英语畅谈中国文化50主题 30

　　30-Paingting,Calendars and Christmas Tree

Dialog

A:I bought a few old Chinese New Year painting at the Pan Jia Yuan Market. The person told me that they were block-printed Tao Hua Wu paintings.

B:It's almost impossible to buy authentic 1 Tao Hua Wu paintings on the market now. This type of painting was originally produced in Tao Hua Wu near Suzhou .The place became well-known during Southeast Asia. During the Taiping rebellion between 1851 and 1664,the imperial court sent troops and set Tao Hua Wu ablazze. Most of its paintings,wood types ,shops and books were destroyed.

A:What a shame!Do Chinese people still hang up New Year painting now?

B:New Year paonting wew an important part of annual celebrations .Tje contens of the painting were well-wishing stories that could add to the festive 2 atmosphere.Some of them also carried a moral message.At a time when education was not accessible to everyone ,these painting seved as useful teaching tools .some of the typical message was about a woman abusing her daughter-in law but was later turned into a child bride hereself as punishment .Beautiful lady figurines were another favourite topic of these painting

A:Sounds lovely!Are there any others?

B:During the 1950s.portains of Mao Zedong and other leaders were popular .During the Cultural Revolution ,the eight Pecking Operas were main themes .After the open-door policy in 1980.these paintings were replaced by 12-pages calendars.These calendars were favorite New Year gift for quite some time.They were well printed and were quite expensive to buy.Because they used quality paper,many students would use out-of-date calendars to cover their textbooks as protection

A:That's odd! What kind of pictures did they have?

B:Movie stars were the main contents,a rection to the cultural Puritianism()during the Cultural Revolution。As a result of improved living standars，calendar contens later evolved to include calligraphy，traditional painting ，as well as landscape pictures .In order to make these calenders worthy 3 New Year gifts,silk,gided sheets and other materials rather than paper were used .Calendars went out of fashion around the end of the 1990s .No one used calendars for gifts any more

A:What do people put up during the Spring Festival now

B:Paper cuts in some townships,but in big cites ,no one put anything ,Insted ,Christmas trees have become fashionable ,imagine,the whole family are enjoying jiaozi or playing majiang ,while Christmas light arw blinking in the background .That's preety atomospherew