*Foshan’s Wood Engraving Picture

67.*Foshan’s Wood Engraving Picture

Nominating Unit: City of Foshan

Located in the mid-south of Guangdong Province, Foshan is at the heart of the Pearl River Delta. Connecting Guangzhou to the east and being adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao to the south, Foshan enjoys a favorable geographic location. As early as in the Song and the Yuan Dynasties, the custom of engraving door gods was prevalent in Guangzhou, Foshan and other areas. In the early time, the door gods are engraved on the doors directly. Afterwards they are duplicated on paper in great numbers and sold on the market.

Foshan’s Wood Engraving Picture witnessed its palmy days in the Qing Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Qianlong and Emperor Jiaqing. The production of them came to depression since 1930s. In terms of the making techniques, Foshan’s Wood Engraving Picture can be classified into the original printings, wood engravings and wood engravings with traditional Chinese realistic paintings. In terms of the theme, Foshan’s Wood Engraving Picture includes door paintings, paintings of deities and paintings of the local custom. Mainly used for offering sacrifices to the god, praying for blessings and decorating, Foshan’s Wood Engraving Picture reflects people’s good wishes of driving out evil spirits and praying for blessings.

As a unique local craft, Foshan’s Wood Engraving Picture gives expression to the historical and cultural sources of City of Foshan. And it also reflects basic information of Foshan traditional folk paintings and printing.(https://www.daowen.com)

Now the successors of Foshan’s Wood Engraving Picture are only confined to the Feng family members. It is in urgent need to take measures to insure the inheritance of the valuable craft.

Foshan’s Wood Engraving Picture was selected into the list of the first batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage in 2006.