“Beijing Hūzoku Zuhu” is a book known to most folklorists
Aoki Masaru came to Beijing at the beginning of last century
He visited China twice
And both times were concerned with studying
The second time was 1926
He observed that the folklore of Beijing
Has evolved drastically
Since his last visit
The city of Beijing was westernizing rapidly
And traditional folklores were dying out
He found a need to protect them
So he invited painters to paint them down
And no Chinese was taking care of this at that time
Not only did he loved Chinese culture, he had feelings for it
There were over one hundred paintings
And they were kept in a University in Tokyo
Later Uchida Michio
Wrote it a narrative
And got it published
The first chapter is about Sui Shi
"Sui Shi" means the holidays and solar terms of China around a year
The first painting is the door gods
The three group of people were giving each other new year's greetings
How common people greeted each other
How a child greeted an adult
How was it between the neighbors
He was able to note down
The new year's greeting posture of Chinese back then
Cut willows and plant the cutting at Qingming Festival
Is an ancient folklore of China
Willows are known to sprout in spring
She takes her child out
Cut a willow and plants it
And the willow would grow
After that
It is custom to wear willows
On their heads
To bring back the life of nature
And fortune and blessings
Old stores had cultured signboards
Hard ones are made of wood, inscribed
And soft ones are swung by the wind
And there were lanterns of all kinds
with tassels and fringes dangling
Streets were decorated by those signs
And they became of the business culture of a city
I'm strongly against the idea
Of uniform signboards
People of all professions, vendors
People selling all kinds of things
Are found in his paintings
From the moment you get up, people selling breakfast
Until night comes
The whole day follows a clear schedule
Certain things are sold at certain time of the day
And when you hear hawking down the street, you know food is here
And there are shoe cobblers, shoe sharpeners
Who are part of the daily life
Among Japanese sinologists in the 19 and 20th century
Aoki Masaru was a significant figure
Personally I like him because he had a special interest in Chinese food
He was a foreign scholar with some refined taste
Actually to represent folklore with paintings
Ever since the "Tai Ping Feng Su Tu" in the middle of the Qing dynasty
There had been plenty of similar folklore paintings
Usually folklore paintings are not situated against any special background
But this book is highly recommended
For combining the tradition of folklore painting
With customs and traditional festivals
And zooming in on specific scenes
Changdian, Shichahai, White Cloud Temple and so on
So it is able to present the society in a more well-rounded way
He later became known for studying contemporary Chinese plays
So the works he chose to include in the eighth chapter
The Peking Opera scenes
Are better than the images we have ever seen or used
And there are also singers who sing with drum beats
The play Lian Hua Lao
Puppet shows
Lion dances
And Chinese monkey shows
Are all carefully depicted in the book
Aoki Masaru said that he kept demanding more
And the painters worked very hard to meet his demands
Although his title was editor and planner
He was actually more of a director
A talented writer with wild imagination
And a fine taste of art
And a special interest in Chinese culture
The reason I became interested in Aoki Masaru
Was that in the 90s
The city was to be dismantled, especially the old city
So I sold a lot of paintings
And hired many photographers
To take pictures of the old city
Until later I was involved in the protection of traditional villages
Like protecting folk culture and intangible cultural relics
We saw them disappearing right in front of our eyes
So we had to keep them from vanishing
I believe that how a city maintains its own culture
And traditional lifestyles
Is not in contradiction with the appeal for modern life
And it's worth investing more effort
“Beijing Hūzoku Zuhu”
Grants us a chance to relive the life of our ancestors
And to experience their feelings