What did the New Year pictures originate from?

New Year pictures were formally formed in the Northern Song Dynasty. At that time, prosperous commerce and handicrafts, increasingly mature block printing and rich folk New Year greeting activities provided good social conditions for the development of New Year pictures. At the end of the year, Bianjing (now Kaifeng, Henan) and Lin 'an (now Hangzhou, Zhejiang) began to print and sell woodcut New Year pictures, and themes such as customs, operas, beautiful women and dolls began to appear. Woodblock New Year pictures in the Southern Song Dynasty are more abundant.

After the middle of Ming Dynasty, with the further development of commercial handicraft industry and the maturity of color overprint technology in block printing, woodblock New Year pictures developed rapidly, and famous New Year pictures such as Yangliuqing in Tianjin, Yangjiabu in Shandong and Taohuawu in Suzhou appeared.

The New Year pictures after 1949 inherited many fine traditions of the old New Year pictures and abandoned some superstitious and backward contents in the old New Year pictures. Many professional painters have joined the creative team of New Year pictures. They broke some fixed procedures of the old New Year pictures, and boldly used other painting techniques for reference, and the New Year pictures took on a new look. Another theory began in the Tang Dynasty. It didn't become popular until the Song Dynasty, but the door gods were still posted, so the New Year pictures can include the door gods.