Inheriting Tradition: Folk artists dedicated to preserving new-year woodblocks

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New year pictures are a favorite decoration in households across China during the country's most festive holiday of the year: the Spring Festival. The pictures were traditionally printed with woodblocks. The craft originated in a small town in central China's Henan Province. You can still find artists dedicating themselves to preserving the tradition. CGTN's Xu Mengqi has the story.

Grinding, Inking and then.

ZHANG JIZHONG PRINT WOODBLOCK CRAFTSMAN "We call this ironing. You lay the paper on the wood block, rub over it back and forth, and the New Year picture will be stamped on it."

This is the handicraft of picture printing. The woodcut prints often portray gods and other characters from Chinese folklore. It's a tradition that goes back over a thousand years in Zhang Jizhong's home town of Zhuxian.

ZHANG JIZHONG PRINT WOODBLOCK CRAFTSMAN "During the Chinese New Year, we paste pictures of gods on our doors, hoping they will bring us good harvests, fortune, security and happiness in the coming year. These are the New Year pictures and their stories. Each picture has a story."

51-year-old Zhang Jizhong is the president of the local new year woodcut prints association. He admired the traditional craft from a young age, but it wasn't until decades later that he decided to fully dedicate himself to preserving it.

ZHANG JIZHONG PRINT WOODBLOCK CRAFTSMAN "In November 1992, the then-president of our association invited me to a seminar in Hebei. The seminar took place in a museum about new year woodblock prints, and I was totally astonished. After that, I decided to quit teaching and took a job at the association."

For generations, Zhang's family has made a living from this art. They still print the pictures the old-fashioned way. Starting from choosing the wood.

ZHANG LIANSHENG ZHANG JIZHONG'S FATHER "The wood has to be pearwood. And it needs to be processed. This block I'm using was cool-dried for five to six years. One or two years won't do. Look at how intricate the lines are."

Intricate indeed, but also meticulous and time-consuming.

XU MENGQI ZHENXIAN TOWN, HENAN "Like many traditional crafts, New Year pictures from woodblocks face extinction. Zhang Jizhong says the solution is to make the art relatable once again to contemporary people and their lifestyle."

The same character as in the New Year pictures. Only an animated version. With local government support, Zhang produced a series of animations to tell the stories once told by the woodcut prints.

ZHANG JIZHONG PRINT WOODBLOCK CRAFTSMAN "Through animation, we hope the virtues portrayed in traditional New Year pictures will become part of our lives, and children's education."

Every day, Zhang Jizhong ponders how to creatively preserve the tradition of New Year woodblock prints. Downstairs in his workshop, Zhang's father says he will continue practicing the craft the old way as long as he lives. Xu Mengqi, CGTN, Zhuxianzhen, Henan Province.