For Chinese people, the Spring Festival is the most important festival of the year. Thousands of years of dynasty changes have not been able to shake its status. From Li Shida's "New Year's Day Village Celebration Picture", Ding Guanpeng's "Taiping Spring Market Picture", "Emperor Qianlong's New Year's Day Pleasure Picture" to Jin Tingbiao's "New Year's Day Picture", Ren Bonian's "New Year's Day Picture Scroll", Wu Changshuo's "New Year's Day Pure Offering Picture Vertical Scroll"... From these ancient paintings, we can see that the Spring Festival is a common festival for all people, which can be called a celebration for all people, from the emperor to the common people. Whether it is in response to orders or expressing one's own feelings, there is a true feeling from the heart.

Time flies, and before we know it, the annual ring has added a new circle. The winter solstice is coming, and Laba is coming, indicating that the Spring Festival is coming soon. The Spring Festival is an ancient agreement, and it comes as promised year after year. What is "New Year"? It is a time period that encompasses the four seasons, and it is also an important node for people to enjoy life after hard work. For the Chinese, the "Spring Festival" is the most grand festival of the year, and thousands of years of dynasty changes cannot shake its status. With the development of social productivity, the form and content of New Year activities have undergone significant changes, but traditional projects such as worshiping ancestors, sweeping dust and removing old things, posting couplets, and visiting homes for the New Year are still must-do activities during the New Year. If you explore from ancient paintings, you can also see many "new things" about the ancients during the New Year.

When talking about the things that the ancients did during the Chinese New Year, we have to mention "Sui Chao Qing Gong". In ancient China, the first day of the first lunar month was called "Sui Chao". On this day, literati and scholars would like to offer flowers, fruits, vegetables, and cultural relics on the table. Even in the cold winter, they could show the vitality of spring and pray for good luck and peace in the new year. This was called "Sui Chao Qing Gong". This custom began in the Tang Dynasty. Later, literati painted the items placed on the table in front of the window and hung them on the wall, intending to pray for blessings and auspiciousness. Since the Song Dynasty, it has been mostly called "Sui Chao Tu". When the Spring Festival was approaching, Song Huizong Zhao Ji ordered the painters of the court painting academy to depict flowers and birds that could not be seen in winter and display them in the palace to add spring colors and festive atmosphere to the Sui Chao. When ancient literati celebrated the Spring Festival, they used flowers or utensils with auspicious meanings as the theme for their creations. As a New Year's work during the Spring Festival, it is similar to today's "New Year's film". Ancient people did not have cameras, so paintings not only served as artistic expressions, but also served as records, which allowed us to understand the Spring Festival customs and aesthetic tastes of different historical periods. The cultural background and spiritual connotation behind the ancient people's use of objects to express their feelings, ideas, and worship of nature are full of ritual sense.

In ancient China, where agriculture was the foundation, "New Year's Day pictures" have always been people's wishes and yearnings for a good year, good harvests, and plenty of food and clothing. According to the content of the paintings, "New Year's Day pictures" can be divided into two categories: one is the depiction of New Year celebration scenes, namely "New Year's Day customs paintings", which aim to express the festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival, with landscapes, figures and buildings as a combination. The most eye-catching of them is the children playing, who do not know what sorrow is. The second is flowers and antiques, which use homophonic meanings to imply auspiciousness, which is called "New Year's Day Qinggong pictures". The term "Qinggong" originated from offering to Buddha and became popular in large quantities in the Song Dynasty. Song Dynasty literati often placed ornaments for viewing on their desks, such as various bonsai, flower arrangements, seasonal fruits, strange stones, handicrafts, antiques, exquisite stationery, etc., which can add cultural atmosphere and interesting beauty to halls, study rooms and other residences. In the Qing Dynasty, "New Year's Day pictures" were particularly popular in the palace. During the Spring Festival, the imperial painters would present their best works on time to decorate the palace during the Spring Festival. The two types of Qinggong paintings can be regarded as figure paintings and flower and bird paintings on the theme of the Spring Festival.

Li Shida's New Year's Day Village Celebration in the Ming Dynasty, The Palace Museum

Li Shida of the Ming Dynasty's "Village Celebration of New Year" reproduces the lively New Year scene in Wuzhong area. The saying of "village celebration" is extremely rare, which allows future generations to appreciate the "scenery of New Year's Day". The mountain village and water village, pine houses and willow streams, houses, slopes and stone embankments, villagers, visiting friends and feasting, setting off firecrackers, appreciating paintings indoors, bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new, and celebrating the festival. The picture is full of busy and festive scenes of peace and prosperity during the New Year. The landscapes, pines and cypresses are vigorous and moist. The characters are painted with mature brushwork, vivid expressions and different postures. The painting is signed "Written in Shihu in the twelfth month of Wuwu", which was the 46th year of Wanli (1618). The poem written by Emperor Qianlong in the Bingshen year was written 158 years later: "Dongguo is far away from Xishu, and the mountain village is connected to the water. The spring shade celebrates the old and the young, and the year of plenty has enough chickens and pigs. The legacy of the three generations remains, and the deep meaning of the time exists. There is no other way to govern the people, but to serve the people whether they are hungry or full and to keep them warm." When reading the two sentences "There is no other way to govern the people, but to serve the people whether they are hungry or full and to keep them warm", one will suddenly wake up from the warm New Year atmosphere.

Qing Ding Guanpeng Taiping Spring Market Map Taipei Palace Museum

Ding Guanpeng's "Taiping Spring Market" depicts the scene of the rural areas celebrating the Spring Festival during the New Year. The word "market" is the key. In addition to various vendors, there are also peddlers carrying loads and hawking their wares along the street, as well as performers of fortune-telling, land boat racing, and puppet shows. The vendors sell firecrackers, play Taiping drums, perform monkey shows, land boat racing, and blind fortune-tellers. The stage is a stage for performing hand-held performances, and tourists and vendors, as well as bamboo fences, are vivid and lifelike. Scholars sit under pine trees and drink tea and chat. The red lacquer tray contains a large purple clay pot and a blue and white bowl, and a large green flower pot and tea kettle are used to hold spring water. When relatives and friends meet, they bow to each other. This work cleverly combines Chinese and Western painting techniques, retaining the lines and ink charm of traditional Chinese painting, and drawing on the perspective and light and shadow effects of Western painting, making the picture three-dimensional and vivid. It is undoubtedly a particularly excellent work handed down by Ding Guanpeng. Every detail in the work has been carefully portrayed, whether it is the expression and action of the characters or the shape and texture of the scenery, showing superb painting skills. The picture is in the form of a long scroll. As the scroll slowly unfolds, the scenery of the market from outside to inside is presented in sequence, full of dynamics and film and television effects.

Ding Guanpeng entered the Qing Palace in the fourth year of Yongzheng's reign (1726). During this period, he learned from Lang Shining. His figures were painted with exquisite colors while taking into account traditional line drawing techniques, thus creating a new style for court painting in the early Qing Dynasty.

Emperor Qianlong's New Year's Day Pleasures by Lang Shining, Qing Dynasty, The Palace Museum

Emperor Qianlong's New Year's Day Pleasures by Lang Shining of the Qing Dynasty, The Palace Museum

The Emperor Qianlong's New Year's Day is a painting jointly created by Chinese and Western painters. The portrait of Qianlong was painted by Lang Shining, and the children, houses, and trees were painted by Shen Yuan, Zhou Kun, Ding Guanpeng, and others. The main purpose of the painting is to exaggerate the festive and harmonious atmosphere of the royal New Year's Day, while showing the happy family affection between Emperor Qianlong and his princes. The New Year's Day, the beginning of the new year, is particularly important. On this day, Qianlong would reunite with his family, and at the same time he would carefully copy a copy of the Heart Sutra to celebrate and pray for peace and good fortune. The painting depicts the lively scene of Qianlong and the royal children lighting firecrackers in the courtyard to celebrate the New Year's Day. In addition to showing his noble status as an emperor, it also reveals the side of an ordinary parent. The finishing touch is the couplet on the pillar: "Spring is beautiful in the five-color clouds, and the sun is growing on the branches of the ten thousand years", which is likely to be written by Qianlong.

Jin Tingbiao's New Year's Day in the Qing Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei

In Jin Tingbiao's "New Year's Day Picture", green bamboos, plum blossoms and bamboos in the garden compete for beauty. A woman peeks through the moon gate at the babies playing. The noisy and lively children undoubtedly add a lively and peaceful atmosphere to the New Year. Jin Tingbiao's superb painting skills benefited from his careful observation of life on weekdays, and he was appreciated and promoted by Emperor Qianlong. According to the archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there was an imperial decree in the 22nd year of Emperor Qianlong (1757): "On the ninth day of the sixth month, I received a letter from Yuanwailang Lang Zhengpei and Cui Zongdekui, and the eunuch Ruyi conveyed the order on the seventh day of this month - Jin Tingbiao, the new painter of Ruyi Pavilion, was asked to paint a hand scroll of "Eighteen Scholars Ascending Yingzhou" and to paint it carefully." This was the first "order" from Emperor Qianlong that Jin Tingbiao received after entering the palace. New Year's Day paintings are similar to "Guan Ge style" and are based on the need to "respond to orders". It is not easy to show the temperament among multiple requirements in propositional creation. The Shiqu Baoji records 81 pieces of Jin's calligraphy and painting works, which shows that his works were just what Emperor Qianlong liked. The imperial edict called Jin Tingbiao "painter", which was just a hard-earned job!

The Qing Dynasty: Xu Tingkun Grinding Mirrors During the Spring Festival, British Museum

Mirrors have special meanings and uses for the ancients. The magic mirror in "The Investiture of the Gods" has boundless magic power, and the mirror in "A Dream of Red Mansions" predicts the legend of marriage. Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, once said: "A husband can use copper as a mirror to correct his clothes and hat; use history as a mirror to know the rise and fall; use people as a mirror to understand gains and losses." Copper mirrors are made of copper, tin, and lead alloys. They will oxidize and turn black after being exposed to air for a long time, so they will become dim or blurred and cannot be used to reflect shapes. The ancients vividly called them "dim mirrors." The magnet needs to be re-polished to restore its brightness and make it reflect people. This is called "opening" or "polishing." This step requires "mirror polishing medicine." "Mirror polishing medicine" plays a key role in the production of bronze mirrors. Winter is the slack season for farming. The Spring Festival is the beginning of the year, so the ancients often polished mirrors before the Spring Festival to pray for the renewal of all things. Xu Tingkun's "Mirror Polishing during the Spring Festival" can be regarded as a scene photo. In the painting, on the half-open door, there are couplets or auspicious words such as "Golden Sun, Heavenly Official Blessings Come", "Front Door Welcomes Hundreds of Blessings", and "Back Door Auspiciousness". Several early plum blossoms are sticking out from the wall, showing the joy of the New Year. There are two women in the painting, one holding a child and the other holding a round mirror. The hostess's body is hidden behind the door, revealing only her side face, but her face is fully presented in the mirror, which is both illusory and real. The old man who grinds the mirror is in ragged clothes, smiling, with vicissitudes of life and wrinkles, forming a strong contrast between the characters. At this time, a round mirror is being polished on a wooden frame, with a bottle of medicine powder next to it, and a thing shaped like a castanets - made by stringing together several pieces of iron sheets, called "Jinggui", used to attract business. "Menglianglu" records: "Sharpening knives and scissors, polishing mirrors, if there are people walking around the street from time to time, you can call them." Mirror polishing is not an easy craft, and bronze mirror maintenance has become a specialized profession, so it is called "mirror polisher", which means hermit. Lü Dongbin, one of the "Eight Immortals", once worked as a mirror polisher. Practicing is like polishing a mirror. Although the process is hard, after being polished, a person's state of mind becomes as clear as the bright moon in the sky, and he gains great wisdom and freedom.

New Year's Celebrations by Yao Wenhan of the Qing Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei

Yao Wenhan's "New Year's Celebration" depicts the scene of family reunion during the Spring Festival, and fully expresses the atmosphere of joy and reunion during the Spring Festival. The painter used fine brushwork to fully express the joyful atmosphere of the festival. The overall color is bright, the pavilions and towers are magnificent, the courtyard is surrounded by ancient trees, the lake rocks stand, the fire basin burns pine branches, and the interior is decorated with a large vertical screen of "Four Seasons Flowers" and a vase with peonies, which sets off the rich and auspicious New Year atmosphere. The servants either stand with wine jugs or serve cakes and fruits, shuttling in the corridors of the front hall. The women in the backyard are busy preparing the New Year's Eve dinner, and the male servants in the attic in the distance work together to hang large lanterns. In this painting, it seems that the laughter of the cute children with round shapes is heard, playing various games in front of the courtyard, playing Taiping drums, blowing sheng, playing puppets, etc. Taiping drum is also called "welcoming drum", which means "peace", and is a sincere hope for a peaceful and prosperous era. The whole picture is rich in color, bringing out the auspicious and festive atmosphere, and presenting the beauty of multiple folk customs: first, the auspicious beauty of New Year's Day offerings, second, the innocent beauty of carefree children's play, and third, the beauty of filial piety and brotherhood in a harmonious family.

Zhao Chang's New Year's Day Painting, Northern Song Dynasty, in color on silk

The painting "New Year's Day" by Zhao Chang, a flower and bird painter in the Northern Song Dynasty, is the earliest painting in this series that has survived to this day. The painting has a special composition, with no blank space, and is full of flowers. There are two lake rocks and standing stones on the picture, and plum blossoms, camellias, daffodils and vinca flowers are densely interspersed in front, behind, left and right. It is painted with cinnabar, white powder, rouge, and malachite, and then filled with azurite. The colors are bright, vivid and warm, and it looks magnificent and suitable for hanging on the wall of the palace. Zhao Chang specializes in flowers and insects, and pays attention to observation and sketching. He often walks around the fence in the garden in the early morning when the dew has not dried, and paints on the spot with hand-adjusted colors. He calls himself "Sketch Zhao Chang". His paintings are realistic and colorful, and he has the reputation of "excelling in coloring". The poem written by Emperor Qianlong reads: "The whole painting is filled with light silk and gathers many flowers, and the first year of the dynasty reports the good time. The red, red, and stone green come from the painting academy, and only Zhao Chang can express the mood and emotions. It is only praised for its beauty, not for its quality, and it is fragrant in many places. The good paintings of Xuanhe are not really good, and the traces are involved in the lively scene of playing the flute and blowing the flute." After the poem, Emperor Qianlong wrote: "The painting is originally large, and there may be some damage, which was cut off by the mediocre merchants and faked. The remaining is not a complete piece." Judging from the unnatural cutting of the edge of the painting, this is possible. In terms of the style of brush and ink painting and the painting methods of moss, rocks, slopes, and grass, it does not look like the style of the Song Dynasty. Nevertheless, "a piece of good light is also precious." Qianlong's postscript seems to be contradictory, "only Zhao Chang can express the mood and emotions", but he also said "it was cut off by the mediocre merchants and faked". It can be seen that the appraisal was arbitrary. Let's just say it and listen to it.

Ming Dynasty Bian Wenjin's New Year's Day, National Palace Museum, Taipei

Bian Wenjin's "New Year's Day" was created in the spring of the second year of Emperor Xuande's reign (1427). The word "Xuande" is a reminder of the past, and the famous Xuande furnace is an example. Although the Ming Dynasty was a harsh dynasty in historical narratives, it still had a relaxed side. Art can reveal human nature. In the Ming Dynasty, new flower shapes such as "Ten Perfect Flowers" were born in flower arrangement, and the distinction between "hall flowers" and "studio flowers" further emerged. The flowers used in the hall are tall and upright, with a sense of ritual, and the study is mainly small bottles and small vessels, highlighting the sense of fun. The simple copper pot in the picture contains ten kinds of flowers, including plum, orchid, camellia, narcissus, Indian daffodil, ganoderma, pine, cypress, persimmon, and ruyi, which is exactly the meaning of "Ten Perfect". The center of gravity of the vase flowers is biased towards the bottom, and the plums are used to lead to the top, creating a virtual and real coexistence. From the exquisite vase to the lively lanterns, every detail reveals the painter's love for life and pursuit of beauty.

Qing Dynasty Chen Shu New Year's Beautiful Scenery Taipei Palace Museum

Chen Shu is known as "the first female painter in the Qing Dynasty". The painting "Suichao Lijing Tu" on silk is powerful and simple. By depicting various homophonic objects with beautiful meanings, such as the stone with longevity plus narcissus and Indian daffodil, it is "celestial fairy arches longevity", and the lily, persimmon, ganoderma lucidum, and apple next to it, it has multiple meanings such as "everything goes well" and "peace and happiness", to express the hope and blessing for the New Year. This is a common technique in auspicious paintings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The inscription reads "In the new year of Yimao in the reign of Yongzheng, Chen Shu, a disciple of Shangyuan, painted in Laiqing Xiaoshu, at the age of seventy-six." At such an old age, there is no trace of old age in the brush and ink. In the large flower pot in the painting, there are two kinds of blooming peonies, and there is also a winding and beautiful ancient plum blossom in full bloom. There is a bunch of narcissus next to the lake stone, and the small white flowers seem to have a fragrant smell. The narcissus leaves are outlined with light ink, and then dyed with light green, tender yellow, and light ochre, with elegant tones. Two bright red persimmons are hidden under the leaves. There are peony flowers about to bloom under the flowerpot. The layout is quite ingenious, with sparse and dense, virtual and real, and the ups and downs of peony flowers and leaves, which complement the colorful flowers, making people feel that they are full of vitality.

Qing Dynasty Ren Bonian Suichao Picture Scroll The Palace Museum

Ren Bonian, a famous artist of Shanghai School, is good at figure, portrait, flower and bird, and landscape painting. In his early years, he was good at meticulous brushwork and attached great importance to inheriting traditions, but he was not bound by ancient methods. In addition to inheriting folk and traditional literati paintings, he also integrated the strengths of freehand brushwork of Chen Hongshou, Chen Chun, and Xu Wei. At the same time, he also absorbed the methods of Western painting sketches and coloring. His brushwork tended to be simple and unrestrained, and he combined meticulous brushwork with freehand brushwork. The colors were bright and elegant, forming a unique style of painting that was colorful, novel and vivid. He made outstanding contributions in the field of figure painting, which not only broke the pattern of traditional figure painting, but also opened up a path for the transformation of ancient Chinese figure painting to modern times. He can be called a pioneer of the reform of Chinese figure painting. This work was painted in the "Snow Window in the Midwinter of the Dingchou Year of the Guangxu Period" when he was 38 years old. It was the time when the reform was gradually maturing. It looks light and has become a style of its own. This subject matter is very easy to be vulgar. The brushstrokes are extraordinary, which can be said to be "light makeup and heavy makeup are always suitable", showing a unique charm.

Qing Dynasty Wu Changshuo New Year's Day Offering Picture Hanging Scroll The Palace Museum

When talking about Ren Bonian, Wu Changshuo must be mentioned, and vice versa. They were both teachers and friends, and their friendship was passed down through the ages. Wu Changshuo loved "New Year's Day Offerings" very much, and he painted it almost every year as the first work at the beginning of the new year. The "New Year's Day Offerings" we saw was made in 1915 when he was 72 years old, reaching old age. The painting combines elements such as vase plums, narcissus, cattails, and beautiful stones to form offerings. Therefore, there are superimposed meanings, such as cypress branches, persimmons, and ruyi constitute "everything goes well", three halberds inserted in the vase symbolize "three levels of promotion", firecrackers, bottles, and quails represent "bamboo announces peace", and so on. Freehand flower painting is the artistic achievement of Wu Changshuo. "Compared with Bai Yang, it is more majestic; compared with Xu Wei, it is more profound and vast; compared with Bada Shanren, it is more romantic; compared with Li Futang, it is more majestic; compared with Zhao Zhiqian, it is more sophisticated." The whole painting uses appropriate shades of ink, and the colors are bright and beautiful, elegant and beautiful. The narcissus with double strokes and colors further reflects Wu's unique charm of vigorous and ancient brushwork in his later years. The red plums in the high-necked vase, the emerald green narcissus, and the scattered cattails are arranged in a diagonal form with the right higher and the left lower. The upper left corner and the lower right corner are respectively equipped with inscriptions and seals. This is a common composition form in Wu Changshuo's flower paintings. The inscription reads: "A pure offering for the New Year. Writing about the flowers and fruits on the desk during the New Year is how the ancients wrote about the changes of things with the seasons. This is an imitation of the idea." The witty words and the skillful and thoughtful inscription, together with the self-engraved seal, form a perfect whole of "poetry, calligraphy, painting and seal carving."

From these ancient paintings, we can see that the Spring Festival is a common festival for all the people, which can be called a universal celebration, from the emperor to the common people. Whether it is in response to the order or expressing one's own feelings, there is a true feeling from the heart. The greatest fun of the Spring Festival is equivalent to a post station set up on the road of life, which is a place for each other's soul to get comfort and rest. With such a post station, each person's life will be divided into many stages. Life starts from the time of elementary school, and we work hard for knowledge, honor, status, family, and all our great life dreams. In this process, there are both smooth sailing stages, and there will definitely be setbacks and failures. If there are no such stations, there will be no time to rest. No matter how beautiful it is, it will be exhausted or even dead halfway. When encountering setbacks, there is no time to adjust the mental state. These stations give life a chance to breathe, end the past, and face the future. The fun of the Spring Festival is actually the fun of life. "The way of civil and martial arts is to alternate between relaxation and tension" - start again with a good mood, accompanied by new hope and expectation, with new motivation, and start a new journey.