An old New Year woodblock painting with the Chinese characters "洪福齐天". [Photo provided to en.nantong.gov.cn]

Chinese people used to put up New Year paintings for Spring Festival and tradition has it that the New Year woodblock painting in Nantong, Jiangsu province, came from an artisan surnamed Wang.

People usually think that New Year paintings are just the God of Door. However, the art form feature abundant content and sophisticated making techniques.

A template for the New Year woodblock painting featuring God of the Door. [Photo provided to en.nantong.gov.cn]

At the very beginning, New Year paintings have some specific functions, while as time goes by, they have less functional meanings but are used to build up festive atmosphere.

Here is an old New Year woodblock painting with the Chinese characters "洪福齐天" (meaning supremely fortunate in English), a farm cattle, months of the year, which is usually put up beside a dining table for people to check solar terms for farming.

After the New Year woodblock painting spread into Nantong, both the content and tools for the art have Nantong characteristics. For example, the tool for getting pigment is a wooden strip stuck in a clam shell.