Mianzhu Nianhua Museum: Putting the Past in its Place

In 1978, just as state policies relaxed around traditional forms of cultural

production, the notion of heritage protection was redeployed to legitimize the state’s

control over cultural resources at the local level. The vigorous energy dedicated towards

heritage preservation and management reflects a certain anxiety over the state’s changing

stance towards traditional arts and culture. In Mianzhu, officials dealt with this

uncertainty by reinstating the more familiar and tested methods of the 1950s and 1960s,

including the collection of nianhua from local households, conducting interviews, and

setting up production teams to produce state sanctioned nianhua.287 As in the reform era,

the bureau once again exerted state jurisdiction over all historic nianhua as state artifacts

􀻓􀻾 and renewed the 1960 provincial mandate to “rescue of folk art heritage” 􀰽􀣷􀫶􀡗

􁁜􀶌􁁌􀓁. While the earlier print reforms sought to rescue heritage in order to weed out

“feudal superstition” 􀙿􀡹􀫙􀾐 and to produce politically sanctioned nianhua, the 1980s

revival movement sought to recuperate previously banned works in order to launch a folk

art export industry. In this section, I will examine how this process of recuperation

culminates in the extensive displays of historic nianhua at the Mianzhu Nianhua

Museum, a state-run institution that opened in 1996 to “preserve, protect, and promote”

287 Shi Weian 􀵎􀺻􀎽, "Sichuan sheng wenhua guanzhang peixunban jianggao" 􀶹􀔫􀴸􀻓􀟄􀜶􀓉􀮡􀿞􀏫􀢃􀛠

[Lecture for the Sichuan Cultural Affairs Bureau directors' training]," in Mianzhu nianhua zhiyin - Shi

Weian yu minjian yishu 􀫥􁇰􀭍􀟂􁆩􁁻􀄒􀵎􀺻􀎽􁃐􀫶􀡗􁁜􀶌 􀊦Mianzhu Nianhua: Shi Wei An's Collected

Writings on Folk Art 􀊧, ed. Hou Rong 􀞥􀲴 (Chengdu: Sichuan meishu chubanshe, 1984).

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Mianzhu’s nianhua heritage. I will draw attention to the problematic provenance of the

museum collection as well as the tensions and incongruities that emerge between the

actual works and the museum’s strategies of heritage display.

The provenance of the museum’s prized collection historic nianhua is shrouded in

mystery. Works were first collected in 1960 when state nianhua researchers Shi Weian

and Fu Wenshu were charged with the duty of rescuing Mianzhu’s nianhua heritage.

With the assistance of elder printmakers and local informants, they collected some 200

historic nianhua roughly dated to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These

were taken from local households, abandoned storage rooms of former printshops, and

even a salvage yard that was preparing to burn a large pile of prints as garbage. The

specific details of these collection activities are lacking, as the mission was only recorded

In summary form by the leading researcher Shi Weian. According to Shi, the team

collected “about 100 door deity works that included over twenty pairs of hand painted

door deity designs dating to the Ming and Qing period, 118 carved wooden blocks and

rubbing blocks, and other miscellaneous painted works.”288

According to firsthand accounts, the bulk of the works were transferred from

Mianzhu’s Cultural Affairs Bureau, where they had only survived the Cultural

Revolution due to the clandestine efforts of the bureau chiefs. In April of 1966, two of the

bureau directors, Huang Zonghou 􀟛􁈷􀞨 and Hou Shiwu 􀞥􀵗􀻳 made a secret pact to

build a fake wall in the main office to hide the most treasured works. Two years later, the

works were discovered by a group of maintenance workers, who began burning the old

288 According to Shi, they found the works just in time as they were being carted to a salvage yard to be

sold as paper waste for recycling. The works were stored as overstocked items from an old paper shop that

was being cleaned out by the descendants of the owner. Shi Weian 􀵎􀺻􀎽, “Mianzhu menshen yishi” 􀫥􁇰

􀫊􀴪􁣧􀵙 [Mianzhu door deity anecdotes], Deyang Daily 􀖣􁀝􀲰􀐑, March 2, 1996.

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printing blocks as firewood to keep warm. By the time Hou arrived to stop the workers,

thirty blocks had been destroyed. The remaining eighty-eight carved blocks, prints, and

paintings survived to form the most complete and high quality set of historic nianhua

from Mianzhu. 289

Despite the rather haphazard survival of these works, they were immediately

displayed in nianhua exhibitions that framed them as a representative collection of

traditional Mianzhu nianhua. During the 1980s, a series of touring exhibitions were

organized, showcasing these works as “traditional nianhua” 􀔮􀹤􀭍􀟂. They were

displayed alongside “modern nianhua” 􀽃􀕽􀭍􀟂, new works by trained art academy

artists commissioned by the state that depicted themes related to the “Four

Modernizations” campaign, such as images of scientific progress, education, and

consumer goods.290 In line with the new national agenda to open up Chinese markets to

global trade, the touring exhibitions served multiple purposes tied to cultural exchange,

diplomacy, and trade, where the works themselves narrated China’s smooth transition to

modernity on the global stage. By 1985, Mianzhu nianhua had traveled to Hong Kong,

France, United States, Japan, Mali, and Burkina Faso in West Africa. A slew of national

exhibitions soon followed, attracting media attention and Mianzhu’s inclusion in a Hong

Kong documentary on Sichuan’s cultural attractions.291 Fueled by a larger “folk art fever”

289 Hou and Huang’s clandestine activities are recorded in a published interview with Hou in Shen Hong 􀴫

􁚼, Mianzhu nianhua zhi lu 􀫥􁇰􀭍􀟂􁆭􀩪􀊦Touring Mianzhu Nianhua􀀾􀀁(Beijing: Zhongguo huabao

chubanshe, 2006), 63-70.

290 John Gittings has commented on how posters reflected the “rapid shift in political culture” at the end of

the Cultural Revolution (1976-1979) when images of science, education, and consumerism “could now be

presented as primary targets of achievement.” See John Gittings, "Excess and Enthusiasm," in Picturing

Power in the People's Republic of China: Posters of the Cultural Revolution, ed. Harriet Evans and

Stephanie Donald (Boulder, CO: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.), 42.

291 For a discussion of the 1980s touring exhibitions of Mianzhu nianhua and the filming of the feature

documentary, Curiosities of Sichuan 􀶹􀔫􀰅􀱿􀩣 see Pan Peide 􀮌􀮡􀖣, "Sichuan Mianzhu nianhua huigu yu

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that was sweeping through China, these early revival activities were primarily geared

towards a global audience and did little to support the local nianhua industry.

By 1993, these exhibitions had garnered enough success to earn Mianzhu official

recognition as a Folk Art Hometown and state funds were allocated to build the Mianzhu

Nianhua Museum 􀫥􁇰􀭍􀟂􀑰􀻾􀜶, a powerful institution that would secure the mandate

to preserve and to protect Mianzhu’s nianhua heritage for all future generations. Opened

to the public in 1996, the modern three-story building houses Mianzhu’s official nianhua

collection, which has now expanded to include about 800 works (fig. 63).292 In sharp

contrast to the cyclic economy of ephemeral door deities seen throughout Mianzhu’s

residential neighborhoods, the museum establishes alternate modes of viewing where

nianhua are presented as rare and permanent artifacts of historical and visual interest.