Heritage Category

Traditional Crafts

Geographic Origin

Beijing, North China

Temporal Peak

Han Dynasty (202 BCEâ€“220 CE), flourished in Ming and Qing

UNESCO Status

National Heritage

Transmission

Master-Apprentice (Hands-on)

Primary Vectors

New Year Woodblock Print Making

CIVILIZATION OBJECT NO. 074

Chinese New Year Woodblock Prints

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

COORD: 39.90N / 116.41E

CIVILIZATION CONTEXT

RELATED REGION

Beijing

RITUAL ALIGNMENT

Spring Festival (Chinese New Year)

MATERIAL PAIRING

New Year Woodblock Print Making

LITERARY NODES

Woodblock Printing: The First Information Revolution

info

This artifact is part of the Intangible Heritage Cluster. It connects to 8 entities across the atlas, spanning 1 region, 1 master, 1 festival, and 1 skill.

01 / ARCHIVAL ORIGINS

Chinese New Year Woodblock Prints: A Living Heritage

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.

2228+

Years of Unbroken Lineage

Related Cultural Vectors

FIG. 01: CHINESE_NEW_YEAR_WOODBLOCK_PRINTS — ARCHIVAL STUDY

auto_stories

Stories & Legends

Woodblock Printing: The First Information Revolution

historical

How carved pear wood changed the world, 600 years before Gutenberg.

build

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

Draw the design on paper, separating color areas
Transfer each color layer to a separate pear wood block
Carve the outline block first, then color blocks
Mix mineral pigments with animal glue binder
Print the outline in black ink on xuan paper
Print each color block in sequence, aligning registration marks
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

map

Related Places

pin_drop Beijing (North China)

celebration

Related Festivals

calendar_month Spring Festival (Chinese New Year)

THE LIVING BREATH

Generations Preserved

NATIONAL / GEN 1

Zhang Fang

Zhang Fang is a master of Chinese New Year woodblock print making (nianhua) from Yangliuqing, Tianjin. A fifth-generation print artist, she carves pear wood blocks and prints using traditional mineral...

person

KNOWLEDGE NETWORK