New Year pictures are among the most popular forms of folk art in China. In most regions, it is a custom to put up New Year pictures during the Spring Festival. Since they are replaced once a year, or intended for viewing throughout the year after being posted, they are called "New Year pictures." Although later New Year pictures mainly serve as decorations and to add festive atmosphere to homes, their origins should be traced back to the primitive religious beliefs of warding off evil spirits and protecting homes. Therefore, the broad definition of New Year pictures includes not only deity images hung on the central wall and narrative-themed paintings, but also excludes door paintings (door gods) and peach tablets. Later, peach tablets developed more into text-based items and became independent. In fact, there are also New Year pictures pasted in chicken coops, pigsties, and horse stables. Since ancient times, chickens have been regarded as the yang birds that announce the morning, believed to ward off yin evil spirits. Even today, there is a tradition of holding a rooster before burying the dead to drive away evil spirits and ensure the deceased's soul rests in peace. Dogs not only guard the house at night but are also considered to belong to the earth element and have the ability to see ghosts at night, thus possessing the power to ward off evil spirits. Hence, in rural villages, there is still a custom of using stone carvings of chickens and dogs to guard the village gates. There were even special New Year pictures used specifically for chicken coops in ancient times. In southern China, there are special New Year pictures such as cat paintings in silkworm rooms to control mice. Paper figures (paper horses, Jia Ma) are used all year round, so they form a unique category. However, some paper horses are also replaced annually and should be classified as New Year pictures.

The practice of pasting pictures of warriors on doors to repel evil spirits dates back to the Han Dynasty. The story that Wu Daozi of the Tang Dynasty painted the "Zhong Kui Catching Ghosts" picture to hang on the door for protection is not reliable. It originally came from a speculation by Shen Kuo of the Song Dynasty in his "Supplementary Notes on the Brush," about an inscription on a painting in the imperial palace. Shen Kuo himself raised doubts about this in his writings. Today's New Year pictures we refer to, although some are hand-painted, are mainly woodblock printed ones. This type of woodblock New Year picture emerged as a new variety due to the development of commerce during the Tang and Song dynasties, meeting the needs of the urban middle class. The Song Dynasty already had colored woodblock prints. As recorded in "Dreams of the Eastern Capital": "In recent years, during festivals, the streets sell door gods, Zhong Kui, peach boards..." which indicates that woodblock New Year pictures may have appeared in the Tang Dynasty and became widespread in the Song Dynasty. After the Ming and Qing dynasties, China's cities had budding capitalist elements. Building upon the woodblock printing techniques and New Year picture traditions of the Song Dynasty, by the time of the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods of the Qing Dynasty, New Year pictures gradually formed regional schools and production centers. Notable ones include Suzhou Taohuawu, Tianjin Yangliuqing, Weifang Yangjiafu in Shandong, Zhu Xian Town in Henan, Wucheng in Hebei, Jin Nan in Shanxi, Fengxiang in Shaanxi, Jinzhu and Jiejiang in Sichuan, Fuyang in Anhui, Quanzhou in Fujian, Foshan in Guangdong, Chen Zhou and Longhui Tantou in Hunan, and many places remain New Year picture production areas until today.