Innovating the Auspicious: Mianzhu’s Door Deity Markets….………..………………… 25

Nianhua as a Living Archive?.............................................................................................. 38

Performing Engaged Research....……….………………….………………………………50

Chapter Breakdown……..…….…………………….…………………………………...…54

Chapter Two:

The Power of Ephemera: Ritual Praxis and the Contested Rise of the Nianhua Marketplace.......58

Harnessing the Seasonal Nianhua Market…...…...…………………….………………….64

“Out With the Old, In With the New”: the Transformative Spaces of Nianhua Use..……..79

Reunion and Regeneration: Nianhua and the Lunar New Year……………………..…….90

Lineage-making Strategies for Reclaiming Authority in the Nianhua Marketplace.…...…98

Chapter Three:

“The Picture Must Have Theater”: Performing Narrativity in Mianzhu Nianhua…....…………128

The Medicine King: Performative Gestures and the Art of Storytelling.……..…....……134

Transformations Between Theater and Print.………………….……………...……...….151

Recovering Narrative Density in Greeting Spring.…..……………………….….…...…161

Chapter Four:

To Build a Museum and a Village: the Race for Mianzhu’s Nianhua Heritage…………...……174

Mianzhu Nianhua Museum: Putting the Past in its Place………………………………. 180

Contesting Heritage: Nianhua Makers Stake Their Claims ……………………………..195

Mianzhu’s Nianhua Village and the Rise of Intangible Heritage Tourism…....…………202

Racing for the Intangible: the Nianhua Festival as Performative Statecraft...…...………213

The High-End Heritage Industry: Replicas and Remakes.……………………………….219

Chapter Five: Conclusion……..…………………...……………………………………………228

An Industry Based on Innovation.…………………………………………………….… 229

Demystifying the Auspicious ...………………………………………………………….236

Future Directions and Post-Earthquake Reconstruction………………………………….242

Bibliography…………….………………………………………………………………………332

Appendix: Mianzhu Nianhua Timeline, 1912-2011…...……………...…...……………………347

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List of figures

Figure 1. Street-level view of an urban residential neighborhood in Mianzhu…...…...247

Figure 2. Comparison of multi-block printed colors and hand painted colors….……..248

Figure 3. Exterior view of an urban household doorway in Mianzhu……..…………..249

Figure 4. Exterior view of an urban household doorway in Mianzhu..……………..…250

Figure 5. Early 20th century Shanghai yuefenpai nianhua or “calendar poster”..……..251

Figure 6. The inaugural state calendar of 1912 for the Republic of China……………252

Figure 7. Peasant Girl, Factory Boy, woodblock print, 1950s, Mianzhu….………….253

Figure 8. Map of major nianhua production centers across China .…………………..254

Figure 9. Map of major woodblock printing areas and trade routes in Sichuan………255

Figure 10. Wang Tianbao’s nianhua workshop, 1962, Mianzhu…………………...…256

Figure 11. Warrior Door Deities, woodblock print, early 20th century, Mianzhu…….257

Figure 12. Cat Deity, woodblock print, early 20th century, Mianzhu………………….258

Figure 13. Journey to the West, scroll painting, late 19th century, Mianzhu……….….259

Figure 14. The labor-intensive phase of woodblock carving, 2006, Mianzhu……..….260

Figure 15. Detail of a carved woodblock, late 19th century, Mianzhu………………...261

Figure 16. A painter applies colors and details over the printed outline with a brush...262

Figure 17. Small size stamps and a detail of gold stamps applied to a print………..…263

Figure 18. Warrior Door Deity, woodblock print, late 19th century, Mianzhu.……….264

Figure 19. Mianzhu Nianhua Museum, 2006, Mianzhu……………..….…………… .265

Figure 20. Nianhua Village, 2006, Mianzhu…………………………………………..266

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Figure 21. Outdoor nianhua market, early 1980s, Mianzhu…………………………..267

Figure 22. Outdoor nianhua market, 2004, Mianzhu ……….………………………...268

Figure 23. Tianshuijiao, woodblock prints, late 19th century, Mianzhu……………....269

Figure 24. Exterior doorway of an urban residence, 2006, Mianzhu.............................270

Figure 25. Exterior doorway of an urban residence, 2006, Mianzhu ……..…………..271

Figure 26. Exterior doorway of a well-to-do rural residence, 2006, Mianzhu………...272

Figure 27. Exterior doorway of an urban residence, 2006, Mianzhu………………….273

Figure 28. Interview session with Wang Xingru in his studio, 2006, Mianzhu..…….. 274

Figure 29. Front cover of the Wang family genealogy chart..………………………....275

Figure 30. Arrangement of couplets on the Wang family genealogy chart. ...…..…… 276

Figure 31. The ancestral tablet on the Wang family altar…………………………….. 277

Figure 32. Detail of an inside page of the Wang family genealogy chart……………..278

Figure 33. Back cover of the Wang family genealogy chart.………………………… 279

Figure 34. Detail of Plowing and Weaving Pictures, Jiao Bingzhen, commissioned by

Kangxi Emperor, hand colored print, ca 1696…………………………………………280

Figure 35. Detail of Plowing and Weaving Pictures, Wang Zhengfa, ink on paper, late

19th cent…………………………………….……………..…………………………... 281

Figure 36. Wang Xingru’s painted sketches from his box of lineage documents….....282

Figure 37. Double Longevity, Wang Xingru, hanging scroll, ink and color on paper,

2004.…………………………………………………………………………………...283

Figure 38. Map of Mianzhu’s historic nianhua sites………..………………………...284

Figure 39. Interview with Li Fangfu in his studio, 2006, Mianzhu.………… ……….285

Figure 40. Interior view of Li Fangfu’s studio, 2006, Mianzhu………………………286

Figure 41. Warrior Door Deities, Li Fangfu, woodblock prints, 2006. ………………287

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Figure 42. Interior view of the Chen family workshop at the Nianhua Village…...…. 288

Figure 43. Boys Playing, Chen family workshop, 2007……………….....…………... 289

Figure 44. Yao Chunrong painting, early 1980s, Mianzhu……………………………290

Figure 45. Interview session with Wang Xingru, 2007, Mianzhu…………………….291

Figure 46. Wang Xingru hanging up his Medicine King painting ……………..……..292

Figure 47. Medicine King, Wang Xingru, hanging scroll, 2004…………...….………293

Figure 48. Storytelling session with Wang Xingru ………………..……………….…294

Figure 49. Medicine King, undated woodblock print, Yangliuqing, Tianjin.……...….295

Figure 50. Interview with Chen Gang at the Chen family workshop, July 2006…...…296

Figure 51. Chen Gang explaining the process of carving……………………………..297

Figure 52. Sichuan theater performer as the female warrior Mu Guiying.....................298

Figure 53. Warrior Door Deities, woodblock prints, ca. late 19th cent., Mianzhu…....299

Figure 54. Sichuan’s famous bianlianxi or “face-changing” theater ………………...300

Figure 55. Five Honourable Sons, handscroll, late 19th century, Mianzhu…………...301

Figure 56. Greeting Spring, Huang Ruigu, handscroll, ca. late 19th cent., Mianzhu....302

Figure 57. Detail from Greeting Spring showing the magistrate on a sedan chair...…303

Figure 58. Detail from Greeting Spring showing the “Welcoming Spring” rites…….304

Figure 59. Detail from Greeting Spring showing the “Beating Spring” rites………...305

Figure 60. Comparison of a Spring Ox Picture from Shanxi and Greeting Spring…..306

Figure 61. Detail of Greeting Spring showing a prominent shop sign…………….…307

Figure 62. Detail of Greeting Spring showing the procession of “raised pavilions”…308

Figure 63. Entrance lobby at the Mianzhu Nianhua Museum. …………….................309

Figure 64. Upper level of the Mianzhu Nianhua Museum. …………………………...310

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Figure 65. Shinutu or “beautiful maiden pictures” from Mianzhu’s early print trade...311

Figure 66. Bicycle-riding Maiden, woodblock print, ca. late 19th cent., Mianzhu.…...312

Figure 67. Swan Cigarette Print Ad, reproduction of a 1930s lithograph, Shanghai….313

Figure 68. Press conference event at the Mianzhu Nianhua Museum, 2006.………….314

Figure 69. Bicycle-riding Maiden, Chen family workshop, woodblock print, 2006…..315

Figure 70. Interview with Li Fangfu in his studio, 2007………………………………316

Figure 71. Tianshuijiao, Li Fangfu, hanging scroll, ink and color on paper, 2005.…...317

Figure 72. View of a rural household at the Nianhua Village, 2006………………..…318

Figure 73. Bilingual sign installed at the Nianhua Village, 2007……………………..319

Figure 74. Nianhua Village, winter 2007, Mianzhu.………………….…………….....320

Figure 75. Exterior view of a private residence at the Nianhua Village in Mianzhu.…321

Figure 76. Local residents carrying out agricultural work in the Nianhua Village…....322

Figure 77. Entrance to the Chen family workshop at the Nianhua Village, 2007……..323

Figure 78. The street sign in front of Li Fangfu’s workshop………………………….324

Figure 79. Dragon dance at the Nianhua Festival, 2005, Mianzhu...…………………325

Figure 80. Central stage of the Nianhua Festival, 2005, Mianzhu……………..……..326

Figure 81. Souvenir shop in Mianzhu with fuzhipin replicas on display…………..….327

Figure 82. Examples of nianhua in new media……………………………….…….…328

Figure 83. Straw Cutting Maidens, Liu Zhumei, acrylic on canvas, 1995…………….329

Figure 84. Door Deities, Liu Zhumei, acrylic on canvas, 2001. ………………………330

Figure 85. Damaged site at the Nianhua Village right after the 2008 earthquake……..331

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