God of Wealth
Caishen 財神
Early 20^th Century
Woodblock print over-printed in red
119 × 57 cm

This print shows the altar of the God of Wealth on a red background. Red, a masculine or positive (yang 陽) color, is the strong color of the sun which drives away all darkness and a color most admired by Chinese people. The red color itself is believed to ward off evil spirits.[1]

Similar to the print of the God of Gardens and Trees, this is a paper god. Paper gods are often depicted on an altar and accompanied by attendants. Here the God of Wealth sits in the center and is surrounded by other celestial beings and auspicious objects. Above the altar is a banner reading “Thankful for great benevolence” (Daxie hongen 答謝洪恩).

The wish of the person who purchased and hung this print is stated in the eight terms written across the altar. From right to left they read [for] the whole family (manmen 滿門) [may there be]: bestowed blessings (cifu 賜福), everything as you wish (ruyi 如意), arriving wealth (zhaocai 招財), profitable business (lishi 利市), prosperity (xingwang 興旺), and even more blessings (zhengfu 增福) [bestowed by] the God of Wealth (Caishen 財神).

An elaborate dragon tower (long lou 龍樓) constitutes the second floor of the altar,[2] and above that is a canopy-like construction with the Baxian 八仙 (Eight Immortals), who are popular celestial beings from the Daoist pantheon.

Amy S. Huang

[1] Anne Swann Goodrich, Peking Paper Gods :A Look at Home Worship, Vol. 23 (Nettetal: Steyler Verlag, 1991), 24.
[2] Shanghai tu shu guan jin dai wen xian bu 上海圖書館近代文獻部, Qing Mo Nian Hua Hui Cui : Shanghai Tu Shu Guan Guan Cang Jing Xuan 清末年畫薈萃: 上海圖書館館藏精選 (Beijing: , 2000), 190.

God of Gardens and Trees
Yuanlin Shushen 園林樹神      
Early 20^th century
Hand colored woodblock print on paper
47 × 34 cm

The religious belief of common Chinese people is a complex mixture of gods and spirits from Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and folk-religion.[1] The God of Gardens and Trees belongs to a group of nature deities in the vast pantheon of Chinese folk religion. He is the protector of trees and flowers, and is worshiped by growers in hope of his blessings for a flourishing orchard and garden.[2] The God holding a branch of fruit is accompanied by two attendants. One has a tree growing out of his head and above is a tree in flower. The other attendant has a symbol of mountain on his head and above is a willow tree.

This is an example of a paper god, a piece of paper on which the image of the god has been printed by carved woodblocks. These inexpensive paper gods are popular in the common households of Northern China, where people hang them in their homes to bring in good luck and keep out evil spirits.[3] The inexpensive paper gods were used by not only the peasants and businessmen but were also found in the imperial palace and homes of scholar officials. The print on red paper of the God of Wealth also in this exhibition is another example of Chinese paper gods.

Amy S. Huang

[1] Jonathan Chamberlain, Chinese Gods : An Introduction to Chinese Folk Religion (Hong Kong: Blacksmith Books, 2009), 17.
[2] Anne Swann Goodrich, Peking Paper Gods :A Look at Home Worship, Vol. 23 (Nettetal: Steyler Verlag, 1991), 202.
[3] Ibid., 23.

The Civil and Military Gods of Wealth Come Bringing Treasure,
Wealth, Rank, Glory, Florescence for Ten-thousand, Ten-thousand Years
Wen Wu Caishen lai jin bao, fugui ronghua wanwan nian
文武財神來進寶，富貴榮華萬萬年
Poster reproduction of a Late Qing period (1644-1911) print
98 × 56 cm

The Urban Abundance print shows a city home blessed by the Civil and Martial Gods of Wealth 文武財神, who come bringing prosperity and prestige. This print is packed with auspicious words and images: A pair of money-trees—one bearing coins and one bearing ingots—frame the bustling scene. Robed in purple and carrying his ruyi 如意 scepter, the Civil God of Wealth enters through the moon gate at the right. Robed in blue and accompanied by an attendant leading his luck-breathing tiger, the Martial God of Wealth stands at the left.

At the center, in the main hall, stand the Old Master, dressed in furs, and the Young Master, wearing the rank badge of an official on this robe.  Under the eaves a plaque proclaims blessings and prosperity—“fa fu sheng cai 發福生財”.  In front of hall the Hehe Boys (He he er xian 和合二仙), celestial beings of peace and harmony, carry their attributes of (left) the box (he 盒) and (right) the lotus (he 荷), along with an auspicious coin cast with the legend “Peace on Earth (Tianxia taiping 天下太平).

At the center front the Daoist deity Liuhai 劉海 dances, swinging his string of coins, and bearing on his shoulder his magical, cash-producing, three-legged toad. At his side new arrivals declare themselves with banner’s reading: “The child god who brings wealth is here! (招財童子至)” and “The Celestial Official of Commercial Profit is come! (利市仙官來).”  The gods bring numinous treasure to the home in a tray of flaming jewels (upper left) in an “Amassed Treasure Basin 聚寶盆,” erupting with coins and ingots (lower right), and  (far right) in a flaming container labeled “Accumulating Jade and Piling Up Gold 堆金積玉.”

Farmers Celebrate A Year of Good Harvest
Zhuangjiaren le qing fengnian 莊稼人樂慶豐年
Originally printed by the Qi Jianlong 齊建隆 workshop,
Yangliuqing, Tianjin 天津楊柳青
Late Qing period (1644-1911) print
Collector’s inscription dated to to the dingwei 丁未 year (1847 or 1907)
Poster reproduction
98 × 56 cm

In these reproductions of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) prints, we see the unified involvement of the Chinese people going from the rural areas to the city. The “Year of Good Harvest” print celebrates the great rural abundance of Northern China, with depictions of happy farmers surrounded by healthy produce, the result of a successful season.

In the foreground three farmers are having a picnic, eating and drinking wine. Accompanying dishes include: carp, pig’s head, meat stew in a ceramic pot, and a basket of white steamed buns. Yams, spring onions, gourds and squash are displayed in front of their picnic cloth, indicating a good harvest with plenty of surplus. To the right, little children play with fighting crickets.  To the left a woman brings lunch to the men in the fields, while an old man, smoking his pipe, carries a basket of eggplants and radishes home. Beyond these scenes of leisure and continuing industry, on the river, a boat laden with produce pushes off on its trip to the market.

A quatrain printed at the top of this image sums up the farmers’ gratitude and invokes their wishes for another bumper crop:

園地一齊忙，   Working hard together in the fields,
秋收萬石糧，   We harvested ten thousand dan of grain this fall.
瓜菜長街賣，   Selling our produce on Main Street,
銀錢櫃裡藏。   Silver coins pile up in our cupboards.

The Embodiment of Harmony Brings Good Luck
Heqi zhi xiang 和氣致祥
Early 20^th Century
Taohuawu village, Suzhou 蘇州桃花塢
Wood-block print with added colors
79 × 61 cm

This round boy is holding a scroll that reads “A prevailing mood of harmony” (yituan heqi 一團和氣). Roundness connotes completion, perfection and harmony, and this figure represents this idea.[1] The boy is wearing a lock, a common protective accessory worn by children to keep them away from harm. On the lock are four characters reading “Live a long and prosperious life” (changming fugui 長命富貴). This image is often associated with the Taohuawu woodblock printing workshops in Suzhou. The symbolism here reflects the belief that the embodiment of harmony brings good luck, as stated on the banner across this print, “Bring luck” (zhi xiang 致祥).

Amy S. Huang

[1] Ellen Johnston Laing and Muban Foundation, Art and Aesthetics in Chinese Popular Prints : Selections from the Muban Foundation Collection (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 2002), 82.

Let There be Spring in the Six Directions
Liuhe tongchun 六合同春
Modern reproductions of a pair of traditional
wood-block prints
Hand painted prints with over-printing
Mianzhu, Sichuan Providence 四川綿竹
40.5 × 26 cm

The subject matter of this print which combines celestial beings with a deer, lu 鹿,and a crane he 鶴, forms a rebus for the auspicious phrase “Let There be Spring in the Six Directions,” liuhe tongchun 六合同春.[1]

Embedded in this auspicious image, are also wishes for achievement in the imperial examination system with wishes for long life and for the salary that comes with appointment as an official. Each figure wears a special headpiece, the zhanjiao-futou 展腳幞頭, which was reserved for those who passed the civil service examination; this popular motif embodies the wish for successful sons. Each figure holds a ruyi scepter (如意; “as you wish”), a symbol for achieving one’s desires. An auspicious animal accompanies each celestial being. The crane is a symbol for long life. The Chinese word that means “deer” (lu 鹿) is homophonous with the Chinese word for “salary” (lu 祿), thus forming a rebus, or visual pun, expressing the wish for promotion and increase in wealth in the coming year.

Jeremy Korn

[1] Bo, Songnian, and David G. Johnson. 1992.Domesticated deities and auspicious emblems: the iconography of everyday life in village China ; popular prints and papercuts from the collection of Po Sung-nien. Berkeley: Chinese Popular Culture Project, University of California, 49.

edited by Baba Doherty

Iron or brass pulls that also serve as knockers adorn some doors. Fixed locks were uncommon, as security was maintained by having someone at home at all times instead. When gates and doors were locked from the inside, the lock would involve either a sliding wooden or metal bolt (menshuan). Nowadays, these include a common tumbler lock and key set. Also, newer brass pulls are often emblazoned with auspicious imagery such as the Chinese character shuangxi for double happiness.

(This section is based on Knapp, Ronald G. China’s Vernacular Architecture: House Form and Culture. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1989.)

Baba Doherty

Pair of Door Guardians
Menshen 門神
Early 20^th century / Contemporary
Poster reproduction of hand-colored woodblock print         
Originally designed and printed by Yangliuqing, Tianjin 天津楊柳青
98 × 56 cm

During the New Year, it is common for households to place a pair of protective door guardians (menshen 門神) on the doors of their houses, to defend against evil. This practice is rooted in the legend of the deities Shenshu 神荼 and  Yulei 鬱壘, the guardians of the gate recorded in the Shan Hai Jing 山海經 (Classic of the Mountains and Seas; c. 4^th-2^nd c. BC). In legend, the two stand under a giant peach tree on Mount Dushuo 度朔山 in the midst of the Azure Sea, through which ghosts entered and left the underworld, seizing evil demons, binding them with reed ropes and feeding them to the tigers. The Yellow Emperor painted images of the two gods and tigers on his gate, which led to the contemporary practice of painting similar protective images.[1] Specifically, “between the 27^th and 30^th days of the twelfth moon, images of the Gate Gods were put up on the gates and doors of private homes and offices to guard the household against malevolent spirits.”[2]

While door gods were originally demon-fighters, over time this definition evolved to include their role as secular bestowers of blessings. By the late 17^th century, representations of opera in door guardian imagery had become increasingly common, a reflection of the spread of opera through rural Chinese villages. As the definition of door guardian imagery began to expand, other auspicious symbols such as elegant women and plump infants were incorporated.  Hence, the role that door prints served was twofold: both as auspicious decorations and as talismans against demons.[3]

Signs of our own time join traditional wishes for wealth in the iconography of a pair of child figures, one male and one female bearing Chinese and American currency respectively.  While classical garb and style of depiction remain, the display of wealth and prosperity have been taken to a new level as the bank notes dwarf the children, bestowing upon the owner wishes of, quite literally, “big money.”

Austin Snyder