershang (the police agency at that time was called Duan Ershang) only charged a small fee to the fire brigade, and then issued a temporary permit for construction, and then they could set up a tent for business.Although the size of the shed depends on the terrain, the height is usually more than two feet, because the New Year pictures have to be hung layer by layer with small strings, so that they can be seen under the light of the big gas lamps for people to buy.Back then in Beiping, it was also a pastime for the wealthy and leisurely class to visit the sheds for New Year paintings at the end of the year and the sheds for ancient paintings during the first lunar month!

The New Year pictures in the painting shed are all bought in batches from the place of production, so they are much more complete than those sold along the street, especially the New Year pictures that are flattering, auspicious, and witty.It took half a month from Laba to Sacrificial Stove, even though a few copper coins would add up to a lot, it was really hard to earn!Small households bought New Year pictures and pasted them everywhere, especially ten or eight on both sides of the kang; as for the New Year pictures bought at the gate of the big mansion, they became decorations on the walls of the gatehouse, changing room, and servant room.

When Brother Sun Jiaji was alive, the author knew that he, the God of Wealth, God of Wealth, Kitchen Junyue, Guan Moer, even the tram tickets to Peking, the tickets to Beihai Park in Zhongshan, and the tickets to the major theaters and cinemas were all brought to Taiwan. Not a single New Year picture was brought out.Brother Yuci’s three New Year paintings, although I dare not say they are unique, are rare. As for later, some people sold the New Year paintings with lithographs or color overprints, because the simple and rustic atmosphere has disappeared, so no one painted them back then. Go enjoy the patronage.