Yangliuqing New Year Pictures were produced in Chongzhen of Ming Dynasty in China. They inherited the painting tradition of Song and Yuan Dynasties, absorbed the woodcut prints, arts and crafts, opera stage and other forms of Ming Dynasty, and combined woodcut overprint with hand painting to create a lively, auspicious and touching unique style. On May 20th, 2006, this heritage was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
The production procedure is roughly as follows:
Create original manuscript, divide edition, engrave edition, overprint, draw and mount. The previous process is basically the same as other woodblock New Year pictures. Are overprinted according to the drawings; However, the post-production of Yangliuqing New Year pictures has put a lot of effort into hand painting, skillfully combining the knife taste of printmaking with the style of painting, so that the two arts complement each other.
Moreover, due to the different expression techniques of painting artists, the same blank (ink line or semi-finished products without painting treatment) of Yangliuqing New Year pictures is the same. It can be divided into "precision work" with fine description and elegant color and "rough work" with bold style. Different artistic styles, each with its own artistic value.