Traditional Chinese New Year pictures -- always a popular folk art in rural areas -- have now become a hot collectors' item for both Chinese and foreigners.

"The woodcut New Year pictures are usually put up on windows or walls five days before the New Year's Day to express good wishes for the coming year," said Guo Shurong, vice curator with the Wuqiang New Year Pictures Museum in the northern Hebei Province.

The Wuqiang Museum has collected some of the New Year pictures and so have British Museum and American museums, Guo said.

"Every year, we receive thousands of scholars and experts from abroad, but it is only in recent years that the Chinese have began to appreciate New Year pictures," said Guo.

The value of block printing New Year pictures has been on a steady rise. In 2000, a collection of 16 New Year pictures fetched 8,800 yuan (US$1,086) at auction, compared to the base price of 3,000 yuan (US$370).

The pictures look simple but have to go through several complicated procedures said Huo Qingshun, a successor of the Yangliuqing School, one of four New Year pictures styles in China.

"There are fewer craftsman who are masters of all the skills because most of them quit the traditional art when it was in recession after the 1980s," said Huo. Therefore, the old New Year pictures are rare and endeared by both the Chinese and foreign collectors, he added.

Collectors suggest people store pictures produced by famous workshops, like the Zhuxian County of Henan Province, Wuqiang of Hebei Province, Mianzhu of Sichuan Province and Foshan of Guangdong Province. They are more valuable.

(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2006)