On January 16, the Liaoning Provincial Museum launched the exhibition Songs of Seasonal Joy in Chinese New Year Prints to welcome the Chinese New Year of the Horse. The exhibition features 132 works, primarily from the museum’s collection of Taohuawu and Yangliuqing prints, as well as Benxi Huanren woodblock prints from the mountainous area of eastern Liaoning. Among these, 34 works are from the museum’s own collection. These Chinese New Year prints from the Jiangnan region and the mountainous area of eastern Liaoning boast distinct styles, but they both adopt the most unadorned artistic language to fuse auspicious meanings, vivid aspects of life, and national sentiments into each delicate print, becoming an indispensable and brilliant chapter in China’s excellent traditional culture.
Chinese New Year prints are not only decorations for festivals, but also a microcosm of traditional Chinese culture, carrying wishes for happiness and passion for life. The colorful prints, filled with the joyful songs of the passing years, have unfolded in the Liaoning Provincial Museum. In conjunction with the exhibition, the museum will host a Chinese New Year print making experience activity, and provide visitors with an opportunity to learn from intangible cultural heritage representative inheritors. They will dip their brushes in ink, and create their own auspicious prints on woodblocks, experiencing the unique charm of this intangible cultural heritage technique. In addition, the Liaoning Provincial Museum will also invite representative inheritors of Tianjin’s Yangliuqing prints, and Huanren woodblock prints to deliver special lectures to visitors. As the Spring Festival approaches, the Liaoning Provincial Museum will invite visitors to embark on a wonderful rendezvous with Chinese New Year prints.
