The New Year painting undertakes the task of retiring the old and welcoming the new, praying for blessings and driving away evil spirits. The earliest unified image of the door gods are the Han Dynasty's gods and Yulei, which bear the people's desire to suppress evil and drive away ghosts. At the end of the Han Dynasty, there was a New Year custom at the end of the New Year, and people did not understand why they were sick, thinking that there were ghosts, so in the new year, they would clean up the house, paint the gods and yu lei, and then hang reeds, so that the two door gods would catch the evil ghosts and feed the tigers. Isn't this custom of cleaning the house at the end of the year and Chinese New Year's Eve sticking to the door god still exist today?
Who is the most authentic door god?
Along the Silk Road opened up by the Han Dynasty, ancient Indian Buddhism entered Middle-earth, and during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism became the three most influential religions in China.
In addition to the two traditional themes of the Door God and the King of The Stove, after the integration of the colors of the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, there are more images such as medicine forks, heavenly kings, and lux, and even secular images such as women and beauties.
The Han and Tang dynasties were a period of national integration in which the multi-ethnic country on the mainland went from unification to division, and then from division to unification, and during this period, various ethnic groups penetrated and absorbed each other culturally, greatly enriched the Chinese national culture, and also laid the foundation for the artistic development of New Year painting.
Wei Chigong and Qin Qiong are a common pair of door gods, they are the founding heroes of the Tang Dynasty. According to legend, after Emperor Taizong of Tang became emperor, li Shimin was harassed by ghosts and gods every night because of the previous killings in the Sui War, and he was in pain.
Hunan Longhui "Wei Chigong"
He listened to the advice and asked the two generals, Wei Chigong and Qin Qiong, to garrison the gate, and the ghosts of the wrongdoers did not appear again. Li Shimin felt that it was too hard for them to stay at night, so he ordered people to paint their images as door god paintings and paste them on the door, so the common people followed suit, often using the images of Qin Qiong and Jingde to make door god New Year paintings.
In the late Period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was already a crisis of faith in the Door Gods, and after the Middle and Tang Dynasties, civil strife and war were frequent, the feudal towns were divided, the central imperial court rule was out of control, and the people were in deep trouble, not only dissatisfied with the imperial court, but also disappointed by the inadequacy of the door gods and other gods. The rapid rise of the statue of Zhong Kui in the five generations of the late Tang Dynasty is a manifestation of the deepening crisis of the belief in the door god.
The door god who guards the Son of Heaven has changed in this way. According to legend, Tang Xuanzong was seriously ill and could not be cured. One night, he dreamed that a little ghost was about to steal his jade flute and Yang Guifei's embroidered sachet, and Xuanzong was angry. At this moment, a big ghost suddenly rushed into the temple, full of hair and a terrible face, and as soon as he reached out, he grabbed this little ghost, ripped out his eyeballs, and swallowed it.
Emperor Xuanzong was busy asking who it was, and the big ghost gave a gift to Emperor Xuanzong, claiming to be Zhong Kui of Zhongnan Mountain, and during the Gaozu years, he went to Chang'an to take the martial arts test, but because of his ugly appearance, he was so ashamed that he crashed into the steps of the palace and died. But Tang Gaozu gave him a favor and gave him a robe to bury him, and he vowed to exorcise the demons for Tang from then on. Tang Xuanzong woke up from his dream and recovered from his illness. He ordered the famous painter Wu Daozi at that time to paint the image of Zhong Kui in his dream.
Because Tang Xuanzong himself was a Taoist believer, with his strong support, Zhong Kui's status as the god of catching ghosts was gradually established. Every Spring Festival, he gave the statue of Zhong Kui to the ministers of the court, so Zhong Kui had a title of "Blessing Town House Saint Jun".
Chinese folk often hang zhong kui statue to ward off evil and eliminate disasters, but in the temple of the Tang and Song dynasties, the sculptural image of Zhong Kui is not the majestic image of the usual armed weapon, but the dignity of a court civil official. In the play "Old Master Ascension Hall" on the stage in front of the temple, Zhong Kui's title became "Judge Lord".
It turned out that according to folklore, Zhong Kui was supposed to be like everyone else, and after death, he would go to the Yin Cao Mansion to suffer. However, Zhong Kui's grievances touched the Jade Emperor, and he sent emissaries to inform him that the Nether would let them go all the way without difficulty. Because of his great appreciation for Zhong Kui's strong and indomitable character, the Jade Emperor also appointed Zhong Kui as a judge of the yin and yang realms.
With the recommendation of these two "emperors", Zhong Kui in the Nianhua works has both a mighty image of holding a sword to drive away ghosts, and an image of a judge holding a brush, which is also the uniqueness of Zhong Kui as a god: there are countless legends and stories about him, but it is indeed unfounded. In addition, Zhong Kui's appearance is ugly and full of ghosts, and there is never an official record of building a temple for Zhong Kui.
However, because of this, the folk shaping of Zhong Kui has a greater degree of freedom, which makes Zhong Kui gain a different secular character. In the New Year paintings, some of them hold copper coins, some hold dolls, and some even become the gods of all needs, to be blessed, to be rich, and to respond to every request.
When it comes to the gods, Wei Chigong Qin Qiong and Zhong Kui, but they are all male door gods, and there were no female door gods in ancient times? In fact, the female door god is heroic and refreshing, clean and natural, and is also loved by many people, such as Mu Guiying and Qin Liangyu, which are common female door gods.
Sichuan Jiajiang "Mu Guiying", a character in the picture is Qin Liangyu.
Mu Guiying, as one of the legendary Female Generals of yangmen in the Northern Song Dynasty, was excellent in martial arts, witty and brave, and made many military achievements. Beijing Miyun is rumored to be Mu Guiying's hometown, and this area is mostly a legend of Mu Guiying, often pasted with portraits of Mu Guiying and Yang Zongbao's door gods.
Qin Liangyu was a native of Zhongzhou, Sichuan in the Ming Dynasty, and she once led troops to resist Zhang Xianzhong's army into Sichuan to defend the tranquility of the side, and was highly respected by the Sichuan people. Guizhou Chishui Ancient Tomb has unearthed three stone carved door gods, namely Qin Qiong, Wei Chigong, Qin Liangyu, it seems that people have long offered Qin Liangyu as a door god.
The existence of these two female door gods also explains the diversity of ancient door god figures, such as Li Yuanba, Pei Yuanqing, Guan Yu, Guan Ping, Xu Yanzhao, Yang Bo... The number of Martial Gate Gods alone is innumerable.
New Year painting is not just "King Kong angry eyes"
The earliest door gods were drawn directly on the door, and after the paper was widely circulated, the statue of the god fell on the paper. After the appearance of engraving and printing in the Northern Song Dynasty, New Year paintings were formally formed, and from simple religious worship objects, they became secular commodities through woodblock printing.
Most of the woodblock printed New Year paintings are used to decorate portals and walls in folk activities at the end of each year, and the demand is large, mainly including door gods, stove kings, bells, etc., with the color of exorcism and blessing. The hand-painted New Year paintings mainly depict the secular life in the countryside, focusing on the scenes of the farmer's festive harvest, the joy of the family or the play of the village children.
Jiangsu Suzhou "Riding a Donkey Bell Kui"
At first, the distribution of engraving and printing technology was mainly in economically developed areas closer to the ruling regime, so woodblock prints were mostly developed in the north. In the Song Dynasty, due to the war, the Northern Song Dynasty regime moved south, and the people who moved to the south brought woodblock New Year paintings and New Year painting printing technology to the south, and integrated with local traditional culture and folk customs, and gradually developed into a New Year painting art with southern characteristics.
In addition, thanks to the geographical obstacles of the Western Shu, because there was no war, the art of New Year painting developed freely and became self-contained, forming a "Mianzhu New Year Painting" style dominated by door gods.
The Ming Dynasty was also a unified dynasty, with rapid social and economic development, quite developed science and technology, and great changes in the people's thinking.
At this time, people's belief in the door god of exorcising ghosts gradually weakened, and the idea of hoping for a bumper harvest of grains, children and grandchildren, and immortality became increasingly strong, and the New Year painting gradually evolved from "suppressing evil and driving away evil" to "praying for good luck and Narui". Moreover, the boxing of Ming Dynasty novels and opera illustrations also provided many excellent themes for New Year paintings.
Henan Kaifeng "Kuitou"
By the Qing Dynasty, the rapid development of New Year paintings was unmatched by any dynasty. Under the conditions of social stability and economic development, the popularity of popular novels has provided rich creative materials for the Nian Painting Workshop, and a large number of works with historical stories, myths and legends, opera characters, and rendition novels have appeared.
According to research, since the Northern Song Dynasty, the production areas of New Year paintings developed from Beijing have spread throughout the country. By the time of the Qing Dynasty, there was already quite a scale, such as Tianjin Yangliuqing, Suzhou Taohuawu, Shandong Weifang, Sichuan Mianzhu, Henan Zhuxian Town, Hebei Wuqiang, Shaanxi Fengxiang, etc., they all had one thing in common, that is, they were all in or close to the center of engraving and printing.
Henan Kaifeng "Town House Zhong Kui"
Today, many of the paintings produced in these years have survived the test of the tide of the times. And these surviving "Nianhua Villages" have also developed their own suitable paths. The most fundamental reason for the survival of the "Nianhua Village" and its sustainable development is that the "Nian culture" has not disappeared, and people's historical inheritance of the "Nian", the Chinese tradition of "reunion", and the collective memory of the folk custom of "Nianhua" have always existed.
Producer | First of all, Hongming
Edit | Wu Jiahong
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