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Civilization Object No. 074
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Chinese New Year Woodblock Prints

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Colorful folk woodblock prints pasted on doors at New Year — each region's unique style of auspicious imagery and door gods.

dna Heritage DNA
history Origin

Han Dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE), flourished in Ming and Qing

category Domain

traditional crafts

verified Level

National Heritage

pin_drop Region

North China

pulse Status

active

person Key Masters
person

Zhang Fang

national

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Chinese New Year woodblock prints (nianhua) are colorful folk prints pasted on doors and walls during Spring Festival to bring good luck and ward off evil. Produced in regional centers like Yangliuqing (Tianjin), Taohuawu (Suzhou), and Yangjiabu (Shandong), each style has distinctive characteristics. Traditional subjects include door gods, the God of Wealth, auspicious children, and harvest scenes. The prints are created using hand-carved wooden blocks and bright mineral pigments.

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Skills & Techniques

New Year Woodblock Print Making expand_more

The craft of carving multi-colored woodblocks and printing auspicious images for Spring Festival decorations.

Steps

  1. Draw the design on paper, separating color areas
  2. Transfer each color layer to a separate pear wood block
  3. Carve the outline block first, then color blocks
  4. Mix mineral pigments with animal glue binder
  5. Print the outline in black ink on xuan paper
  6. Print each color block in sequence, aligning registration marks
  7. Air-dry and trim the finished print

Tools

carving knife set, printing brush, registration frame, pigment tray, mallet, burnisher

Materials

pear wood blocks, xuan paper, mineral pigments, Chinese ink, animal glue

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Relationship Constellation

This heritage item connects to 7 entities across the atlas — masters, places, festivals, and stories.

build New Year Woodblock Print Making skill person Zhang Fang inheritor pin_drop Beijing location calendar_month Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) festival person Chinese Paper-Cut ich person Han Dynasty dynasty person North China region
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