Li Binsheng Paintings Collection. Folklore Volume

Author: Li Binsheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-09-01
Features: The "Folk Custom Volume" has finally been completed and published, taking over a year to finish. In fact, most of the content is from old drafts. The main reason is that some pieces were incomplete in length, others were blurred due to moisture and water stains, and a significant portion consisted of impromptu sketches and rough drafts, including sketches drawn in outline in notebooks. All of these were not suitable for printing and required extensive revision and redrawing, which consumed a lot of time. There are also many overlapping folk custom illustrations, and it was difficult to decide what to include due to space constraints. If we had focused too much on any one aspect, we might have missed the bigger picture. To ensure a broader coverage and enhance readability, we eventually decided to present some overlooked, easily forgotten, and marginal phenomena to the readers, which is why the book may seem somewhat disorganized. The content involving specific dates, plots, folk sayings, and anecdotes is all based on personal experiences (seeing, hearing, and experiencing) and adopts a consistent approach. The illustrations are set in old Beijing, although some aspects that should have been highlighted were either overlooked or omitted for various reasons, which need not be elaborated here. Siheyuan (traditional courtyard houses) are not unique to Beijing; they can be found in many places across the country. However, Beijing's siheyuan have a distinctive feature: the main gate is not aligned with the central axis of the courtyard but is often located on the slightly left side, and the gate is usually kept closed, even though it is present. There are traditional explanations for this, most of which are linked to the "Bagua" (Eight Trigrams) and are related to self-cultivation, family harmony, and folk customs. As for the common issue of children's education, whether in wealthy families or ordinary households, parents have always instilled in their children the importance of "proper order in childhood" and the value of not wasting food.