Farmers make woodcut prints in Qijiang. (Photo provided to Xinhua)
What springs to your mind when it comes to the image of Chinese farmers?
Forget the stereotypical hoes and sickles in their hands. In Qijiang, farmers grow wealth with gravers and brushes.
CHONGQING, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Qijiang in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality has been a tourist hit with rich traditional folk arts, and the most famous one is woodcut prints by local farmers.
This craft originated in the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911). It has integrated various traditional techniques in wood carving, stone carving and paper-cutting. Its subjects are mainly about local customs, sceneries and ordinary lives.
A woodcut print by a Qijiang farmer (Photo provided to Xinhua)
Most printing works have won popular appeal due to its simple, humorous and colourful images. Since the 1980s, more than 1,500 artworks have been displayed at the National Art Museum of China, provincial museums, Chinese embassies and foreign art museums.
In 1988, Qijiang was awarded the title "Home of Modern Chinese Folk Painting" by the Ministry of Culture.
Now the craft has become a ready source of money for local farmers thanks to the growth of tourism. The average price of their paintings is around 100 yuan (about 14 U.S. dollars). Qijiang attracts more than 100,000 tourists from home and abroad every year, according to local tourism authority.
A local farmer introduces his woodcut prints. (Photo provided to Xinhua)
The farmers were invited to workshops where they were trained to keep their own casual and care-free style. The local government has also helped build studios to encourage more farmers to create.
Schools in Qijiang have begun to offer training of woodcut printing to students.■
