Depictions of Wopao zhuan in Chinese Woodblock Prints

Abstract: Chinese popular prints, known today as nianhua or New Year pictures, were one of the most popularly distributed folk art forms in history . Wopao zhuan or Tale of the Japanese Robe was a widely circulated yet frequently banned narrative in late Qing Jiangnan, due to its explicit depiction of adultery and murder. This paper studies the complex relationship between oral literature and print culture in late imperial China by analyzing how Wopao zhuan was translated into the pictorial languages of Chinese popular prints. Print designers demonstrated creativity and flexibility in their selection and adaptation of episodes, engaging in cross-media dialogue with other folk genres such as tanci. Their innovations highlight the enduring vitality of Chinese popular print culture, which not only enabled the transmission of officially prohibited works and ideas but also allowed the medium to survive the increasingly competitive print market in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries .