Yangliuqing New Year Wood-block Prints 杨柳青木版年画

时间：2006年
Time: 2006
类别：民间美术
Category: Folk Art
地区：天津
Region: Tianjin municipality
编号：Ⅶ—1
Ref. No.: Ⅶ-1
申报地区或单位：天津市
Nominating unit[s]: Tianjin municipality
在天津众多的民间艺术中，最具代表性的就是杨柳青木版年画。
Among the large number of folk arts in Tianjin, Yangliuqing New Year wood-block prints are probably the most representative.
杨柳青木版年画发源于千年古镇杨柳青。明代永乐年间，京杭大运河的开通及天津漕运的兴起使杨柳青成为南北商品交易的重要集散地，经济日益繁荣。周边地区的木版年画艺人先后迁居杨柳青镇，发展业务。而杨柳青镇外盛产的杜梨木非常适宜雕版，有了这种可用的工艺材料，杨柳青木版年画随即兴起，并日益走向兴盛，出现了全镇及周边村庄“家家会点染，户户善丹青”的盛况。
Yangliuqing New Year wood-block prints have their origin in Yangliuqing, an ancient town with a history of over one thousand years. During Emperor Yongle’s Reign of the Ming Dynasty, Yangliuqing became an important distribution center for products from both the north and south of China, with a booming economy resulting from the opening of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the rise of the water grain transport in Tianjin. Wood-block prints masters began to move to the Town of Yangliuqing from surrounding areas to start businesses. The outskirts of the town happened to be famous for their pyrus betulaefolia bge, a tree with wood suitable for carving. With processes and materials available, Yangliuqing New Year wood-block prints thrived, and finally reached their golden age as the whole town and its surrounding villages witnessed an upsurge in which all families were excellently skilled in the art of dyeing and painting.
由于历史原因，杨柳青年画曾一度衰落，抗日战争时期全部停业，损失最为惨重。1949年后，经过人民政府的多次抢救、搜集、挖掘、整理，杨柳青年画又获得了新生。
Due to historical reasons, this old art form fell into decline and suffered the most during the Sino-Japanese War, when it almost ceased to exist. Since 1949, the PRC’s government has committed to several rescue, collection, excavation and sorting operations, leading to a revival of the rare art.
杨柳青木版年画题材广泛，内容丰富，构图饱满，寓意吉祥，雅俗共赏。它采用刻绘结合的手法，刻工精美，绘制细腻，人物生动，色彩典雅，成为我国著名的年画品种之一。杨柳青年画是中国年画艺术的代表，在中国民间文化和天津文化发展史上占有重要地位。挖掘、抢救、保护杨柳青木版年画，对天津地区民俗文化及北方年画乃至中国美术发展状况的研究具有重要意义。
Yangliuqing New Year wood-block prints feature a variety of subjects, rich content, full composition, and auspicious connotations, catering to different tastes. It made its ascent to being one of the most famous New Year painting styles as a result of using a combination of carving and painting techniques to create exquisite engravings, delicate pictures, vivid characters and elegant colors,. As a typical Chinese New Year printing art, it has played an important role in the development of Chinese folk culture and Tianjin’s. The excavation, rescue and protection of Yangliuqing New Year wood-block prints is significant to the study of the development of the folk cultures of both Tianjin and northern China, and even the development of fine art across China.