Background Informations:
On January 15, 2008, China National Philatelic Corporation issued a set of two first-day covers and a miniature cover, carrying a four-piece set of special stamps, "Woodblock New Year Pictures of Zhuxian Town", with a combined face value of 4.80yuan. The names of the stamps are "Door God," "Sanniang Teaches Her Son," "Back from a Fruitful Trip" and "Legendary Heroines."
Zhuxian Town is near Kaifeng, Henan Province. The production of woodblock New Year painting began in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and reached its prime in the middle of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). By adopting the Song Dynasty (960-1279) block printing technique and the woodblock watercolor printing, the pictures exhibit succinct and refined engraving skills, a simple and bold style and a well-rounded composition. The multi-color block printing, dominated by warm hues, features intense artistic contrast between red and brown, yellow and purple. The subjects mainly fall into three categories: exorcising evil spirits and praying for blessings, folk traditions and customs, and folk tales and traditional opera. Zhuxian Town's woodblock New Year painting is a representative of the folk art in the Central Plains and has had far-reaching influence on the New Year paintings of other regions.
