Zhao Wencheng
"Yuanzheng Enlightenment Day, Jiaqing starts here." This is a poem by Xin Xiaoyongnian, a poet of the Jin Dynasty.
Yuanzheng, also known as "New Year's Day", is the first day of each year.
The seasons of the year begin, and the beautiful and festive days begin from this day.
Therefore, the whole world celebrates together, and the world rejoices together.
Yuanzheng, also known as the one-year-old dynasty.
In order to celebrate this new year, people often sing poems, paint pictures, etc., and adopt various forms to express their expectations and joy for the New Year.
"Sui Chao Tu" came into being.
"Hanshu Kong Guangzhuan" says: "The dynasty of the age is called the three dynasties".
Yan Shigu notes: "The dynasty of the year, the dynasty of the moon, and the dynasty of the sun, so they are called the three dynasties." Since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties in my country, the Spring Festival has been called the "Sui Dynasty".
"Sui Dynasty Map" (or "Sui Shiqing Contribution Map") may have been produced.
It usually uses still life as the material, accompanied by poems celebrating the new year, through the homophony of the names of the objects in the painting, folk implication or historical anecdotes, to pray for good luck in the new year, full of spring, so that people who have worked hard all year can feel kind, warm and comforted Joy.
According to relevant documents, "Sui Chao Tu" began in the Tang Dynasty, and officially emerged in the court in the Song Dynasty.
Zhao Ji, a famous artist in history, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, whenever the Spring Festival approached, ordered Danqing masters of the Academy of Painting to paint flowers and birds that could not be seen in winter, and display them in the palace to add to the festive atmosphere of the dynasty.
The first "Sui Dynasty Picture" in the true sense should be the "Sui Dynasty Picture" made by Zhao Chang in the Northern Song Dynasty, which is now in the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
On the whole, this picture is huge, with clusters of flowers, covering the sky and covering the earth, without leaving any gaps, making it appear elegant and rich, as brilliant as a cloud of brocade.
Just when the flowers are blooming and the New Year is just around the corner, examine this picture carefully. In the heart of the painting, there is an ethereal and transparent lake stone, and a stone pavilion on the right is like a bamboo shoot, surrounded by elegant plum blossoms, red camellias, elegant narcissus and beautiful flowers. The bright periwinkle is used as the material, with cinnabar, white powder, rouge, and stone green as the keynote, extensively laid out, skillfully selected, so that the picture is complicated but not chaotic, and the colors are harmonious and beautiful.
This kind of orderly arrangement makes the picture show the vigorous vitality dormant in the cold weather of April and September, revealing the message of spring.
This kind of artistic conception is full of elegant poetic interest, full-bodied and full of aftertaste, which is the evocative aesthetic of this painting that has been passed down for thousands of years.
The painter Zhao Chang is well-known for his painting skills. He is good at sketching, and he is good at painting flowers and fruits.
Fan Zhen of the Song Dynasty wrote in "Dongzhai Jishi": Zhao Chang "played around the fence every morning when the dew fell, and wrote it with colors in his hands."
He also called himself "Sketch Zhao Chang".
It can be seen that from the beginning of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, "Pictures of Years and Dynasties" have been the subject matter of literati at the end of the year and the beginning of the year, from the court to the folk.
Afterwards, such as Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen's "Auspicious Omens of the Years" and folk or auspicious meanings with themes such as "Zhongdao Yingfu" and "Hundreds (cypresses) things (persimmons) wishful thinking" are all like this.
Also handed down to later generations in the same dynasty is Qiu Ying's "Sui Chao Tu".
Chen Hongshou's "Qing Gong Tu" puts plums in the vase, the flowers bloom with new stamens, and the magnolia is light and comfortable, with a coolness in the simplicity and elegance. Bright and fresh for the new year.
Afterwards, Ren Bonian, Jiang Tingxi, Wu Changshuo, etc. all liked to write "Sui Dynasty Picture".
Among the folks, "Sui Chao Tu" also appears in the form of New Year pictures in people's New Year celebrations.
The most representative one is the "Gusu version" New Year painting "Sui Chao Tu" drawn by Suzhou Taohuawu painter Cai Weiyuan during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty as a powder version and woodblock engraving.
This is one of the New Year paintings that inherit the past and the future and can reflect the painting style of the painting academy in the middle of the Qing Dynasty. In the snowy mountains, the close-up is the children with firecrackers and the ladies with plum blossoms.
The whole picture is created with the palace near the lonely mountain of West Lake as the background.
About the painter Cai Weiyuan, the biography is unknown, only his name is recorded in this work.
The composition of this painting is influenced by the courtyard paintings of the Southern Song and Ming Dynasties. The trees, rocks, ladies, and boys in the picture have absorbed the tradition of flower and bird figures since the Song and Yuan Dynasties; Combining with the inherent Chinese scatter-point perspective to express architecture, its proportions are generally proportional, with rich layers and a strong sense of depth.
The combination of these two forms of expression is not only elegant and detailed, but also not rigid to the traditional perspective.
The poems and postscripts on the screen describe the excitement and peace of the Spring Festival: "The battle between plum and snow is gradually unfolding, and the sound of cannons urges the coming of the new year. Lin'er plays around the red furnace, and the old man walks on Qiongtai with a stick."
The mellow festival and folk aesthetics are fascinating.
The theme of "Sui Chao Tu" is just an aesthetic footnote of Yuan Zheng's festivals.
Judging from the painting themes of "Sui Chao Tu", it can be roughly divided into three categories: one is flowers, birds and strange stones, the other is figure drawings, and the other is the year-by-year scene.
Its flowers, birds and strange stones often take vase flowers as the core, embellished with some utensils, fairy flowers, auspicious grasses, fruit, strange stones, auspicious words, ancient bricks and so on.
These flowers, plants, fruits and vegetables all have auspicious meanings.
The plum blossom symbolizes the good news, the peony symbolizes wealth and honor, and the lychee in the bottle symbolizes peace, auspiciousness, peace and joy.
Figures are drawn with the help of gods, hanging Zhong Kui, ancestors, etc., to pray for exorcism and blessings.
The category of age and age mainly depicts people's happy New Year scenes.
Wang Zengqi once commented on the celebration of the first year of the "Sui Chao Tu".
He wrote in an essay: "I once saw an old painting: a thatched hut, an old man holding an earthen jar with a plum blossom inserted in it, and was about to put it on the table. Nothing else, just plant plum blossoms to celebrate the New Year.' This is the real 'Sui Chao Qing Gong'."
Behind the paintings is the unique aesthetic taste of the Chinese people.
Only by respecting nature, conforming to the law, and returning to simplicity, can we capture the most beautiful spring of nature.
The soul is in the word "Qing" in the Qing offering at the age of the year.
Traditional festival customs contain people's self-care for life and endow many new ideas to the continuation of life.
Gossip about "clear offerings at all ages" is undoubtedly a refreshing pleasure for history, for culture, and for the glory of traditional Chinese culture. We are in it and enjoy it!
(The author is an associate researcher at the China National Academy of Arts)
("People's Daily Overseas Edition", January 19, 2023, Page 12)