The research on door guardian painting’s function and implication

Abstract

Door guardian painting is one of the greatest treasures of Chinese art, bearing the weight of the simple feelings and the life awareness of Chinese people. As a specific cultural symbol, door guardian paintings symbolize a kind of popular folkloric culture which has experienced changes under the influence of a changing society. Through door guardian paintings, people’s attitudes and understandings can be observed in their unremitting dreams of a better life. This article begins with the door guardian painting’s tardy development, then discusses its functions and implications in Chinese society. Based on empirical research, this article explores the deep emotional experience expressed in daily life. The uniqueness of the article is that the authors take the function and implication of door guardian paintings as the entry point to explore the development of the rational cognition and mental change of the public in China, and by this to explore the change in people’s daily life so as to inherit and carry forward Chinese culture in the new era.