Starting from the traditional Chinese "blessing culture" and combining the power, speed and auspiciousness symbolized by the horse in the folklore context, the designer re-deconstructed and visually recreated the highly symbolic word "blessing". It is hoped that while retaining the core of traditional blessings, the designer can make "blessing" a readable, perceptible and resonant cultural image through contemporary expressions.
Juli Chengfu Zhang Yucheng
Fortune gathers in Gaoliang Chen Yanyin
Chao Yun Na Fu Wei Bei Ji
Immediately present Chang Luoming
Happy New Year Yao Jingyi
Awakening the lion to receive blessings from Xu Jiajun
The flower market is the most lively place on New Year's Eve in Guangzhou. After dinner, men, women and children, with their families, go out to "walk the flower street". In "Oranges and Lychees Bring Blessings", the heavy golden fruits are dotted all over the branches, complementing the lychee bonsai. They are fresh and pleasing to the eye, which is the lively scene of the New Year in Lingnan. People linger among the shadows of the flowers, full of expectations, hoping that the flowers will bloom, wealth and good luck in the coming year.
In western Guangdong, since the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, every household has been busy making Gaoliang's special New Year food – Zhen. There are dozens of types of Zhen, with sweet and salty fillings, which are very similar to the taste of life. At the New Year's Eve dinner, white-cut chicken with crisp skin and tender meat, fresh and delicious tilapia, and pink and glutinous taro pork belly were served in sequence. The elders in the family were gossiping and discussing preparations for the Spring Festival, while the children on the side finished eating the chicken oil rice at the bottom of the bowl. "Fu Gathering in Gaoliang" depicts this joyful New Year: puppet show and lion dance performance, white-cut chicken and Gaozhou lychee… The strong flavor of the New Year rooted in the ancient county's culture quietly infiltrates into everyone's heart in the laughter of reunion and high expectations. In Chaozhou, Guangdong, the Spring Festival begins with the first basket of steamed red peach cakes. After eating the rice dumplings, pour a cup of Kung Fu tea. The tea soup is soothing to the spleen and stomach, and is full of practical joy in ordinary fireworks. At this time, the streets and alleys outside the house were already noisy with gongs and drums, and the vigorous and heroic Yingge danced and sang. "Chaoyun Nafu" depicts this vivid scene. Vermilion lanterns are hung high under the roofs of the houses with dark roofs, and the warm lights reflect on the faces of the British singing and dancing team members, adding a bit of New Year's joy to this heroic spirit.
How to combine the structure of the word "福", the zodiac imagery and the new Chinese illustration style? The "Immediate Prosperity" series of works gives the answer – a set of eight designs with blessing characters, each of which incorporates different meaning scenes, such as "success immediately", "success in school", "peace every year", "good marriage and happy events", etc. The overall shape uses the outline of the "horse" as a visual clue, and uses plants, utensils and festival symbols to perform concrete interpretations, so that the zodiac elements are naturally embedded in the font structure. In terms of color, multiple colors such as gold, green, blue, pink, and purple are used to present layered changes in the festive atmosphere.
"New Year Full of Blessings" presents straightforward celebrations: dragon dance, family banquet, koi carp, orange fruit… Using the word "福" as the bone and paper cutting as the shape, it integrates traditional New Year symbols into the modern illustration style, laying out a visual picture of reunion, auspiciousness and joy in the New Year, conveying the good wishes of "blessings to thousands of families and joy to the world", making traditional culture lively and lighting up contemporary daily life. The scene of "Lion Awakening and Receiving Fortune" is also full of joy. It cleverly combines the dynamic lion dance with the traditional Chinese character "福", as well as auspicious elements such as koi carp and gold ingot, creating a lively and festive New Year atmosphere.
"Guangming Daily" (Page 03, February 17, 2026)
