Traditional Wooden Chinese New Year Pictures of Yangjiabu，Weifang
The art of making Yangjiabu traditional woodenChinese New Year pictures resembles an exoticflower among the treasures of folk arts in Chinaand is famous in China and overseas for its strong pastoralflavor and simple，fresh artistic style.
The village of Yangjiabu，Weifang is one of the three main production centers for traditional wooden ChineseNew Year pictures（Yangliuqing in Tianjin，Taohuawu inSuzhou，and Yangjiabu in Hanting）。The techniques usedin the pictures from Yangjiabu have been developed andimproved over the course of hundreds of years in accordancewith the ideological requirements，customs and beliefs，aesthetic concepts and daily necessities of the localfarmers to create their own ancient，elegant，unrefined，and bright style.
Yangjiabu traditional wooden Chinese New Yearpictures have a long history.As long ago as the MingDynasty in the village“every house made traditionalChinese New Year Pictures and everyone flew kites.”The“Jixinghao”Chinese New Year Picture Workshop，foundedin the 13th year of the reign Ming Emperor Chongzhen（1640），has 239.4 square meters and 11 rooms.The buildingis well-preserved and under provincial protection.
Mass production and sale of the wooden Chinese NewYear pictures began and thrived during the reign of theQing Emperor Qianlong，and Yangjiabu，“the village witha hundred art shops，a thousand different Chinese NewYear pictures and tens of thousands of drawing boards，”has remained one of the top three regions for the productionof the pictures in the century and a half since then.
A diverse array of subjects is depicted in the Yangjiabutraditional wooden Chinese New Year pictures in manydifferent forms and types.The main subjects includewishes for prosperity and good luck，wishes to avoiddisasters and calamities，beautiful women and children，wishes for luck and happiness，people’s everyday life，men at farming and women at weaving，novels and traditional operas，myths and legends，natural scenery，and flying birds and stalking animals.Some also featurepractical items used in daily life.Yangjiabu traditionalwooden Chinese New Year pictures have become part ofinternational cultural exchange attracting foreign businesspeople and tourists and a pivotal area for developingthe global-market-oriented economy of Weifang.
The Yangjiabu Folk Art Scenic Park is located on thewest side of the village of Yangjiabu in the Hanting Districtof Weifang，Shandong and is a national AAA sightseeingand tourist area.The sightseeing area was set up in 1986 with an area of 240 mu.The park combines restand recreation with folk art production，exhibition andparticipation activities as an important scenic area in theShandong Thousand-li Folk Customs Tour.The park isdivided into four exhibition zones for the art of Yangjiabutraditional wooden Chinese New Year pictures，the artof kites，folk culture and art on the Yangjiabu Old ShoppingStreet and the culture and art of Zheng Banqiao.
There are a total of 28 individual sights.Tourists can gaina thorough understanding of the history and the ancientand unique production techniques in use for over 600years to make the traditional Chinese New Year pictures.
Tourists can also watch the whole traditional process formaking Yangjiabu kites，enjoy the kite exhibition andenjoy the sight of kites looking like“paper flowers fillingthe sky like snow flurries.”Other folk art attractionsinclude paper cutting，redwood inlaid with silver，clayfigures，dough figures，Cloisonnéand silver statues.Tour-ists can also gain an appreciation for the heart and soul ofthe culture of Zheng Banqiao.Visitors from far and wideare attracted to the ancient Ming Dynasty scholar trees，the special style of the Ming and Qing dynasty buildings，the tranquil rural courtyard houses with their imposinggate spirits and great inner screen walls depicting luck，prosperity and long life，and the ancient and simple folkcustoms of the local people.
The Yangjiabu Folk Art Scenic Park is a gallery for folkart and a great place for domestic and foreign tourists tocome to appreciate folk art.Reactions from visitors havebeen very good.The scenic area has been named as a“National Model for Agricultural Tourism，”one of the“56Scenic Areas in the Country with the Most Ethnic Flavor，”
one of the“Top Ten Brands in Tourism and RecreationSites in Shandong”and“Model in Shandong AgriculturalTourism.”The Chinese New Year pictures and kites ofYangjiabu have been recognized as a“Famous ShandongTrademark”brand.
