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Transformations Between Theater and Print
While the example of the Medicine King suggests close ties between theater and
nianhua traditions, it should be kept in mind that the two industries are no longer closely
intertwined as they were in the past. While historic records show that Mianzhu’s door
deity guilds hired theater troupes for their banquets and sold their prints at temple fairs
where auspicious theatrical performances would be held, these intimate connections
gradually dissolved as both industries underwent intense periods of reform and revival.
Starting in the early 1980s and concurrent with the state-led revival of traditional nianhua,
the Sichuan CCP Provincial Committee issued a directive “to get Sichuan opera moving”
with an emphasis on “salvaging, inheriting, reforming, and developing”
traditional opera.248 Like the term nianhua, the notion of chuanju or “Sichuan
theater” is a blanket term for diverse forms of regional theater in Sichuan. In the same
way that the notion of folk art groups together many objects, the misnomer of “Sichuan
theater arts” groups together an array of performative practices involving music,
248 Colin Mackerras, “Theatre in China’s Sichuan Province,” Asian Theatre Journal 14, no. 2 (1987): 191-
192. As early as 1978, Sichuan was the first province to revive and publicly perform traditional musicdrama
plays as distinct from the “newly written historical” items. By the late 1980s there was an average of
one troupe for each of the 177 counties. Like rural printmakers, these troupes were most active during the
Lunar New Year, the slack season for agricultural activities. While some farmers turned to printmaking,
others performed in theater productions to bring in extra winter income.
singing, dance, and ritual theater.249 In Mianzhu, these practices had many names such as
“singing theater” , “wooden bench theater” or “encircling drums” .250
The relationship between these different forms of theater and nianhua is further
complicated by the extensive appropriation of theatrical elements in nianhua over time,
so that the references take on very different meanings in the ritual consumption of
nianhua. For instance, a traditional stage production in Chengdu dramatizes the exploits
of the famous female warrior Mu Guiying , a character from Romance of the Yang
Family Generals , a Ming dynasty novel that gave rise to countless theater
productions across China. In the promotional material for the Chengdu Sichuan Opera
Theater , a photograph of Mu Guiying captures the highly stylized gestures
and costumes of Sichuan theater (fig. 52). The performer wears a costume reserved for
high-ranking military generals, with flags on the back, fringed streamers around the
waist, two long pheasant feathers on an elaborately decorated helmet, and a long spear in
hand.
In the nianhua that are most often associated with Mu Guiying, the figure is recast
in a new identity to fulfill the specific goals of ritual print use. In these works, the identity
of the female warrior is often blurred, as in this widely reproduced pair of female door
deities from Mianzhu (fig. 53). In the published literature on these prints, the figures are
249 As many scholars have noted, the theater traditions of Sichuan are extremely diverse and have absorbed
the influences of musical systems from surrounding regions since the 17th century, including Kunqu opera
and the gaoqiang musical variant from Jiangxi, clapper opera introduced from Shaanxi, and the huqingianq
musical variant from Hunan and Hubei. It is often noted that only dengxi or “lantern theater” is native to
Sichuan, a small-scale folk opera that developed from the ritual theater of agricultural communities. See
Ursula Dauth, “Strategies of Reform in Sichuan Opera since 1982: Confronting the Challenge of
Rejuvenating a Regional Opera” (PhD dissertation, Griffith University, Brisbane, 1997).
250 For a description of Mianzhu’s local theater traditions see Huang Zonghou , “Mianzhu nongcun
de chuanju huodong" [Sichuan theater activities in Mianzhu's rural villages], in
Mianzhu wenshi ziliao xuanji Anthology of Mianzhu's historical studies vol. 14] ed.
Wang Peisheng and Zhang Changlu (Mianzhu: Sichuan sheng mianzhu xian zhengxie xuexi
wenshi ziliao weiyuanhui, 1995), 102-107.
usually associated with the female warriors Mu Guiying and Qin Liangyu
although there are no distinguishing features here to tell them apart. Both Mu Guiying
and Qin Liangyu are well-known figures in the regional drama traditions across China,
although female door deities are rarely seen in other parts of China. They are probably
prominent in Sichuan because some famous female warriors are native to the region. For
instance, Qin Liangyu lived in the Ming era and comes from Zhongzhou, Sichuan. She
led an army to protect the region by resisting the invasions of Sichuan led by Zhang
Xianzhong. 251
In contrast to the martial appearance of the theater performer, these printed door
deities are dressed in elegant women’s costumes with fashionable “lotus shoes,” signaling
the bound feet of elite women. The sound for “shoes” (xie ) is a homophone for
“harmony” (xie ), a feature that enhances the auspicious quality of the image. There are
no flags to indicate their military status although they do wear the helmets with pheasant
feathers normally associated with the theatrical garb of martial figures. Their hands are
poised in a feminine gesture, lightly holding the phoenix feathers and their facial
expressions are sweet and subdued. The door deities are thus portrayed in a more gentle
and domesticated manner suited to household display.
In comparison to the theatrical portrayal of Mu Guiying, who is in a bright red
costume, these female door deities are dressed in costumes of paler colors and simpler
floral patterns. According to Alexandra Bonds’ detailed study of Chinese opera costumes,
the costumes of high-ranking military figures are often bright in color and embroidered
with dragons or fierce animals and tight geometric patterns. In contrast, ladies of high
251 For a brief discussion of female door deities in Sichuan art, see Wang Shucun, Chinese Door Deity
Pictures, 37-39.
position usually wear pastel colors with floral patterns.252 It appears as if these prints
have mixed up these theatrical references as the female door deities wear the elegant
dress of household ladies yet they also have martial helmets on their heads and wield the
large weapons of female warriors. In this particular example, they have a sheathed sword
hanging from the waist and a large “reclining moon blade” in hand.253
In these works, it is possible to see how the theatrical figure of a female warrior is
transformed into a door deity. The elements of costume and gesture are made to perform
a new role here, which is to attract the auspicious while protecting the household gate. As
door deities without clear markers of identity, the narrative density of these works is
intensified in the sense that they now call up a broader range of famous female warriors,
including the two mentioned already but also Hua Mulan and Liang Hongyu
. The prints have thus appropriated and transformed aspects of the theatrical repertoire,
putting them to different uses and producing new narrative possibilities.
As discussed in the last chapter, the great variety of door deity prints produced
and consumed in Mianzhu demonstrates how a door deity is not attached to any fixed
identity or persona. Instead, the notion of a door deity is more like a performed role that
many different figures can play when properly positioned and renewed. The idea that
many actors/identities may perform the role of a particular deity, such as the Medicine
King or the door deity, may be related to a similar conception in Sichuan’s ritual theater,
where various skilled performers may enact the efficacious powers of a deity as if the
deity were living and present in the performance itself.
252 Alexandra Bonds, Beijing Opera Costumes: The Visual Communication of Character and Culture
(Honolulu: University of Hawai’i, 2008), 245-248.
253 While Sichuan theater performances of Mu Guiying usually show her with a long speak or bow and
arrow, the weapons vary in nianhua depictions and are sometimes omitted altogether.
In the case of Sichuan’s famous “face-changing theater” , a performer may
even take on multiple roles in a single performance by rapidly removing thin layers of
painted silk masks that are tightly bound to the face (fig. 54). This produces a thrilling
special effect where the performer’s face changes from moment to moment in the
performance, often in rapid succession or when the audience least expects it. As a
performative gesture, “face-changing” is a display of the performer’s physical mastery of
a protected trade secret that is simultaneously conveyed as the mastery of various
identities and life forces, including the countless deities and heroic figures of ritual
theater.254 Similarly, it is possible to see how the ritual displays of Mianzhu’s door deities
harness a range of auspicious figures to serve the single purpose of controlling the many
positive and negative influences around a household doorway.
The transformation of theatrical signs into rebus imagery is another prominent
example of how theatrical elements are made to play new roles in a wide range of
nianhua. A rebus is a representation of a word or syllable by a picture of an object with a
similar sounding name, such as a rhyming word or homophone. The key element here is
the sound of the object’s name, which serves as a cue for vocalization that prompts the
viewer to enunciate its name and thus call into being various auspicious notions. In a
Qing dynasty print, for instance, four young boys greet a mother figure as they arrive at
their household steps while a fifth boy observes the scene from behind a table inside the
home (fig. 55). The boys bring an array of auspicious objects that are commonly seen in
theater props or costumes. These objects are the most colorful elements in the image and
jump out boldly on the picture plane. Each one is a rebus on its own, yet in combination
254 For a discussion of Sichuan’s “face-changing theater,” see: Wang Dingou Sichuan juehuo
Sichuan theater arts] (Chengdu: Sichuan meishu chubanshe, 2007), 22-8.
with the other objects, they may carry double or even triple meanings based solely on a
play of aural associations. To illustrate the many narrative possibilities in this seemingly
simple print, I will first provide an interpretation of how the rebuses might work
individually to call up auspicious speech, then in various combinations.
In the center of the image, a young boy draws a boat on wheels that bears a tall
red vase (ping ), which may be a homophone for peace (pingan ). Rising out of the
vase are three halberds (sanji ), a homophone for “levels” (sanji ), as in the
three successive levels of official promotion. The word halberd (ji ) is also
homophonous for “auspicious” (ji ). This suggested meaning of promotion is
confirmed by the official’s cap just in front of the vase on the boat and the boy behind the
table, who carries a reed pipe (sheng ), which is homophonous for “promotion” or
“rise” (sheng ). The boy behind the boat carries a lotus blossom (lianhua or lianzi
), which carries connotations of “many sons” due to the homophonous words for
“successive” (lian ) and “sons” (zi ). The bright sashes (dai ) worn by the boys also
means “to bring” and is a homophone for “generations” (dai ), a reference to male
progeny carrying on the family name. The boy facing the mother figure carries a jade or
stone chime (qing ), a homophone for “celebration” or “congratulation” ( qing). The
blue color (qing ) of the sashes also resonates with this celebratory meaning.
In combination, these rebus signs call up a whole host of auspicious sayings. The
placement of the objects on a rolling boat (chuan ) thus calls up the expression, “May
official positions roll in every generation; may you have three successive promotions”
(guan dai liu chuan, lian sheng san ji ). The triple combination of the
“halberd, chime, and vase” (jiqing heping ) appears in many nianhua prints and
is homophonous for the phrase, “auspiciousness, felicity, and peace” (jiqing heping
). The mother figure holds an auspicious carved scepter (ruyi ), which literally
translates as “as you wish.”255 Combined with the lotus (lian ), which rhymes with
“year” (nian ), the ruyi scepter and the lotus call up the saying “may your desires come
true year after year” (niannian ruyi ).
The image may also be associated with the theme of wuzi duokui ,
which translates as “five boys competing for a helmet,” where the term for helmet (kui
also refers to finishing “first place” in the civil service exam. The phrase references the
famous story of the scholar official Dou Yujun (ca. 907-960) who had all of his
five sons successfully pass the civil service exam. The number five also calls up the
required knowledge of the Five Classics for the civil service exams. During the Ming and
Qing periods, images of five boys took on many variations tied to the notions of
officialdom, promotion, and fertility seen here. 256 These themes are not unique to
Mianzhu, but are commonly seen in the woodblock prints from the other major print
centers across China, such as Yangliuqing, Suzhou, and Weifang.257
In a theatrical context, halberds, colorful sashes, official caps, and lotus blossoms
figure prominently as stage props or elements of costume. They might be used to signal
255 These ruyi , or “wish granting scepters” were commonly presented to the emperor and empress on
auspicious occasions. In woodblock prints, they often appear in the hands of deities and immortal figures,
especially Daoist figures such as the Eight Immortals and other deities, as the ruyi bears a resemblance to
the fungus of immortality. For a discussion of ruyi imagery, see Patricia Welch, Chinese Art: A Guide to
Motifs and Visual Imagery (Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle, 2008), 258-259.
256 Since the Ming era (1368-1644), images of a hundred boys or five boys were widely popularized in
various media, including porcelain, tapestry, painting, prints, and sculptures. For a study of children in
Chinese art and the repeated imagery of young boys, see Terese Tse Bartholomew, “One hundred children:
from boys at play to icons of good fortune” in Children in Chinese Art, ed. Ann Barrott Wicks (Honolulu:
University of Hawai’i Press, 2002) 57-83.
257 For a broader discussion of the thematic depictions of young boys in Chinese prints and paintings, see
Terese Tse Bartholomew, Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art (San Francisco: Asian Art Museum of San
Francisco, 2006).
the particular identity and moral character of a performer, such as an upright official or
brave warrior. However, in the context of this nianhua print, these markers of identity
take on aural associations with auspicious concepts such as male progeny, emolument,
and prosperity. Collectively, these theatrical props have been transformed into vocal and
narrative cues to serve a new ritual agenda, to attract auspiciousness into the home.
Most significantly, these rebus signs speak to the efficacious power of the human
voice to literally call into being and bring to life auspicious notions. During the course of
my fieldwork, it became evident that the rebus may serve as a mnemonic device for
people to recall the meaning of a work. For instance, when asked about the significance
of their prints, Chen Xingcai and his grandson Chen Gang often repeated outloud the
auspicious phrases tied to the rebuses in the prints. When asked why they displayed
certain nianhua in their homes, they would repeat the auspicious phrases associated with
each print or painting.
I also noticed that rebuses were used to interpret new works that people were
viewing for the first time. When I showed my mentors Liu Zhumei and Ning Zhiqi
images of the Mianzhu nianhua held in the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, they
worked through the meaning of each work by sounding out loud the different auspicious
words and phrases of each rebus. When it comes to nianhua, rebuses do not follow a
predictable set of rules. The images may reference auspicious words through a variety of
ways, as a rhyme, direct homophone, or one syllable within a longer phrase or saying.
Add to this the subtle tones of the Mianzhu dialect and it is possible to find a great deal of
variation in one rebus. The pervasive presence of rebuses in Mianzhu nianhua suggests a
strong preoccupation with activating the auspicious words, phrases, and stories associated
with them. The sharing of auspicious speech is still an integral aspect of viewing nianhua
today, especially during the Lunar New Year. As seen in the interview with Gong Jinlan
in the previous chapter, it is not only nianhua that call up auspicious phrases but also the
different dishes that are prepared for the annual reunions.
Similarly, the power of voice has been well documented as an integral part of
traditional Chinese theater. Scholars have long recognized the central role of the voice in
traditional performances that place greater emphasis on singing, music, and lyrics than on
tight plot development.258 Elizabeth Wichmann has emphasized the aural dimensions of
Chinese theater, where it is usually stated that one “listens to theater” or “sings
theater” .259 The central role of music and singing has led some to translate Chinese
theater as “opera,” although it also encompasses dance, acrobatics, and elaborate stage
and costume design. The mastery of the voice in singing Chinese theater requires
rigorous training and breath control, and is often likened to a shamanic practice that can
either awaken deities or frighten off demons through the sheer power and vibration of
song.260 This shared concern explains the keen interest in appropriating theatrical
references to produce efficacious speech. Among rural communities, theater is a much
older tradition than nianhua, which only appeared after the invention of printing
technologies. It is thus likely that prints were used to approximate and appropriate the
258 William Dolby, “Chinese Drama,” in Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, 2nd ed., ed.
William H. Jr. Nienhauser (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1985), 13-30.
259 Elizabeth Wichmann, Listening to Theatre: The Aural Dimension of Beijing Opera (Honolulu:
University of Hawai'i Press, 1991), 1. In regards to this issue, Wichmann has argued that xiqu should
be translated as “music drama” rather than “Chinese opera.” However, in most scholarly studies, the term
Chinese opera is still commonly used in place of xiqu.
260 A path breaking study of Chinese ritual theater that examines the shamanistic roles of actors is Piet van
der Loon, “Les Origines Rituelles Du Theatre Chinois [the Ritual Origins of Chinese Theater],” Journal
Asiatique CCLXV (1977). Loon’s findings were further confirmed in later studies such as Barbara Ward,
“Not Merely Players: Drama, Art, and Ritual in Traditional China,” Man 14, no. 1 (1979), and David
Johnson, ed. Ritual Opera, Operatic Ritual: "Mu-Lien Rescues His Mother" in Chinese Popular Culture
(Berkeley: University of California, Chinese Popular Culture Project, 1989).
perceived power of ritual theater for use in domestic rituals. To return to the popular
rhyme I quoted at the beginning of this chapter, “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 key phrase here is: “It
must produce auspicious words” which is explicitly expressed in terms of vocalization, as
that which literally leaps “out of the mouth” .
Historians of Chinese art tend to draw on literary metaphors to interpret rebus
imagery. According to Qianshen Bai, “to decipher a rebus painting is to treat a picture as
a form of writing, to read its image as if it were a text.”261 However, the idea that rebuses
are a form of writing needs to be qualified in the context of nianhua prints. The rebus is
not only used for communicating ideas, it carries an active performative dimension
because it prompts the use of the voice for ritual efficacy. The rebus is thus performative
in the sense that it is considered “world-changing” and not merely “world-describing.” In
the ritual use of woodblock prints, the act of reading alone is not enough to activate the
rebus. It is the embodied act of speaking (or singing) out loud that is critical to activating
the full potential of the rebus in a nianhua print. As the above example demonstrates,
rebus signs are also unlike words because they can carry many different meanings at
once, when viewed alone or in combination with other rebus signs.
Instead of isolating certain works as “theater-based,” as illustrating specific stage
performances, there is a need to broaden the scope to consider the pervasive influence of
regional theater on many different types of nianhua works, from ephemeral single-sheet
261 Bai also argues that the Chinese language is predispositioned for rebus use, citing Yuan Ren Chao, who
says, “In this word-sign system, the Chinese language creates many homophonic words, each represented
by a different character. Compared with other languages, Chinese has many homophones, and the
homophonic rebus got an early start in Chinese history.” Qianshen Bai, “Image as Word: A Study of Rebus
Play in Song Painting (960–1279),” Metropolitan Museum Journal 34 (1999): 65.
prints to simple scroll paintings. I have underscored how theatrical references are made to
perform new meanings and ritual functions when adapted to a variety of nianhua works.
In particular, theatrical references are often used to prompt auspicious speech in the form
of efficacious stories, sayings, and verse. Instead of treating nianhua as mere illustrations
of theater for the purposes of communicating the values or morals of the elite classes, it is
vital to question the appropriations and transformations of meaning that take place when
theatrical elements show up in ritually efficacious prints and paintings.
Recovering Narrative Density in Greeting Spring
One of the most celebrated works of Mianzhu nianhua is a set of four horizontal
scroll paintings titled Greeting Spring __________, currently housed in the Mianzhu Cultural
Relics Bureau. The scrolls were painted by Huang Ruigu (1866-1938), a
professional painter and native of Mianzhu. Huang was commissioned to paint the scroll
set for a Mianzhu-based dye company managed by his family. In contrast to the
ephemeral printed nianhua, Greeting Spring is a finely executed, permanent work painted
by and for local elites. Mianzhu’s Cultural Relics Bureau has played an instrumental role
in publicizing the painting as a work of nianhua, even though it reflects the world of
urban elites. Officials and scholars who have published writings on the painting justify
this move by explaining how the painting falls into the broad category of non-official art
works created in Mianzhu, where the painter would have been involved in the nianhua
industry as a professional urban painter and designer. This ever-broadening use of the
term nianhua, which has been primarily reserved for popular prints, reflects the changing
institutional agendas that seek to promote a wide range of local works under the rubric of
nianhua. In Mianzhu, this particular painting has also been framed as a historically
accurate depiction of a Qing dynasty street parade, a problematic analysis that I will take
up in this section.
Greeting Spring is comprised of four horizontal scrolls that add up to about six
meters in total length (fig. 56). It depicts in great detail a late nineteenth-century street
festival that marks the first day of spring on the traditional farmer’s calendar, known as
lichun , or the “Establishment of Spring.” 262 The Cultural Relics Bureau released
these four images of the different scrolls, but the original was not available for viewing
during my visits so I could not verify firsthand whether the images are complete
representations of the work. The published images show four distinct scenes from the
festival. The first scene shows the county magistrate leading the procession through the
streets and out the city gates (fig. 56a).
The second scene depicts a troupe of musicians followed by a team of dragon
dancers and theatrical performers dressed as famous immortals (fig. 56b). A third scene
includes an elaborate procession of ritual street theater with costumed performers carried
on raised platforms among a throng of onlookers and peddlers (fig. 56c). The fourth
scene shows the procession reaching a temporary pavilion outside the city walls and the
magistrate leading the rituals there to welcome the Spring Deity. This scene also shows
the magistrate seated before the county bureau , presiding over the final ritual of the
day, when a paper effigy of the Spring Ox is beaten open (fig. 56d). In the discussion
262 The lichun festival has a much longer and complex history than the Qing dynasty’s mandated lichun
rituals. As the first of the 24 solar terms that divide the traditional Chinese calendar, lichun can be
traced to ancient rites marking the arrival of spring. For a historical survey of lichun practices and festivals,
see Li Lulu , Zhongguo jie [Chinese festivals] (Fuzhou: Fujian renmin chubanshe, 2005), 34-
39; and Goran Aijmer, New Year Celebrations in Central China in Late Imperial Times (Hong Kong:
Chinese University Press, 2003).
that follows, I will examine these scenes in greater detail to argue that the paintings
contain multiple viewing and narrating possibilities. In particular, I will point to the many
narrative cues and rebus images that activate auspicious words, phrases, and stories.
Ning Zhiqi, who is a widely published historian and director of Mianzhu’s
Cultural Relics Bureau, has argued that the painting is organized into three narrative
frames that sequentially depict the main ritual activities of the historic lichun festival. In
particular, Ning emphasizes the thrice-repeating figure of the county magistrate and his
entourage. In his first appearance, the magistrate is carried on a sedan chair as he leads
the procession out of the town walls to the “spring field” (fig. 57). In his second
appearance, the magistrate arrives at the spring field, where a temporary outdoor altar is
set up under a pavilion to house the Spring Deity and the Spring Ox , who are
represented by sculpted effigies made of bamboo strips and colored paper. In this scene,
the magistrate and his official entourage are preparing to make sacrificial offerings to the
deities in a ritual activity known as “Welcoming Spring” (fig. 58). Once the
offerings are completed, the spring deities are carried back to town to spread their
auspicious presence throughout the streets for all to see. This ritual street procession is
known as “Touring Spring” and ends in front of the county bureau, where the deities
are installed in a tent for the evening. All of these activities take place on the eve of the
first day of spring. The magistrate makes his third appearance the next day, on the first
morning of spring to oversee the ritual of “Beating Spring” , the climax and
conclusion of the lichun festivities. He is depicted in front of the county bureau on a
raised seat behind a table (fig. 59). Below the steps of the bureau, the Spring Deity and
Spring Ox are set up facing the magistrate. Qing soldiers beat the ox apart at the very
hour of spring’s arrival to release small effigies of Spring Oxen, to attract abundance,
fertility, and good farming conditions for the year to come.263 An official messenger
kneels before the magistrate with an unfurled scroll that announces the arrival of spring.
An extraordinary aspect of the painting is the attentive detail given to the acts of
theater in the street procession, where precise details of ritual protocol are brought to the
fore. While Ning suggests that this information was included to create a true-to-life
representation of a historical event, it is likely that this attention to ritual detail enhanced
the auspicious efficacy of the image as well as its symbolic capital. For instance, one can
observe the ritual minutiae represented in the scene where the magistrate prepares to
make sacrificial offerings at the altar set up outside the town walls. In this detail of the
altar, it is possible to identify a wealth of calendricalal information embedded in the
proportions, colors, and costume of the Spring Deity and Spring Ox figures (fig. 60a).
The selection and placement of colors on the two deities are based on an imperial colormatching
scheme that indicates it is the thirtieth year of the Guangxu era (1903). This is
evidenced by the white color on the center of the ox’s head, which represents the first
“celestial stem” of jia , and the yellow color of its body which represents the fifth
“earthly branch” of chen . 264 Every year, the precise size, proportions, and colors
263 It is possible that the “beating spring” ritual is the early origins of the Latin American pinata games. The
origins of the pinata are often associated with Marco Polo’s visit to China in the thirteenth century, when he
observed the beating spring ritual and collected an animal effigy made of paper and ribbon to carry back to
Italy. See http://www.mexonline.com/history-pinatas.htm
264 The traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar is part of a sexagesimal calendricalal system, where each year
is identified by one of the ten celestial stems and one of the twelve earthly branches. There are a total of 60
stem and branch combinations, making for a repeating 60 year cycle. In addition to this, each year is
associated with one of the five elements (water, fire, metal, wood, earth) and one the twelve astrological
animals.
of the Spring Ox and Spring Deity sculptures are designated by Qing court astrologers to
disseminate key details of the imperial calendar.265
This connection to ritual efficacy becomes even more apparent when the painting
is situated alongside the many “Spring Ox pictures” (chunniu tu ) that were
circulated as inexpensive single sheet woodblock prints. During the late Qing, large
quantities of chunniu tu were distributed across China to communicate key details of the
imperial calendar for each year. These prints were color coded to reflect calendricalal
information and often included a record of the long and short months of the lunar
calendar as well as the dates for the 24 annual festivals. Due to the ephemeral nature of
these prints, I was not able to locate an extant example from Sichuan. In this late Qing
example from Shanxi, however, it is possible to see the correspondences between the
image and the calendricalal information for that year (fig. 60b). The positioning of the
Spring Deity behind the ox indicates the late arrival of spring; meanwhile the one bare
foot on the deity indicates good weather for spring farming. Along with other prints of
domestic deities, these chunniu tu were annually renewed in the home to “attract the
auspicious, repel the portentous” for agricultural activities.266
265 According to Ning’s study, the ox must be four feet tall and eight feet wide to represent the four seasons
and the eight major solar terms. The Spring Deity must be 3 ft and 6.5 in. tall to indicate the 365 days of the
year, and he holds a whip that is 2 ft. 4 in. long to represent the twenty-four solar terms. These
measurements do not change from year to year. The colors of the ox and deity do change, however, to
indicate the unique “stem and branch” of each year as well as the exact time of day for the beginning
of spring. These details were unified by the Qing imperial court and widely distributed through the
mandated lichun rituals as well as the chunniu tu. See Ning Zhiqi , “Sichuan qingdai chuantong
minsu de zhengui huajuan Mianzhu Yinchuntu" [Mianzhu’s
Greeting Spring Picture: A Qing dynasty scroll painting and treasure of traditional folk culture in Sichuan],
in Mianzhu Wenshi Ziliao Xuanji 9 [Anthology of Mianzhu's historical studies vol. 9],
ed. Liji Zeng (Mianzhu: Sichuan sheng mianzhu xian zhengxie xuexi wenshi ziliao weiyuanhui,
1990), 38-45.
266 For a discussion of “Spring-ox pictures” with illustrated examples, see: Li, Chinese Festivals, 34-39.
The abundant use of aural or rebus imagery also supports the Greeting Spring ’s
status as a ritually efficacious image, especially one that is meant to catalyze auspicious
speech. In the same scene with the spring altar, two robed officials flank the pair of
spring deities on either side (fig. 58). They are each holding up signs that are composed
of the characters “auspiciousness” and “joy” . Hanging above the altar table, a set of
spring couplets presents the wish for successful attainment of high official rank and
multiple promotions. Behind the magistrate, who appears under a red parasol, an
attendant holds up a large “spring” character made of flowers and cypress branches.
The magistrate is also greeted by a kneeling figure who unfurls a scroll that reads “Joyful
Announcement of a Bright Spring” . The widespread inclusion of auspicious
words and sayings appear to serve as aural cues that call for the vocalization and
narration of auspicious speech.
A close look at the onlookers in this scene shows various individuals engaged in
this exact activity of watching, pointing, and speaking around the altar. The crowd here is
engaged in the ritualized activities of sharing auspicious speech known as “ Speaking
Spring” and “Watching Spring” .267 Although the magistrate’s attendants are
holding up signs that call for quiet and calm, the crowd appears defiantly boisterous with
individuals engaged in conversation, moving about, and even playing instruments.
Several people are depicted with open mouths, wide eyes, and excited gestures. The
contrast between the signs that call for quiet and the busy crowd infuse the scene with a
strong aural dimension. In depicting these ritual activities, the painting appears to prompt
its viewers to do the same.
267 For a more detailed description of these ritual theater activities in Mianzhu see Huang, “Sichuan theater
activities in Mianzhu’s rural villages,” 102-107.
The provenance of the painting suggests that the work was intended as an
auspicious gift to be given from one elite family to another. Originally commissioned by
a dye company, the painting found its way into a family that ran a medicine shop in
Mianzhu.268 A prominent clue that the painting was intended as a gift for the medicine
shop owners lies in the painting itself, which includes a large shop sign in the foreground
that reads, “Our shop sells genuine chewable medicines of Sichuan and Guangdong.
” (fig. 61). In addition, the close ties between the medicinal herbs
industry and the nianhua industry have been well documented in local archives.269
Medicinal herb traders often distributed nianhua works and supplies, including paper,
prints, paints and dyes. It is quite likely that this painting was gifted as a form of
symbolic capital to strengthen relations between elite business partners.270 The imagery in
the painting strongly supports such a possibility, where the medicine shop is richly
enveloped in auspicious and prosperous activities of every kind, including harmonious
interactions between the world of merchants, officials, farmers, ritual performers, and
deities.
268 The painter Huang Ruigu was commissioned to paint this, as his family helped run the medicine
company. One of the descendants of the family that ran the medicine company gifted the painting to the
Cultural Affairs Bureau in the 1960s. The provenance of this work is briefly discussed in Ning, “Mianzhu’s
Greeting Spring Picture,” 38.
269 For a record of the historical links between the medicine and print industries in Mianzhu, see Zhang
Minglun , “Luetan jiushi Mianzhu jige shichang de ‘jingjiren’ huodong"
[A discussion of a few early industries in Mianzhu and the activities of entrepreneurs], in
Mianzhu wenshi ziliao xuanji [Anthology of Mianzhu's Historical Studies vol. 8]
(Mianzhu: Sichuan sheng mianzhu xian zhengxie xuexi wenshi ziliao weiyuanhui, 1989), 152-57; and
Mianzhu Historical Documents Work Committee , “Mianzhu muban nianhua"
[Mianzhu's woodblock printed nianhua], in Mianzhu wenshi ziliao xuanji
[Anthology of Mianzhu's Historical Studies vol. 1] (Mianzhu: Sichuan sheng mianzhu xian zhengxie xuexi
wenshi ziliao weiyuanhui, 1982), 31-40.
270 This continues to be a common practice in Mianzhu today, where paintings or calligraphic works are
gifted as part of an important business transaction. Auspicious paintings are also commonly gifted for
birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries.
If the painting is understood as an auspicious gift for a business contact, what is
the role of the scenes of ritual theater? As mentioned earlier, theater troupes played an
integral role in the world of trade relations and politics. Trade guilds such as the door
deity guild regularly hired troupes to perform for banquets and important events such as
the opening of the guild hall, the setting up of the guild’s altar, or honoring the birthday
of the guild’s patron deity. Huang Zonghou has documented the complex social relations
between Mianzhu’s theater troupes, trade guilds, temple authorities, and even
underground brotherhoods such as the Paogehui .271 Up until 1949, every village
in Mianzhu’s rural vicinity had its own theater troupe that competed for prominence in
the region. Although there are fewer troupes today, theater troupes still conduct annual
ritual performances in front of storefronts to ensure a year of prosperity for the business
during the Lunar New Year. For instance, lion and dragon dancing troupes, such as the
ones depicted in Greeting Spring, are still known to perform for businesses during the
Lunar New Year festivities in exchange for money or gifts. Along with an ensemble of
musicians and firecrackers, the lions frighten off demons and negative influences to
protect the business from harm for the year to come. In this sense, the power of ritual
theater to “pursue the auspicious, repel the portentous” is closely tied to concerns around
livelihood. Its depiction in a painting suggests a similar message, where the painting itself
approximates the role of theater to perform an auspicious wish for a business venture or
partnership.
Taking up far more space than the scenes with the magistrate, scenes of ritual
street theater in Greeting Spring also call up a wide range of narrative possibilities. For
instance, in this scene, six “raised pavilions” are carried through the crowd, with
271 Huang, “Sichuan theater activities in Mianzhu's rural villages,” 104.
costumed figures atop each one performing different theatrical tales (fig. 62). Each
pavilion carries one or two performers stacked on top of one another. Vertical and
horizontal beams are hidden inside the costumes, creating an optical illusion of the
stacked performers being held up in the air by a single hand. These performances are
ritually performed during the Lunar New Year to attract the blessings of the deities who
are brought to life by the performers. At the same time, the deities are expected to ward
off demons or malignant spirits. According to Ning Zhiqi, the six scenes are single-act
theater performances from the region that include, from left to right: Beheading of the
Ungrateful Husband - Rushing the Palace , Qin Xianglian and Chen Shimei
, The Jade Hairpin - Autumn River , Entreating the Moon -
Snatching the Umbrella on a Boat , Wang Ruilan and Jiang Shilong
, and Journey to the West - the Pilgrim Sun Wukong .272
Each of these acts are packed with narrative potential, including the auspicious
costumes and props that reference a variety of popular beliefs, vernacular stories, and
sayings. This type of theater is locally known as “Racing Deities” or “Wax
Offerings” , which refers to theater performed in the street (and not on a stage) at the
end of the year, and usually by rural troupes.273 It was annually performed to honor a
272 Ning, “Mianzhu's Greeting Spring Picture,” 42. Where there is a dash in the listed acts, the name of the
drama is followed by the name of the specific scene that is being performed. Several of these acts are from
the same drama, although it was common for single acts to take on a life of their own, to be performed as
one-act dramas or zhezi .
273 For a detailed study of laji ritual street theater in Sichuan, see Feng Shudan , Sichuan xiju yishi
[A history of Sichuan theater] (Chengdu: Sichuan sheng xijujia xiehui, 1992), 7-24. This format
of street theater is also known as “Illuminated Carnival in Elaborate Costume” and was
traditionally performed by rural theater troupes and musicians. Still performed today, popular acts in rural
areas include “Lion dancing” and “Playing Dragon Lanterns” , which evolved from earlier
acts such as “Welcoming the Cat” and “Welcoming the Tiger” According to Feng, laji street
theater is one of three main historical foundations of Sichuan theater as we know it today and is
distinguished by its highly localized characteristics that evolved in rural areas. The other two foundations
include “song and dance” and “variety shows” .
whole pantheon of deities who would ensure a year of abundance, good farming
conditions, and prosperity for the entire community. Those with a firsthand experience of
these street performances, or the longer dramas on which they are based, could draw on
their own memories to narrate the painting in a more intimate fashion.274
In sum, the painting’s detailed depiction of different ritual practices points to
multiple layers of narrativity tied to the development of the lichun festival. Efrat
Biberman has critiqued the basic assumption that “a painting is a coherent, decipherable
object” that can be solved with a single narrative interpretation. For Biberman, narrative
interpretations often attempt to “solve the puzzle of an image” by imposing a spatial and
temporal order onto an image.275 In doing so, the assumption is that painting bears a
coherent structure and temporal order that each viewer is capable of extracting. It is thus
critical to draw a distinction between the fixed narrative interpretations provided by art
historians and the actual viewing experiences tied to a painting. I have therefore opted for
a view of the painting as a work of narrative density, with many different narrative cues
that can be accessed to form a variety of temporal sequences. It is thus possible to think
of Greeting Spring as a densely packed “hypertext” that may accommodate both linear
and nonlinear interpretations, depending on the viewer(s). As seen here, narratives may
be creatively composed around the repeating figure of the magistrate as well as the many
theatrical performances and aural cues.
274 These theater acts are still widely performed in China today, and the characters and stories would be
identifiable to a knowledgeable viewer. Perhaps the most popular of these is Journey to the West, one of the
“four great vernacular novels” of the Ming dynasty that has continued to incarnate in a wide
variety of media, including oral narratives, novels, comics, television, film, and animation.
275 Biberman, “On Narrativity in the Visual Field,” 241.
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