Tradition, Innovations and Historical Events in the Early 20th Century Chinese Calendars from the Russian Collections

Abstract

The paper discusses two types of Chinese calendars – a traditional agricultural calendar “nongli” which existed in China since the 9th century and a Westernized “yuefenpai” calendar that emerged in Shanghai in the late 19th century and flourished until the 30-40s of the 20th century. Apart from the lunar and solar calendars and a table of 24 seasons woodblock “nongli” calendar featured a Stove God Zao-wang alone or with a spouse surrounded by a suite, fortune bringing deities and auspicious symbols, Stove God was believed to ascend to heaven and report good and bad deeds of the family members to the Jade Emperor. New standards of “peoples`” art in PRC borrowed the aesthetics of the traditional woodblock popular prints by proclaiming “new nianhua” as a new tool of propaganda and criticizing “yuefenpai”.“Yuefenpai” differed from “nongli” by modern technology of production and acting as an advertisement, yet early pieces of Shanghai calendars either feature auspicious characters and motifs or introduce current political events, such as accession of the Pu Yi emperor on the throne in 1908 (reigned in 1908–1912). These calendars were seen to be a cheap and easily available media suitable for informing population about news and innovations. The paper attempts to revisit previously established interpretations of some “yuefenpai” calendars. The research is based unpublished pieces from the collections of the State Hermitage, the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, academic library of the St.-Petersburg State University, the State Museum of the History of Religion mostly acquired by V.M. Alekseev (1881–1951) during his stays to China.