On the morning of today, the activity of “‘A Taste of Shandong’ ——Hundreds of Foreign Students in Shandong” sponsored by the Information Office of the People’s Government of Shandong Province and Shandong University, organized by China Shandong News Net went into Yangjiabu Folk Arts Park in Weifang where foreign students learned the fabrication process of kites and New Year painting on wood plates of Weifang, understood how the native in Yangjiabu lived hundreds of years ao, and experienced the ancient folk customs, style and unique charms of Yangjiabo.
Yangjiabu has been the cradle of kites in Weifang with a long history, and enjoys the title of Top 1 Place of Origins of New Year Painting on Wood Plate with Yangliuqing in Tianjin and Taohuawu in Suzhou. To the end of Ming Dynasty, kite skills were so sophisticated and integrated with New Year painting, which gives rise to the saying that “kites in the sky, New Year painting on the wall”. Yangjiabu Folk Arts Park is a concentrated exhibition of the most original Yangjiabu Culture.
Watch the Process of Making a Kite at the Site.
Centipede with dragon head, butterfly with hard and soft wings, seven stars, eight diagrams, fish and birds, insects and various legendary figures... At the Yangjiabu Kite Museum, the beautiful kite exhibits surprised foreign students so much that they kept taking photos. “The kites here are so beautiful and various. It’s my first time to see so many kinds of kites!” the students gasped in admiration on the spot.
Of a long history, Yangjiabu kite is simple and beautiful, vivid, charming and artistic. After hundreds of years of precipitation, it has formed an ancient kite art with content, form of expression, drawing techniques and coloring having its own unique features. Those all kinds of kites in the museum, which may be about myths, or flowers, birds and beasts, or which may be small and exquisite, or huge... all foreign students were deeply impressed.
In addition to the Kite Museum, the Park is dominated by New Year pictures and kites, and themed by folk customs. Some tens of scenic spots and exhibition halls are also set up, including galleries, ladies’ workshops, museum and studio of New Year painting, folklore gallery, cultural relics gallery, exhibition of centennial marriage certificates, coarse cloth workshop, exhibition of agricultural implements, exhibition of red collections, academy of calligraphy and painting, stand for Chang’e flying to the moon, block of ancient stores, Sanxing Lake, Dushuo Moutanin and Yangjiabu ancient villages of Ming and Qing Dynasties and ancient locust trees. As the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage, Yangjiabu New Year painting on wood plate is a must for every visitor.
Watch the Process of Making Yangjiabu New Year Painting on Wood Plate.
Stepping into the printing room of New Year painting on wood plate of Yangjiabu Park, you are always greeted by a delicate fragrance of ink. On the bookshelf, walls and windows… New Year painting on wood plates in different forms are seen everywhere. Some senior artists were demonstrating their skills at the site, which have attracted many visitors, including those foreign students that they stood by his side, and watched the whole process of New Year painting surprisingly.
Of a long history, Yangjiabu New Year painting on wood plate is popular in Yangjiabu, Weifang City as a traditional folk wood painting form firstly showed up in Ming Dynasty. It is completely manually operated in traditional means, which is simple in making process, sophisticated in arts, and involves several procedures of painting, engraving, printing and mounting. After fine and accurate procedures, the finished products are colorful, plentiful and profound in folk style.
“The ink shall be properly controlled and evenly applied. Force on paper shall be neither too light nor too heavy. The paper shall be put on the plate correctly, and never removed afterward.” While speaking, the senior artist produced a number of embryonic forms for New Year painting. Seeing this, the foreign students were also excited intending to have a try.
“Dealing with such a small painting you have to be extremely careful！”, said a foreign student who had just experienced it excitedly. She would like to take some kites and New Year paintings as gifts for her families and friends, to show them our traditional cultural works and Chinese stories.
The activity of “ ‘A Taste of Shandong’ ——Hundreds of Foreign Students in Shandong” aims to popularize the modern Chinese values and concepts, embodies the spirits underlying Chinese culture, to provide foreign students in Shandong more experiencing activities, and to show the unique charms of Shandong from economy and culture. Hundreds of foreign students were invited to Zibo and Weifang, experiencing local long history, culture and economic social development achievements.
