New Year appeared rather early; in the Northern Sung Dynasty,there were woodcut New Year prints on the market.According to Meng Yuan Lao’s Tung Ching Meng Hua Lu,when New Year is around the corner,on sale are the prints of the god of door or Zhongkui,peach boards or charms,wealth door and blunt donkey,deer and horse turning their heads,invitation of heavenly soar.
Most people assume that Zhongkui is related to Dragon Boat Festival.However,before the Ching Dynasty,the pictures of Zhongkui had been used as decorations for the first month of the Lunar Year.Zun Sheng Ba Jian records that "on the first day of a year,in the ceremonies of sacrificing to the god of kitchen,hang the pictures of Zhongkui to avoid ghosts or evil in the fo;;owing days…"