Zhangzhou Woodblock New Year Prints

Zhangzhou woodblock New Year paintings originated in the Song Dynasty and flourished during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, representing a unique traditional folk art form from Zhangzhou, Fujian. The main themes include warding off evil, praying for good fortune, historical opera stories, and decorative patterns. Among Zhangzhou New Year paintings, door paintings are the most common, which are further categorized into "Cushen (coarse deity)", "Youshen (fine deity)" and other types. "Cushen" refers to door paintings printed on bright red or vermilion paper, while "Youshen" refers to those printed directly on natural-colored paper with light red hues manually overprinted on the figures and backgrounds.