In the second stage, the craftsman carves lines on the wood board, which should be straight and deep to resist wear and tear. Usually, three additional sample print boards are made in red, yellow and blue respectively.

In the third stage, the craftsman pastes the paper on sample boards for printing, first the black board, then the red, pink, yellow, blue and light blue boards consecutively.

The Wuqiang New Year Woodprint is a folk art that comes from an agricultural society. Its subjects, contents and forms all feature strong rural and natural styles. In light of different rural surroundings, diversified New Year painting styles were created.

The subjects of Wuqiang New Year woodprints come from many sources. Some paintings depict good harvests and a happy life; some depict warding off evil and ghosts; and some reflect daily life, teaching people to be kind and hardworking. There are also styles depicting legends, myths, history and opera stories.

Significance

Many old Wuqiang New Year woodprints have been destroyed or lost through wars or disasters. During the first and second world wars, some valuable pieces were lost overseas and now they are collected in foreign museums such as the British Museum in London, the Oriental Arts Museum in the former Soviet Union, the San Francisco Museum in the USA and the Tokyo Museum in Japan. In order to better protect and collect masterpieces of Wuqiang New Year Woodprints, the country's first museum for New Year paintings was set up in 1985 and a society for the study of New Year Woodprint paintings was established.

In recent years, the age-old art of Wuqiang New Year Woodprint has enjoyed unprecedented development. While maintaining the traditional woodprint and silk print techniques, new technologies have been applied to hasten the high-quality production of paintings. It is believed that the new generation of Wuqiang New Year Woodprint artists will bring new life to this time-honored folk art with their creativity and skills.

Source: chinaculture.org