When you have a look at these simple paintings appearing in public service advertisement which reflect socialist core values, you will be amazed at their unaffected charming. This kind of painting, called Wuyang farmers’ painting, is an invaluable treasure produced by people living on both sides of Sha Li River in Luohe city.

Farmers’ paintings are just like a plain girl, you may not fall in love with her at first sight. However, you will love her unconsciously for her brilliant virtue.

Originated from wall paintings in 1958, during the Great Leap Forward period, farmers’ painting features exaggerated modeling and rich color. “Everyone is a poet everyone is a painter” became a fashion. This special historical background greatly stimulated the farmers’ creative enthusiasm.

As usual, the contents of farmers’ paintings are simple. However, they carry farmers’ anticipation for happy life and harvest.

Normal life is the most important content of farmers’ paintings. With the development of the times, farmers’ paintings are changing consistently in order to keep pace with the times.

From realism to freehand brushwork, from bright-colored to implicative, from content to technique, the only thing that didn’t change is the simple charm of farmers’ painting. Most importantly, the emergence of lots of inheritors boosts the booming development of farmers’ painting.

Zhang xinliang is one of the outstanding inheritors. As the chairman of Wuyang Farmers’ Painting Association, he advocates the inheritance and innovation of Wuyang farmers’ painting.

Zhang was a laborious farmer in the past, carries a hoe in his hand and a paintbrush in the other. With a special perception for normal life and great anticipation, he painted lots of excellent Wuyang farmers’ paintings whose theme revolves around socialist core values. His paintings came to the stage of the CCTV public service advertisement, and provide a stage for the innovation of Wuyang farmers’ painting.   There is no doubt that Wuyang famers’ paintings are beautiful. Nevertheless, with the changes of the time, the shortcomings of Wuyang farmers’ painting began to emerge, such as they have no prominent part and there are too many similar kinds of farmers paintings all over the country. What’s more, less and less young people want to inherit this art.

So how to break out the encirclement has become an important problem in front of the inheritors of Wuyang farmers’ painting. Confronted with such an urgent situation, Zhang Xinliang organized key artists to carry out special researches. With their joint efforts, Wuyang farmer’s painting was innovated in a great way and then has been listed in the first batch of “folk cultural heritage rescue project” and “intangible cultural heritage in Henan Province”.

In order to inherit and innovate Wuyang farmer’s painting, Zhang realized that the core of innovation is to link farmers’ painting with times. Therefore, Zhang Xinliang and his fellow painters put their focus on showing the features and characteristics of new socialist countryside and the challenges they are experiencing.

Not only did they paint farmers, sanitation workers, but they painted stay-at-home children and empty-nest elderly. What’s more, Zhang makes good use of the kindergarten he and his wife found to stimulate children’s interest in farmers’ painting, and tries his best to develop new inheritors for Wuyang farmers’ painting.

“Of course, culture can’t develop without the soil of economy” Zhang Xinliang said. Wuyang was a national-level poverty-stricken county and it has got rid of this title since 2018. As is known to all, 2020 is a decisive year in the fight against poverty, culture drives poverty alleviation become a new fashion. By this, they not only give farmer painter more income, but also provide low income family with more spirit support.

However, Wuyang farmers’ painting is also facing challenges. For example, low price and lack of young inheritors are obstructing the development of farmers’ painting. There is still a long way to go for the farmers’ painting. Even so, with government’s support and people’s sincere heart, farmers’ painting will alleviate poverty and give strength to economy development.

Suffering from the COVID-19, farmer painters painted two pictures in order to express their respect to doctors and nurses who fight with COVID-19 as well as their confidence in an early victory over the epidemic.

(By Li Yixiao)