Panel 2-4 Vegetables and Fruits and Their Stories: Tracing the Narrative Origins of Agricultural Produce in Auspicious Folk Paintings in Korea and China /Yoonhee Hong

Yoonhee Hong
Professor, Yonsei University, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Korea
 
　　 Korean folk paintings (minhwa) and Chinese New Year paintings (nianhua) are both types of auspicious paintings (gilssanghwa) that reflect the common people’s desire to ward off evil and live a happy life. They use a variety of symbolic motifs, including animals, plants, divine beings, and people. Many symbols, particularly fruits and vegetables, appear in both Korean minhwa and Chinese nianhua, such as peaches, pomegranates, and grapes. These fruits and vegetables mostly symbolize longevity, abundant offspring, and wealth. Their symbolic meanings are sometimes derived from homophones or the properties of the fruits and vegetables themselves, but in other cases, they originate from legends, such as the peaches of the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu). This text focuses on the fruits and vegetables found in Korean minhwa and Chinese nianhua that hold symbolic meanings derived from stories.

Keywords: Korean folk painting , minhwa, New Year painting, nianhua, folk auspicious imagery, fruits and vegetables


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