With the light fragrance of the painting ink in the air, the
Yang family was busy making 1,000 sets of woodblock-printed New
Year paintings for a Hong Kong customer. Five or six of them were
printing and binding paintings of figures from the Chinese classic
novel A Dream of the Red Chamber. Giving instructions to them was
an old man.
At 81, Yang Luoshu takes great pride in his work. The farmer
from Yangjiabu Village, Weifang City, East China's Shandong
Province, was named "Master of Folk Arts" by UNESCO in 2001. Today,
his New Year paintings are hot items sought by international
collectors and they have inspired some overseas disciples.
Over the past five years, Yang has been working on a grand
project - a colossal collection of paintings of characters from
four Chinese classic novels. To date, he has created images of 109
characters from Outlaws of the Marsh, 88 from Journey to the West,
110 from The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and 140 from A Dream of
the Red Chamber.
There is a big demand for this unique collection in many cities.
Museums in Japan and South Korea have collected his works.
"As our national heirloom, the four classics enjoy the largest
readership in China. I hope people can understand the literary
works better with my paintings," Yang says.
In his childhood, Yang's grandfather often told him stories from
the four classics. Yang has since read Outlaws of the Marsh for
more than five times, and A Dream of the Red Chamber at least 10
times.
The Yangjiabu Village woodblock-printed New Year paintings
adhere to the tradition that requires over 10 procedures for each
painting.
Sitting in front of a window, Yang clipped a piece of paper,
applied color to the board, and put the paper on it, then brushed
it smoothly to apply the first color. In half an hour, he dyed 100
sheets of paper.
The pictures must be engraved on wood boards. One board is used
for one color; four or five boards are needed to complete one
painting. It usually takes several days to engrave one board. Yang
and his followers' hands are covered with thick calluses. Swollen
knuckles have deformed Yang's right hand. Three fingers are wounded
permanently.
Besides the four classics, Yang has produced abundant works
deeply rooted in daily life: historical personage, flower-and-bird
and landscape.
With only 300 families, Yangjiabu has a history of making New
Year paintings for some 600 years since the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644). In the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), there were 100
workshops in the village with 1,000 kinds of paintings and tens of
thousands of xylographs. Local lore says: "Each family has a
painting workshop, and everybody is good at handicraft."
In 1993, Yang donated the family's precious engraving boards,
dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties, to the National Museum
of Chinese History. Experts found that one of the boards was made
in 1489, the oldest wood board of New Year paintings preserved in
the country.
Today, this small village is one of three major production bases
of woodblock-printed New Year paintings, together with Yangliuqing
in Tianjin in North China and Taohuawu in Suzhou of East China's
Jiangsu Province.
Yang says he is the 19th generation of the painting family and
successor of the centuries-old shop named "Tongshunde".
When he was 7 years old, Yang began to carve wooden figures and
learned from his father Yang Shengde. By 10, Yang could make
paintings like a cat playing with a butterfly. At 18, he had
grasped all of the production skills. Over the past 60 years, Yang
and his family have engraved more than 3,270 kinds of
xylographs.
For nearly 30 years, Yang has demonstrated the production of New
Year paintings at the local folk-custom museum. More than 500,000
visitors have enjoyed his performance.
In 1997, Yang gave an exhibition in Tokyo. Yang Futao, his son,
performed the engraving and printing of the paintings. To their
surprise, not only the New Year paintings they brought there were
sold out quickly, but Yang was also praised as "King of Chinese New
Year Paintings" by the local media. He was invited to give lectures
and perform in several colleges and art museums in Tokyo.
Nakayama Naoko, a Japanese young lady, has been an apprentice of
Yang's for several years. Nakayama came from Fukuoka to work on her
thesis titled Chinese Yangjiabu Village Woodblock-Printed New Year
Paintings. Yang says Nakayama has a natural gift and she is
diligent, so he decided to teach her hand in hand.
"I hope to introduce our New Year paintings to Japan and other
countries," Yang says.
In 1999, Yang won third prize in the 11th American International
Art Contest with his engraving board of Qin Qiong and Jingde, a
painting of two of the most famous generals who helped Li Shimin
found the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).
Yang's son, daughter-in-law, grandson and more than 20 other
relatives have learned from him. While the men concentrate on
engraving, women learn to print.
Due to Yang's great contribution to the protection, innovation
and teaching of New Year paintings, UNESCO honored Yang as "Master
of Folk Arts" in December 2001.
"This is the highest honor for a handicraftsman as there are
only 17 Chinese who have got this title," Yang says. "This is also
the highest honor for Yangjiabu Village and for the New Year
paintings. With this honor, I feel satisfied."
Though advanced in years, Yang still walks and talks briskly.
"It is the art of New Year paintings that gives me the exuberant
vitality. I must engrave more good works with my own hands."
Yang Luoshu, 81, carves the woodblocks for
New Year paintings in Weifang of East China's Shandong
Province.
(China Daily August 8, 2007)
