New Year pictures are a type of Chinese painting, which originated from the ancient "door god paintings". They are one of the Han folk arts and one of the common folk handicrafts. During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, it was officially called New Year paintings. It is a painting genre unique to the Han Chinese and an art form popular among rural people in China. Most of them are used for posting during the New Year to decorate the environment, which means wishing the New Year auspiciousness and joy, hence the name.
In terms of types, New Year pictures can be roughly divided into six categories:
(1) Door God type
The New Year pictures posted on the door during the New Year are called door paintings. It is the earliest form of New Year pictures. "Door God" is the earliest and most important category in door paintings.
(2) Auspicious celebrations
This type of New Year pictures directly express the people’s yearning for a better life. Common ones include: "Blessings from Heavenly Officials", "Sustainable Years of Success", "Full House of Wealth and Honor", "Advancing Officials and Promoting Luxury", etc. Auspicious New Year pictures are the most popular among the people.
(3) Customs type
New Year pictures that express folk life are a portrayal of real life by folk artists. Full of rich flavor of life. After the late Qing Dynasty, current affairs, customs and humorous New Year pictures also appeared, such as "Mouse Marries Girl", "Monkey Grabbing Straw Hat", etc. can also be classified into this category.
(4) Opera Category
New Year pictures that express opera stories. Its form is similar to comic strips, group paintings or literary illustrations. It emerged in the late Qing Dynasty, and all famous opera stories will be reflected in New Year pictures. Such as "The Meeting of Heroes", "Stealing Immortal Grass", "General of the Yang Family", "The Romance of the West Chamber", "Lotus Lantern", etc.
(5) Symbols
A type of New Year painting that takes the form of statues of gods and talismans and aims to ward off evil spirits and bring good fortune. This type of New Year pictures has a strong religious connotation, and was later added with the meaning of praying for people to ward off evil spirits. Different from the statues of gods in door paintings, the statues of gods in this type of New Year paintings have corresponding niches. Some need to be worshiped with incense, and some need to be burned as paper horses. Talismans are considered to have the function of warding off evil spirits and controlling the house. They are generally composed of words and patterns, such as "Tong'an Bao Talisman", "Tai Chi Bagua Talisman", etc. With the elimination of superstitious ideas, these New Year pictures have become historical relics.
(6) Miscellaneous paintings
This category includes lantern paintings (paper used to paste lanterns during the Lantern Festival), window paintings (paper used to paste windows during the New Year), and dust paper (paper for hanging cupboards and dish racks during the Chinese New Year), table paintings (paper for hanging on the side of the Eight Immortals table during the Chinese New Year), wallpaper (paper for hanging on the walls during the Chinese New Year), cloth paintings (hanging on the street during the Chinese New Year) New Year pictures, commonly known as "hanging"), flower and bird characters (Chinese character patterns composed of flower and bird graphics, a folk New Year picture between calligraphy and painting) and calendar New Year pictures (a commercial advertisement that appeared in Shanghai in 1914, Later, it became New Year pictures, which are also called charcoal paintings because they are mostly painted with charcoal pens.
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