Zhuxianzhen Woodblock New Year Prints

Zhuxianzhen New Year prints grew out of the 'paper-picture' trade of Northern Song Dongjing (Kaifeng) and are one of the principal sources of Chinese woodblock New Year prints; at their Ming–Qing peak the town held over three hundred print workshops trading far and wide.

The prints are made with carved pear-wood blocks and hand color-registration: a key line block is cut first, then each color is overprinted, producing full compositions with bold lines and vivid mineral and plant pigments in reds, greens and yellows, depicting door gods, the Kitchen God and opera tales.

Inscribed in 2006 on the first national ICH list, the prints are a living fossil for the study of Chinese folk art, woodblock printing and New Year customs, and deeply influenced later print centers such as Yangliuqing near Tianjin.

The craft is centered on Zhuxianzhen in Kaifeng's Xiangfu District, with related museums and workshops in the city showing and producing the prints.