New Year pictures were called "door god paintings" in ancient times, and were originally called "door god paintings". According to records in ancient books, it is said that in ancient times there were two brothers, Shen Tu and Yu Lei, who were responsible for supervising all ghosts. So the Yellow Emperor painted the portraits of these two brothers on the door to prevent ghosts. This is how the "door god painting" came into being.
According to "Customs and Customs", during the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, religious beliefs had the custom of offering sacrifices to doors, so Shen Tu and Yu Lei became the earliest gods of door in our country. Zongmao of the Jin Dynasty recorded in "Jingchu's Years of Life": "On the first day of the first lunar month, two gods were posted on the left and right sides of the house, the god Tu on the left and Yu Lei on the right, commonly known as the door gods." Extended information
Before the Tang Dynasty, most of them were door gods. Hand-painted door gods, the image of door gods is no longer a legendary image, real characters begin to appear. The common saying about the door gods is: the white-faced general among the door gods is Qin Shubao, who was born in Licheng, Qizhou (now Jinan City, Shandong), and the black-faced general is Hu Jingde, who was born in Shanyang, Shuozhou (now Shuo County, Shanxi).
In the late Sui Dynasty, woodblock New Year paintings were produced. During the Tang and Five Dynasties, New Year pictures had bright colors and a wide variety of paintings. They reached a very good level in terms of composition and color use. By the Song Dynasty, woodcuts had replaced portraits. During the Qing Dynasty, New Year pictures were produced all over the country, and a large number of people specialized in New Year picture production emerged.
The development of New Year pictures has a history of more than a thousand years. After long-term accumulation by folk artists, modern New Year pictures are not only rich in color, but also the characters are more dynamic.
Reference source: China Government Website - The Origin of New Year Pictures