# Nianhua & Chinese Folk Print

> Woodblock pictures bought each New Year and pasted on doors, walls and kitchen shrines to invite luck and ward off harm: paired door gods, plump babies with carp, the Kitchen God, opera scenes and auspicious rebuses. A black keyline block is overprinted or hand-coloured in saturated red, green, yellow and pink, and compositions are dense, frontal and often mirrored in pairs.

- Period: c. 1100–present
- Where: East Asia
- Origin: Kaifeng and Pingyang; later Yangliuqing (Tianjin), Taohuawu (Suzhou), Yangjiabu (Weifang), Zhuxianzhen and Mianzhu, China
- Branch: Traditions & vernacular
- Also known as: New Year pictures, Chinese folk woodblock prints, Door gods (menshen)
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/nianhua/

## How it works

- Print a black keyline block first, then add flat colour blocks or hand-colour in saturated red, green, yellow and pink.
- Mirror compositions as left-right pairs for doorways, with the figures turned towards each other.
- Fill the frame with figures, auspicious objects and pattern, leaving almost no empty ground.
- Encode wishes as visual rebuses (a fish for surplus, a bat for fortune) and add a short auspicious inscription.
- Draw plump, rounded, smiling figures with large heads and clear outlines.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (defining)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (characteristic)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (defining)
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (characteristic)
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (occasional)
- [Sequential narrative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/sequential-narrative/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Brush & pen calligraphy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/brush-and-pen-calligraphy/) (characteristic)
- [Rotated & vertical setting](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rotated-and-vertical-setting/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Full polychrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-polychrome/) (defining)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Complementary clash](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/complementary-clash/) (characteristic)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (occasional)
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (defining)
- [Rounded & pill](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rounded-and-pill/) (occasional)
- [Biomorphic curves](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/biomorphic-curves/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Carved line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/carved-line/) (defining)
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)
- [Misregistration & overprint](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/misregistration-and-overprint/) (occasional)
- [Paper & letterpress bite](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/paper-and-letterpress-bite/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Folk & sacred symbols](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/folk-and-sacred-symbols/) (defining)
- [Abundant decoration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/abundant-decoration/) (characteristic)
- [Floral & vegetal](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/floral-and-vegetal/) (characteristic)
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (characteristic)

### Imagery
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (characteristic)
- [Pattern & repeat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pattern-and-repeat/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Woodblock & linocut](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/woodblock-and-linocut/) (defining)
- [Hand-painted](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-painted/) (characteristic)

### Tone & intent
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (defining)
- [Spiritual & sacred](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/spiritual-and-sacred/) (characteristic)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (characteristic)
- [Warm & approachable](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/warm-and-approachable/) (occasional)

Avoids: Generous white space, Dynamic asymmetry, Monochrome, Non-representational, Ornament-free, Straight photography

Palette: #c8252c, #f2c230, #2f8a4e, #e5739a, #1a1a1a, #f1e6cf

Typefaces: Kaishu (regular brush script), Lishu (clerical script) for auspicious couplets, Carved Songti (Ming-style) woodblock characters

Known for: Yangliuqing workshops, Tianjin (printed keyline, hand-painted colour); Taohuawu workshops, Suzhou; Yangjiabu workshops, Weifang, Shandong; Zhuxianzhen workshops, Kaifeng, Henan; Mianzhu workshops, Sichuan; Four Beauties (Si mei tu), Pingyang print excavated at Khara-Khoto (State Hermitage Museum)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Led to: [Shanghai Modern & Yuefenpai](https://stylogeny.com/styles/shanghai-modern.md) (1910–1949)
- Led to: [Guochao (China-Chic National Trend)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/guochao.md) (2018–present)
- Alike in its design choices: [Lubok Popular Print](https://stylogeny.com/styles/lubok.md) (1650–1920), 76% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Đông Hồ & Hàng Trống Folk Prints](https://stylogeny.com/styles/dong-ho-folk-print.md) (1600–present), 71% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Mithila (Madhubani) Painting](https://stylogeny.com/styles/mithila-painting.md) (c. 1350–present), 68% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Senegalese Sufi Devotional Imagery (Souwère Glass Painting and Amadou Bamba Portraits)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/senegalese-sufi-imagery.md) (1900–present), 64% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Persian Popular Narrative (Lithographs & Coffeehouse Painting)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/persian-popular-narrative.md) (1843–2012), 63% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Tarot de Marseille Woodcut Cards](https://stylogeny.com/styles/tarot-de-marseille.md) (1639–present), 62% alike

## Real works

- [Zhao Gongming (God of Wealth) riding a black tiger, Taohuawu door-god print](https://www.shanghaimuseum.net/mu/frontend/pg/article/id/CI00160586): Anonymous Taohuawu workshop, Suzhou, Qing dynasty (Shanghai Museum), Shanghai Museum (via Wikimedia Commons)
- [Four Beauties (Suichao yaotiao cheng qingguo zhi fangrong)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Four_Beauties.jpg): Ji family workshop of Pingyang, Jin dynasty, 12th–13th century (Commons gives 13th–14th century), State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (ХХ-2520); image via Wikimedia Commons
- [Dancing Beauty with a Swallow](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mianzhu_Dancing_beauty_with_a_swallow.jpg): Anonymous Mianzhu workshop, 1930–1932, National Museum in Warsaw (SKAZgr 231, Wikidata Q41251774); image via Wikimedia Commons (from a Rzeczpospolita gallery)
- [Lian nian yu li (Continuous Years of Surplus Profit): boy with carp and lotus](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%E6%9D%A8%E6%9F%B3%E9%9D%92%E5%B9%B4%E7%94%BB_%E8%8E%B2%E5%B9%B4%E4%BD%99%E5%88%A9_%E6%B8%85_%E6%9D%A8%E6%9F%B3%E9%9D%92%E5%B9%B4%E7%94%BB%E9%A6%86%E6%94%B6%E8%97%8F.jpg): Anonymous Yangliuqing workshop, Qing dynasty (impression undated), Yangliuqing Nianhua Museum, Tianjin (as reproduced in Feng Jicai, ed., 2007); image via Wikimedia Commons
- [Kitchen God (Zao jun) and his wife, with the calendar for the 12th year of Tongzhi](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_Kitchengod_2.JPG): Anonymous workshop, 1873 (12th year of Tongzhi, printed in the title band), Wikimedia Commons (holding institution not recorded; uploader cites a csupomona.edu page)

## Sources

- James A. Flath, The Cult of Happiness: Nianhua, Art, and History in Rural North China (UBC Press, 2004)
- Ellen Johnston Laing, Art and Aesthetics of Chinese Popular Prints (University of Michigan Press, 2019)
- Wang Shucun, Paper Joss: Deity Worship Through Folk Prints (1992)

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Nianhua & Chinese Folk Print”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/nianhua/