An artist's lifelong devotion to Chinese New Year paintings

JINAN - A cherubic child holding a big fish, a giant tree bearing golden coins as fruit, or delicate woodblock paintings are all often hung at homes during the Chinese Lunar New Year. For many Chinese, bright-colored woodblock paintings, which are hung at almost every door, windows and walls for festival decorations, are quite time-limited. As soon as the parties come to an end, these print works are at once thrown away.

However, these short-lived New Year paintings require a year of hard work by the artists, many of whom have devoted their entire life to this traditional folk art.

Yang Luoshu, a 92-year-old man from Weifang, Shandong province, is among those who have had great passion for the Chinese Lunar New Year woodblock prints. Yang has worked as a craftsman for 77 years, and has kept polishing his carving skills with every piece of work.