What is the background and significance of Chinese style illustrations?
Chinese style illustration is a form of painting based on traditional Chinese culture, art and customs. It has strong Chinese cultural characteristics and unique aesthetic value. The following is the background and significance of Chinese style illustrations:
1. Inheriting historical culture: Chinese style illustrations embody the origin and essence of China's thousand-year culture, and show the Chinese people's deep understanding and love for history and culture.
2. Carry forward the national spirit: Chinese style illustrations emphasize the cultural confidence and national spirit of the Chinese nation by depicting traditional culture, folk activities, myths and legends and other elements.
3. Advocate for ecological and environmental protection: Some Chinese-style illustrations also involve social issues such as ecological environmental protection and animal protection, calling on the public to pay attention to environmental protection and sustainable development.
4. Convey emotions and thinking: Chinese style illustrations are rich in emotion and thinking, and often express the author's unique insights and perceptions of life, emotions and life through techniques such as images, colors and lines.
5. Enrich visual culture: As a unique art form, Chinese style illustrations can not only enrich visual culture, but also provide important design references and material basis for other art forms such as literature, film and television. .
In short, Chinese style illustrations are an important form of expression of traditional Chinese culture, with rich cultural heritage and humanistic spirit. They are also one of the important means of promoting Chinese culture and traditional art. What are the characteristics of traditional Chinese illustrations?
It is a long-standing tradition in our country that old novels have illustrations and embroidered images.
The illustrations are all woodblock prints, which are carved on woodblocks and then printed. They are often crudely drawn and crudely carved, with only a few exceptions. Ren Weichang, who lived during the Xianfeng period, is generally considered to be the last master of traditional printmaking in my country. The "Thirty-Three Musketeers" that has been handed down has very vivid characters.
my country’s printmaking has a long history. The oldest printmaking work is the zodiac seal of the Han Dynasty. The seal is engraved with pictures of dragons, tigers, birds, etc., and is printed on silk paper to become exquisite and beautiful graphics. Printmaking grew out of Buddhist paintings in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, flourished in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and reached its peak in the late Ming Dynasty. The biggest artist was Chen Hongshou (Lao Lian). Printmaking developed generally in the Qing Dynasty, and New Year pictures became popular among the people. Ren Weichang, who lived during the Xianfeng period, is generally considered to be the last master of traditional printmaking in my country. Later prints were influenced by Western art, and were quite different from our country's traditional style.
The collection of prints "Thirty-Three Swordsmen" painted by Ren Weichang contains graphics of thirty-three swordsmen, and the characters are very vivid. Occasionally, when I have free time, I flip through a few pages, which triggers some imagination, and often leads to the idea: "It would be best to 'insert' a short story for each picture." It is customary for painters to draw illustrations for novelists, at all times and at home and abroad, it seems. No novelist has ever written a novel to accompany a series of paintings.
Because I don’t read much, I don’t know all the stories of these thirty-three swordsmen. But I am writing a novel anyway, and if I don’t know the original source, I might as well create a story at will. But my wish to write thirty-three swordsman stories can never be fulfilled. After writing the first novel "Yue Nu Sword", I couldn't continue writing the second novel "Qiu Bearded Guest". Writing a narrative is much easier than writing a novel, so I switched to a straightforward narrative to introduce the original story.
Among them, four stories, "The Bearded Guest", "Nie Yinniang", "The Red Thread" and "The Kunlun Slave" are well known and will not be described in detail. At the same time, the original text is very well written and I am not capable of translating it into a similarly concise and clear translation. The style of writing, so the original text is appended. For the more unusual stories, the entire content of the original text is written out.
The art of Chinese ancient book engraving illustrations
The ancients wrote books and established narratives, attaching great importance to the role of pictures. "Pictures on the left and books on the right", "pictures on the left and history on the right", "text is not enough to make up for the picture, and pictures are not enough to describe it", pictures and texts complement each other, which is a fine tradition of Chinese calligraphy.
There are a vast number of books printed in the past dynasties in China, many of which are accompanied by exquisite illustrations. This is not only a precious historical and cultural wealth, but also a vivid material for the study of ancient politics, culture, and folk customs.
1. The Origin and Emergence of Engraved Illustrations in Chinese Ancient Books
China’s ancient books, based on their production forms, can be roughly divided into two eras: writing books and printing books. . Before the Han Dynasty, people copied books on natural carriers such as bamboo slips and wooden slips or on silk fabrics such as silk. In 1942, a silk painting was unearthed from a Chu tomb during the Warring States Period in Changsha, Hunan. It was painted with colorful images and explanatory text similar to bronze inscriptions, and was surrounded by twelve statues of gods, symbolizing the twelve months. It is an early relic of silk book illustrations in my country.
The so-called engraving illustrations refer to copies of drawings obtained by engraving and printing. Block printing is also called full-page printing, which refers to the method of engraving text or pictures on a whole piece of wood or other materials, and then adding ink to the plate for printing. In this way, copies of illustrations can be obtained in large quantities. Since ancient book plates were mainly made of pear and jujube wood, these illustrations are all prints, also called woodcuts.
After the invention of woodblock printing, it was first used in the publication of illustrations of Buddhist scriptures. Master Xuanzang, a famous eminent monk in the Tang Dynasty, once engraved and printed Buddha statues to benefit the world. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Feng Zhi's "Yun Xian San Lu" quoted "Yi Lu from the Monk Garden" and said: "Xuan Zang printed images of Samantabhadra on Hui Feng paper and distributed them in all directions, and every year there was no more than five packs." It can be seen that the number of them is quite large. of.
The oldest existing engraving illustration artwork is the "Dharani Sutra and Mantra" unearthed in 1953 from a Tang tomb near Wangjiang Tower outside the East Gate of Chengdu. This piece was found in a silver bracelet worn on the arm of the tomb owner. It was engraved with ancient Sanskrit sutras and mantras, and there were small Buddha statues printed around and in the center. According to research, it was published after the second year of Emperor Suzong's reign in the Tang Dynasty (AD 757).
Another more important work among the printmaking remains of the Tang Dynasty is the title page painting of the "Vajra Prajnaparamita Sutra" published in the ninth year of Xiantong in the Tang Dynasty (AD 868). This piece is a scroll about 16 feet long. It is composed of six pages of paper. The end of the scroll is painted with the picture "The Only Tree Gives to the Lonely Garden". The whole picture is gorgeously decorated, with a solid layout. The lines are delicate but strong. It is an engraving A masterpiece with mature craftsmanship. At the end of the volume, there is a note that "On April 15, the ninth year of Xiantong, Wang D made a charity for his two relatives." It is the earliest extant engraving illustration artwork and Buddhist print masterpiece with the exact date of publication in the world. China printed illustrations for books in the form of engravings, at least five hundred years earlier than Europe. This picture is the most famous masterpiece of early engraving illustrations in my country.
In the early Tang Dynasty, the emperors mostly adopted the policy of paying equal attention to Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and Buddhism developed rapidly. The empress Wu Zetian changed the name of Tang Dynasty to Zhou Dynasty, borrowed the "Dayun Sutra" as a prophecy for the heroine to be destined to heaven, and claimed that her "Dragon's Rise" was originally a prophecy of the Buddha, and it was the great promotion of Buddhism. At that time, statues and temples were built all over the country; scholars and people published and distributed scriptures, which became a common practice. From this point of view, there must have been a large number of Buddhist prints at that time. However, because of the long history, few Tang Dynasty seals have survived to this day. In addition, in the fifth year of Huichang in the Tang Dynasty (AD 845), Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty issued an edict to exterminate Buddhism, and the engravings of the sutras were all destroyed. The illustrations of the Buddhist engravings that have been handed down to this day are like auspicious feathers and are hard to find. However, based on documentary records and existing objects, it can be initially confirmed that after the invention of Chinese woodblock printing, it was first and most widely used in the printing of Buddhist scriptures. Buddhist-themed works also became the earliest category in the history of Chinese woodblock illustration art. .
2. Illustrations of the Five Dynasties, Song Dynasty, and Yuan Dynasty that inherited the past and ushered in the future
The Five Dynasties that followed the Tang Dynasty were an era of great turmoil, division, and chaos in Chinese history. A period of relative decline. However, the art of engraving illustrations pioneered in the Tang Dynasty made considerable progress during the turmoil.
The remaining engraving and illustration works from the Five Dynasties still only have one theme: Buddhism, and the number is only a handful, but compared with the Tang Dynasty, there are still more. Among them, the most noteworthy ones are the "Statue of the Great Sage Bishamon" and the "Statue of the Great Merciful and Great Compassionate Avalokite?vara Bodhisattva". Both pictures were published in the fourth year of Kaiyun in the Later Jin Dynasty (AD 947). The latter is inscribed with the words "Made by Cao Yuanzhong, the Taifu of the Guiyi Army's Jiedu History Inspection School" and signed by the engraver Lei Yanmei at the bottom. It is the earliest extant picture of the date of publication. , location, publisher, and engraver's name; the former is the earliest existing engraving illustration of the Guanyin statue, which shows that although they are all Buddhist works of art, the choice of themes is far more sophisticated than that of the Tang Dynasty Much richer.
In 960 AD, the Northern Song Dynasty was established. After conquering the south and the north, the country was unified. The Song Dynasty attached great importance to literary governance, engraving and printing developed in an all-round way, and the art of engraving and illustration also made great progress.
The artistic remains of engraving illustrations from the Song Dynasty still mainly contain Buddhist content. Among them, there are four illustrations of "An Annotation of the Imperial Secret Collection" published by Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty, which are the oldest extant landscape prints; four illustrations of "Statue of Maitreya Buddha" and "Statue of Manjusri" published in the reign of Emperor Yongxi (extant in Japan) are all excellent works; The "Great Suiqiu Dharani Mandala" and "The Great Suiqiu Dharani Mantra Sutra" are also world-famous treasures. For example, "Manjusri's Guide to Illustrated Praise" published in Lin'an in the Southern Song Dynasty, with pictures placed at the top of the page, is the earliest existing large-scale Buddhist illustration group, and can also be said to be the longest-standing comic book work handed down from generation to generation. The "Biography of Lienu" published by Yu Shiqinyoutang in Jian'an of the Southern Song Dynasty is a work worthy of a special book. Xu Kang's "Chen Chen Meng Video Record" commented: "Since the embroidery books, the Song Dynasty's "Biography of Women" is the most refined." The layout of this book is similar to that of "Manjusri's Guide to Illustrated Praise".
The Liao, Jin, and Xixia, which were in conflict with the Song Dynasty, were all regimes established by my country's ethnic minorities. They have also made remarkable achievements in the art field of engraving and illustration. For example, Yanjing, the capital of the Liao Kingdom, was an important creation site for Buddhist engraving and illustration art in the north. In July 1974, a large number of carved volumes of Buddhist scriptures from the Liao Dynasty were discovered in the Sakyamuni Pagoda of Fogong Temple in Yingxian County, Shanxi Province, with more than ten accompanying illustrations, all of which were of high quality. The title picture of "Zhao Cheng Zang" (also known as "Jin Zang") of the Tripitaka engraved in the Jin Dynasty has strict and powerful engravings, deep and vigorous, simple and bright background, and distinctive characters. It is a rare masterpiece among Buddhist engraving illustrations.
From the above, it is not difficult to see that the engraving illustrations of the Five Dynasties, Song Dynasty, Liao Dynasty and Jin Dynasty have made progress in terms of engraving skills, engraving team, drawing area, and expression content and techniques. All are obvious, laying a good foundation for the future development of engraving and illustration art.
The Yuan Dynasty was also an important era in the history of woodblock printing in my country. The illustrations of Yuan periodicals were not inferior to those of the two Song dynasties, but also improved. As far as religious territory is concerned, the "Qi Sha Zang" completed in the Yuan Dynasty has a neat and beautiful painting, which is far superior to that of the Song Dynasty. More importantly, many types of book illustrations in China only began to appear in the Yuan Dynasty. For example, "The Romance of the West Chamber" published in the Yuan Dynasty is the earliest extant opera illustration, "Quanxiang Pinghua Five Kinds" is the earliest Pinghua published illustration, and "Shi Wen Guang Ji" is the first of such books to have pictures. These are all worth mentioning in the history of print illustration art. Something special about books.
Therefore, the Song and Yuan dynasties were an important era in the history of Chinese engraving and illustration art that inherited the past and ushered in the future.
3. The dazzling illustrations of the Ming Dynasty
In the Ming Dynasty, China's book publishing industry developed in an all-round way, with numerous engraving houses and shops, and the art of engraving and illustration also entered a prosperous stage. 's golden age. Its characteristics are mainly reflected in the following aspects.
The blooming of a hundred flowers and unprecedented prosperity is the first characteristic of the Ming Dynasty engraving illustrations. After exploration in the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties, and by the Ming Dynasty, the art of engraving illustrations not only expanded unprecedentedly in production areas, but also gradually formed three major art schools: Jian'an, Jinling, and Xin'an, and others such as Wulin, Suzhou, and Wuxing. The engraving illustrations also have their own characteristics, surrounding the three major schools, like stars over the moon, showing a school of vitality. Various schools and regions compete for beauty, but also communicate and promote each other, providing good conditions for the development of Chinese engraving art into a broader world.
Diverse forms, each excelling in its own field, is the second characteristic of the Ming Dynasty's engraving and illustration art. This is mainly reflected in the fact that in addition to the single-sided method and top-picture-bottom method of the Song and Yuan dynasties, there are also many types of illustrations such as double-sided connected type, multi-sided connected type, moonlight type, etc., which provide sufficient opportunities for painters to follow the style of the form. Choice.
From naive and unpretentious to sophisticated and sophisticated, this is the third characteristic of the Ming Dynasty's engraving and illustration art, and it is also the biggest characteristic of its artistic style. Generally speaking, the early Jian'an and Jinling school illustrations have a rough and simple folk art style. Since the rise of Huizhou printmaking, painting must be meticulous and workmanship must be refined. It gradually became the mainstream of illustration art in the Ming Dynasty. Printmaking in Jian'an, Jinling and other places also moved closer to it, integrated with it, and integrated into one, making Chinese illustration art more brilliant. Dazzling. This is probably because after the middle and late Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, a large number of literati and bachelors participated in the creation of illustrations, making illustrations not only binding books and illustrating texts, but also serving as desk toys for literati. The participation of intellectuals played a decisive role in improving the social status of illustrations and promoting its qualitative and quantitative leaps.
The professionalization of the illustration art team is the fourth characteristic of the engraving illustration art in the Ming Dynasty. In the Illustration Art Garden of the Ming Dynasty, there were many painters who left their names, such as Wang Geng, Wang Xiu, Cai Chonghuan, He Ying, Lu Xiazi, Xiong Lianquan, Zhang Mengzheng, etc., all of whom were famous at the time. These people worked hard and left behind countless works. There are no less than dozens of Wang Wenheng's works that can be seen today. Some well-known painters, such as Tang Yin, Qiu Ying, Qian Gu, Ding Yunpeng, Chen Hongshou, etc., also drew drawings for illustrations. There were as many carvers as stars in the Ming Dynasty. For example, the chief carver of the Hui School, the Qiuchuan Huang family carver in She County, Anhui Province, has nearly three hundred people recorded in the "Qiuchuan Huang Family Genealogy Reconstruction". Their business was passed down from father to son, and they lived all over the north and south. They made outstanding contributions to the spread of Huizhou block engraving style. Others such as Jingde Bao Chengxun and Guo Zhuoran, Wulin Xiang Nanzhou, Wuxing Wang Wenzuo, Jinling Liu Suming, etc. are all famous craftsmen of the generation. Such a huge team of engravers became the talent base for the great development of engraving and illustration art in the Ming Dynasty.
Striving for technical excellence and advancing by leaps and bounds are the fifth characteristics of the Ming Dynasty engraving and illustration art. The early illustration works of the Jian'an and Jinling schools are still a little rough in technique, and the techniques have not changed much. After the rise of the Hui School, this situation has been completely improved, and every painting can be used freely and superbly. At the same time, the carvers also paid attention to making theoretical summaries. For example, Lu Yujiu transcribed the oral instructions given by Huizhou carvers: "Wood carvings are not unusual, but the skill is deep and careful. If you want to use two swords to hold the line steadily, watch more and carve more skillfully." Skills. Look more and carve more. Everything is skillful. There are only 18 skills in martial arts. It is difficult to learn how to use a knife. There are different skills in printing. , Carve people first to carve landscapes. "Succinct and concise, it is a textbook on carving in itself.
Carrying forward the dance tradition and bringing forth the new from the old is the sixth characteristic of the engraving and illustration art in the Ming Dynasty. The most noteworthy thing here is the combination of overprinting technology and printmaking art, and the emergence of color printmaking overprinting. Initially, in order to obtain color plates, the method used was to paint different colors on one plate according to the content of the picture, and then cover the paper with one printing, which was called the single-plate coloring method. This method existed in the Yuan Dynasty. On the basis of this method, or in other words, under its inspiration, there was a method in the Ming Dynasty of tracing out colored drawings according to different colors, engraving each color into a small version, separating the colors in different versions, and overprinting or overprinting one color at a time. The method is overprinting. Because the version is shaped like an L nail, it is also called "L version". Later, the method of fitting two convex and concave plates to make the paper surface arch was invented to make the picture full of three-dimensionality, which is called "gonghua". The overprinted illustrations are brightly colored, with just the right shades, and between yin and yang, they can almost look real. There are many illustrations of paintings in the Ming Dynasty, such as "Shizhuzhai Painting Manual" engraved by Hu Zhengyan and "Luoxuan Bian Ancient Notes Manual" engraved by Wu Faxiang, which are among the best.
Of course, Ming Dynasty prints, especially late Ming print illustrations, also have some unsatisfactory qualities. If there is too much emphasis on intricate detail, richness and craftsmanship, sometimes it may seem less lively and interesting than early prints. The formulaic and stylized expression techniques also restrict its development. But the faults do not hide the faults. No matter in terms of quantity or quality, the illustrations of the Ming Dynasty represent the highest achievement of ancient Chinese illustration art and are also in a leading position in the world. Even compared with Western copperplate illustrations, which are famous for their exquisiteness, overall they are even better.
4. Book illustrations in the Qing Dynasty that turned from prosperity to decline
After entering the customs, the Qing Dynasty adopted an extremely authoritarian cultural policy, banning books and burning them, tightening the literary network, and repeatedly promoting writing Great prison. In order to avoid disaster, scholars often indulge in fragments and fragments, and diligently study textual research. "A fire at the city gate affects the fish in the pond." The art of engraving illustrations that flourished in the Ming Dynasty also gradually declined.
The decline of the art of engraving and illustration in the Qing Dynasty followed a process, and it did not fall into decline overnight. In the early Qing Dynasty, during the reign of the Ming Dynasty, some exquisite works still appeared, such as the illustrations of opera scripts such as "Dream of Yangzhou" and "Moon in the Qin Lou" engraved by Jingde Bao Chengxun. They are exquisite and elegant and are considered to be the top of the Anhui version; Sixue The Tang publications "The Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties" and "The Romance of Fengshen", the ancient Wu Sanduozhai's "The Romance of Women in Ancient and Modern Times", and "Ten Kinds of Liweng Songs" are not inferior to the Anhui edition masterpieces in the prosperous period. Some famous engravers, such as Huang Shunji, Liu Rong, Tang Shang, Tang Yi, Cai Sihuang, Tan Yikui, etc., also lived up to their reputation as famous engravers, which caused a short-term prosperity of engraving illustrations before the Qian and Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty.
The first category of illustrations to decline in the Qing Dynasty was precisely the illustrations of novels and opera works that were most popular among the people and most prosperous in the Ming Dynasty. Such works have always been the first to be banned. In the fifty-third year of Kangxi's reign (AD 1714), Emperor Kangxi once issued an edict: "To govern the world, we must first rectify people's hearts and strengthen customs. To rectify people's hearts and strengthen customs, we must respect the classics. All novels and obscene words must be strictly prohibited from being destroyed." In In this case, the illustrations of novels and opera books will naturally not escape bad luck. This is the reason why it is rare for such works to be exquisite and impressive after the Qianjia period.
In fact, what the Qing rulers hated were documents and pictures that were detrimental to the Qing Dynasty, not the art of illustration itself. On the contrary, illustrations, with their directness and image, can be used as a tool to praise the "Holy Dynasty". Therefore, many of the books printed by the Qing government were accompanied by exquisite illustrations. The Qing government's engraving of books was mostly promoted by Wuyingdian, and the illustrations of such books were called palace prints. Among them, such as "Imperial Farming and Weaving Pictures and Poems", "Old Summer Palace Poems", "Thirty-six Scenes of Summer Resort Poems", "Collection of Ink Methods", etc., are all representative works of palace prints. The prints in the palace are mostly finely polished with fine brushwork and beautiful workmanship. The compositions are varied and the printing quality is excellent. The imperial engraving of books paid so much attention to illustrations, which was unprecedented in previous dynasties. However, because they were dedicated to the inner court and pursued strictness and stability, these works were not as smart, elegant and naturally interesting as folk works.
Under the rulers' high-pressure policies on operas and novels, the two major categories of folk engraving illustrations in the Qing Dynasty - figure paintings and landscape paintings - have made great progress. Among the character illustrations, "Pictures of Heroes of Lingyan Pavilion", "Wushuangpu", "Wanxiaotang Painting Biography", "Water Margin" and "Portraits of the Three Kingdoms" are all masterpieces in this field. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the politics was dark, the civil servants were confused, the generals were cowardly, and the country eventually fell. Han intellectuals hope that figures like ancient wise ministers and famous generals will come out to turn things around and reorganize the country. The development of figure painting in the early Qing Dynasty is somewhat related to this mentality.
The landscape illustrations of the Qing Dynasty (mainly illustrations in local chronicles) have achieved unprecedented brilliant achievements. The great painter Xiao Yuncong painted "Taiping Landscape Pictures" with dignified brushstrokes and melancholy atmosphere. It also expressed the grief of the Ming Dynasty survivors for the beautiful mountains and beautiful waters of their motherland. It has a strong flavor of nationalism and patriotism. In ancient landscape illustrations, It can be said to be unprecedented and unprecedented. The emperors of the Qing Dynasty were fond of traveling, and they painted various illustrations such as "The Grand Ceremony of the Southern Tour" and "The Grand Ceremony of the Western Tour". What was good at the beginning was not good at the end. Therefore, books such as Qing Dynasty Landscape Travel Notes are rich in illustrations and have achieved great success. . The illustrations in local chronicles are somewhat related to this. However, these illustrations were mostly influenced by the palace editions, and the majestic spirit in "Taiping Landscape Paintings" cannot be seen.
The color printing illustrations developed in the Ming Dynasty were also excellent in the Qing Dynasty. Shen Yinbo's "Biography of Mustard Seed Garden Paintings" published during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty states that "the colors of each painting are different from each other, and some of them have accumulated more than a foot in dozens of editions." It is still regarded as the standard of painting. The top ten pictures of "Beautiful Scenery" at the top of the volume of "A Tale of the West Lake" are color overprints of the Prince's Office in Jinling. The pictures are gorgeous and exquisitely crafted, and they are also the grand views in the overprinted book.
After the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, there were not many outstanding works in engraving illustrations. Except for a few illustrations of character biography books and travel notes, there were only a few that could be described as narrators, and there were few breakthroughs in techniques.
It is worth mentioning that during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, Western lithography was introduced to China. Lithography was convenient, labor-saving, and low-cost for printing pictures. It quickly replaced block engraving and became the main method for printing book illustrations. There are many lithographic books in the late Qing Dynasty, and the pictures are also exquisite. Although these are no longer woodcuts, the technique and composition still follow the tradition of woodcut illustrations to a certain extent. They are still precious cultural heritage, but they are no longer It is beyond the scope of this article, so I won’t go into details. How to draw illustrations of Qingming Festival
1. Prepare pen and paper, and first draw a few willow branches.
2. Then draw the leaves on the willow branch.
3. Then draw a baby’s head wearing a hat.
4. Next draw the body and arms.
5. Then draw the running legs.
6. Then draw the hair, eyes and mouth.
7. Then draw the kite and the kite string it is holding.
8. Continue to draw the path under your feet.
9. Just draw the continuous mountains in the distance, and the simple drawing of Qingming Festival is ready.
Qingming Festival is one of the important "Eight Festivals of the Year" in China. It is usually around April 5 in the Gregorian calendar. The festival is very long. There are two versions: 10 days before and 8 days after; , these past 20 days are all Qingming Festival. Qingming Festival originally refers to the fifteen days after the Spring Equinox. In 1935, the government of the Republic of China designated April 5 as the national holiday Qingming Festival, also known as the National Tomb Sweeping Festival.
"Almanac": "On the fifteenth day after the spring equinox, when the two fingers are on the ding, it is the Qingming Festival. At that time, everything is clean and clear. At that time, the air is clear and the scenery is bright, and everything is visible, so it is named Qingming." Once it arrives, the temperature rises, which is a good time for spring plowing and spring planting. Therefore, there is a saying that "before and after the Qingming Festival, plant melons and beans."
The origin of the Qingming Festival is said to have begun with the ceremony of "grave sacrifices" for emperors, generals and prime ministers in ancient times. Later, the people also followed suit, worshiping ancestors and sweeping their tombs on this day, which has been followed through the generations and has become a fixed custom of the Chinese nation. . On May 20, 2006, it was approved by the State Council and included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.