Quick Answer: What Are Wuqiang New Year Prints?
Wuqiang New Year prints (武强木版年画, Wǔqiáng mùbǎn niánhuà) are woodblock images from Wuqiang County in Hebei. They were made for household display and use, from paired door gods (门神, ménshén) to pictures that helped mark the days of winter.[1][2][3][4]
- Making: A key block can print the outlines and separate blocks can add areas of color.[2]
- Format: Paired door images, wall prints and calendar sheets serve different purposes.[3][4]
- Heritage: The Wuqiang tradition entered China’s first national list in 2006.[1]
Multicolor printing is characteristic, and the local record also documents prints made with one color.[2]
A pair of broad-shouldered figures can flank a doorway. A separate sheet with repeated marks can help a household count the passing winter days. Both fit within the Wuqiang print tradition, where a picture’s format and the place it was used can help explain its subject.[3][4][5]
How a Line Block and Color Blocks Build the Image
The process begins with a drawing. A maker transfers the design into relief on a block, and a printer takes impressions from it. A Wuqiang account identifies locally used wild pear wood and describes the key block as the one that carries the overall line drawing. Color blocks supply selected parts of the image, such as a red robe or a blue panel, and those separate impressions need to line up on the sheet.[2]
The account describes red, yellow and blue as common color blocks and estimates four to six blocks for a typical complete multicolor design. It also documents single-color examples, including a Zhong Kui print. A dark contour can keep the figure legible even where several colors meet. The same distinction between line and color is useful when looking at Taohuawu New Year prints from Suzhou.[2]
What the Prints Did in a Household
| Print format | Typical place or use | En qué fijarse |
|---|---|---|
| Paired door prints | Entrance or double doors | Two figures arranged to work together |
| Central wall print | An indoor display area | A self-contained composition meant to be read as one image |
| Winter counting picture (九九消寒图, jiǔjiǔ xiāohán tú) | Tracking a span of winter days | A picture with spaces or repeated marks to record days |
The national heritage documentation illustrates a Wuqiang pair depicting Qin Qiong and Jingde. When displayed on facing sides of an entrance, the two figures read as a pair. The site’s guide to Chinese door gods puts this subject in the broader context of doorway images. Wuqiang records also list stove prints, window decorations, banners and prints for the space around a heated platform.[3][4]
A winter counting picture belongs to a different use. The National Library of China shows a Qing edition from the Wuqiang tradition. In this family of calendars, nine groups of nine days make an 81-day count from the winter solstice. An arrangement of circles can provide one mark for each day. Other designs represent the same count differently.[3][5]
Workshops, Collections and Continued Practice
The national project traces the tradition to the late Song or early Yuan on the basis of surviving evidence and describes a flourishing workshop trade during the Ming and Qing. In the early 1940s, local printmakers worked with other artists in a regional New Year print society. The Wuqiang New Year Print Museum now helps preserve blocks, prints and records of this branch of Chinese folk painting.[1][2][3]
Recent coverage shows the representative practitioner Ma Xiqin carving, aligning and printing blocks. It also documents work by apprentices. A collection with both blocks and prints can show which marks belonged to a single impression and how they appear in the completed image.[2][6]
FAQs About Wuqiang New Year Prints
Did every Wuqiang print use several colors?
Many examples use several blocks to print color and line. The Wuqiang record also describes single-color prints made in black or red.[2]
What was a winter counting print for?
It helps mark a period of nine groups of nine days after the winter solstice. Repeated shapes give the household a way to record the passing days.[3][5]
Where are Wuqiang New Year prints from?
The craft is associated with Wuqiang County, in the Hengshui area of southeastern Hebei. Its national intangible heritage entry names Wuqiang County as the submitting locality.[1]
Fuentes
[1] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum. Wuqiang Woodblock New Year Prints
[2] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum. The Art of Wuqiang New Year Prints
[3] National Library of China. Wuqiang Woodblock New Year Prints
[4] China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Museum. National Intangible Heritage: Woodblock New Year Prints
[5] Sixth Tone. In Winter, 9 Is the Magic Number
[6] China News Service. Inside Wuqiang Woodblock New Year Print Making