Conclusion

To return to the central problem raised at the beginning of the chapter, instead of

approaching nianhua as a system of representation, what does it mean to approach

nianhua as competing modes of presentation? By recasting nianhua in terms of its

performed roles, I have moved away from treating nianhua as a fixed “thing” or object of

analysis. Instead I have turned the analytical focus onto nianhua’s shifting lifecycles and

movements through markets, homes, and workshops. In each realm, I have argued that the

very notion of nianhua is reshaped and renegotiated, revealing the very notion of nianhua

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to be a contested site of meaning that is deeply performative in the sense that diverse

nianhua are continuously made to serve the immediate needs of everyday life and

livelihood. Instead of treating the notion of nianhua as an objective or apriori category, I

have instead focused on examples that show how various works are made to perform the

role nianhua, thus establishing the status and significance of nianhua in situated

practices. This includes the more obvious examples of appropriation, such as the print ads

that appear as door deities, but it also encompasses the timed marketplace activities that

frame a range of goods as ritual commodities for the Lunar New Year or the workshop

activities that present the ritual efficacy of nianhua in terms of lineage discourses.

In examining the many different ways nianhua are performed and presented, I

have also stressed the absence of any overarching system of shared beliefs or ideals. This

is a critical move that resists providing a functionalist interpretation of nianhua’s ritual

significance that is limited to certain prescriptive roles. The examples discussed above

show how nianhua are activated and implicated in an endless array of daily activities in

the home, market, and workshop. This is precisely the import of Catherine Bell’s

emphasis on the agentive and performative dimensions of ritual practice, which is not

simply the expression or communication of cultural patterns, but that which “makes and

harbors” such patterns.211 In terms of the nianhua industry, I have thus pointed to how

processes of nianhua ritualization evolve and change in ways that reflect new social

hierarchies and relationships. This is seen in the changing household displays of nianhua,

which play a role in shaping the social relations within a family but also the social fabric

of the streets and neighborhoods. The transformation of social relations is also evident in

211 Bell, Ritual, 82.

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how Mianzhu’s lineage-holding workshops deploy ritual practices to assert the value of

their works and to jostle for status and position in the emerging nianhua marketplace.

While Bell’s ritual theory advances the methodological aims of this chapter, it is

limited in its ability to address the complex dialectical relationships between ritual

objects and ritual practices. While her focus is primarily on the role of human agents in

ritual practice, her theory leaves little room for acknowledging the critical role of nonhuman

agents. A key contribution of this chapter is thus its engagement with a locus of

agency that is tied to spatio-temporal configurations of both human and nonhuman

entities, or “agentic assemblages.” I have argued that the distributed agency of an

assemblage moves away from fixing agency on stable objects/bodies and towards

acknowledging how agency may be unevenly distributed and negotiated within a spatiotemporal

configuration of both objects and practices, such as the nianhua street market.

The ephemeral nature of the works examined here actively challenge the

life/matter binary and push for alternate models agency that do not take for granted

nianhua’s status as fixed or stable objects. In tracing the movement of nianhua through

markets, homes, and workshops, it is evident that nianhua’s attributed ritual function of

“pursuing the auspicious, repelling the portentous” cannot be simply interpreted in terms

of the auspicious signs, symbols, or themes that appear in representation. Rather, it

becomes critically necessary to acknowledge the role of nianhua in marking out

auspicious rhythms and spaces through a diverse range of ritual strategies. As the

following chapters will show, this methodological shift from the represented to the

presented is an issue of immediate urgency, as the question of what constitutes an

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auspicious work of nianhua carries high stakes for those aiming to make a living in the

emerging nianhua market.

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Chapter Three: “The Picture Must Have Theater”: Performing Narrativity in

Mianzhu Nianhua

The picture must have theater, or the myriad viewers will be bored. It must produce

auspicious words if it is to please the people. The figures must be elegant and handsome,

to attract people’s admiration. 􀀁

􀟂􁇏􁀱􁂵􀼤􀄑􀏤􀥁􀒌􀒂􀭈􀄑􀔛􀥧􁀱􀠝􀧦􀄑􀒌􀬿􀞆􀲦􁁩􀄑􀲦􀯖􁀱􀤮􀾮􀄑􀬿􀖤􀲦􀟋􀼟􀀏􀀁

􀀁

Popular rhyme among Mianzhu’s nianhua makers

While a study of the ritual print practices tied to the seasonal markets opens up

the nianhua archive to a broader range of printed and painted ephemera in daily life, this

chapter will unpack the archive by rethinking the issue of narrativity in nianhua. This is a

critical issue in the study of nianhua because many existing studies categorize nianhua

according to its narrative content, as images based on narratives drawn from theater,

historical episodes, or legends and myths. Nianhua authority Wang Shucun, for instance,

has recently published a volume on what he calls “theater-based nianhua” 􀼤􀔛􀭍􀟂.212 In

this work, Wang draws together a large body of prints across time and space (mostly

from northern print centers) that directly reference historical stage dramas. According to

Wang, theater-based nianhua emerged in greater quantities as regional theater expanded

in the Ming and Qing dynasties, when the works played a key role in disseminating elite

social values and in providing entertainment and storytelling opportunities to the lower

classes. To demonstrate the close ties between the theater and printing industries, Wang

matches each print with the characters, scenarios, and narrative plots found in the

corresponding theater production.

212 Wang Shucun 􀺦􀶎􀕨, Zhongguo xichu nianhua 􁇏􀝓􀼤􀔛􀭍􀟂 [Chinese theatre-based nianhua] (Beijing:

Beijing gongyi meishu chubanshe, 2006), 3.

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Wang’s study situates nianhua as illustrations or counterparts of a prior text,

including both written and oral texts such as theater scripts, excerpts of vernacular

fiction, or other historical texts. In doing so, the image becomes representative of a larger

narrative or set of narratives, serving a communicative role to translate them into visual

media. This is central to Wang’s argument that theater-based nianhua allowed theatrical

performances to be relived inside the home, as an inexpensive form of mass

entertainment that would prompt storytelling, singing, and the sharing of instructive

lessons for the younger generation. Since Wang’s research into this topic focuses

primarily on the nianhua of north China, he has not addressed the incredibly rich theater

traditions of Sichuan and their profound influence on Sichuan’s printmaking industries.

Wang’s approach here is mirrored in the Western scholarship on nianhua,