Research on Visual Reproduction of Chinese Auspicious Culture -Mainly with the New Year's Design of Shanghai Disney Resort

Chinese auspicious images came with the history of China for five thousand years. It is a human instinct to aspire after beauty. Since auspiciousness is one of the kinds of traditional Chinese cultures, and auspicious images are the treasury of modern design, it is necessary to study them from multiple angles. In this paper, a case study is carried out on there representation of traditional Chinese auspicious images in modern contexts. Furthermore, the Chinese auspicious images in the design for New Year 2020 in Shanghai Disney Resort are studied by using literature review, and the auspicious patterns, auspicious characters and auspicious colors are analyzed and studied centered on the design case. The results show that the new year design of Shanghai Disney Resort in 2020 is the outcome of innovative inheritance and reinterpretation of traditional auspicious images. In modern design, it provides essential value to regenerate and integrate the traditional culture. Auspicious images are an enormous treasury given by Chinese ancestors, which provides rich visual resources for the fusion of modern design and regeneration of traditional culture. Modern designers should continue to excavate the charm and value of auspicious images from the traditional auspicious ones, make rational use of such patterns and develop some new design ideas. Keyword: Chinese auspicious images, image representation, visual representation


Concept of Chinese Auspicious Images
Auspicious images are closely related to auspicious Chinese culture, which is to convey the development of auspicious culture. The traditional Chinese auspicious culture came into being through thousands of years of baptism due to the impact of the ancient totem worship, politics, literati aesthetics and folk customs. From the perspective of philology, auspicious culture is studied, and Ji (吉)can be understood as Shan (善), and Xiang (祥) can be understood as Fu (福) [3]. Auspiciousness is a sign of luck, representing propitious omen and good luck [4]. Auspiciousness is mainly manifested as a blessing, longevity and luck, As the classic themes in traditional Chinese culture, they are reflected in all aspects of people's life. The traditional patterns or designs tend to be used to concretize the auspicious culture [5].
With the continuous accumulation and reconstruction of the historical context, auspicious images have been handed down from generation to generation and become a product deeply rooted in the Chinese mind [6]. Even up to now, it is still rooted in the daily life of Chinese people. Auspicious images are widely used in cultural activities related to festivals and customs. Especially during the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival, people put up antithetical couplets, draw door gods, paste New Year pictures and engage in other activities to express their wish for good luck [7]. In short, auspiciousness is the wish for luck and an auspicious sign, indicating that the auspicious images are the manifestation of auspicious culture. Auspicious images are special visual symbols unique to China, reflecting the artistic creation and aesthetic pursuit of Chinese people over the long history.

Visual Expressions of Chinese Auspicious Images
Auspicious patterns mainly refer to decorative patterns that involve auspicious meanings [8].
Auspicious images did not appear out of the void, but its inheritance and development were closely related to the society, economy, politics and religion and culture at that time [9]. According to the familiar things or myths and legends, auspicious patterns are produced by the Chinese people utilizing the homophonic method, symbolic method and other artistic techniques to visualize their belief in luck.
Auspicious patterns are mainly divided into auspicious figures, auspicious animals, auspicious plants and auspicious decorative patterns. Auspicious figures include the God of wealth, Guan Yu and Shouxian.
Auspicious animals include a dragon, Phoenix and fish. The auspicious plants are peony, lotus and peach blossom. Auspicious decorative patterns include auspicious clouds, fret and water patterns [10].
They often form a unique combination mode in their correlation, and there will be some crossover between the categories. These auspicious patterns, which have profound meanings, are commonly seen in such art categories as paper-cuts, wood-based New Year paintings, embroideries, wood carvings and architecture.
[  Auspicious colors are closely related to the traditional Chinese concept of five colors. The traditional concept of five colors is a kind of color concept which is closely combined with society and nature through long-term production and practice. In the Craftsmen's Record of the Rites of Zhou, it wrote that Painting is the mixing of five colors. The color symbolizing the east is called cyan, the color symbolizing the south is called red, the color symbolizing the west is called white, the color symbolizing the north is called black, the color symbolizing the sky is called dark black, and the color symbolizing the earth is called yellow [13]. Here it means that five colors are composed of five monochromatic colors, namely red, cyan, yellow, white and black. These colors convey people's feelings and thoughts. The color in auspicious images has profound humanity and folklore, which can be understood as a social symbol. [ Table 1] shows the visual presentation of the auspicious images. [

Application Case of Visual Presentations of Auspicious Images
Shanghai Disney

Auspiciousness in the Dimension of Patterns
[ The dragon is a traditional Chinese cultural symbol. In the auspicious culture, the dragon is an auspicious animal that can summon wind and call for rain so as to achieve favorable climatic weather.
In terms of means of representation, the dragon is combined with Disney patterns as an auspicious Lantern is a traditional Chinese handicraft and also a kind of traditional lamps and lanterns. On the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar every year, Chinese people will hang lanterns, which symbolize reunion, to create a festive atmosphere. In Disney's New Year design, lanterns are reconstructed as an auspicious pattern, similar to that of copper cash. The lantern shape in the shape of Mickey Mouse is designed by using the circular shape of Mickey's head and lantern. This kind of representation is more widely used and looks more interesting in vision. [

Cultural meaning
Peace and harvest year Auspicious pattern Copper cash Auspicious pattern Lantern

Medium form
Outdoor decorations and products

Medium form
Outdoor decorations

Cultural meaning
Wealth Cultural meaning Reunion

Auspicious pattern
Peach blossom

Medium form
Outdoor decorations and products

Medium form
Outdoor decorations, admission ticket

Means of representation
Applied as an auxiliary element Wei, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, the peach blossoms were described as follows, "But now, with spring-floods everywhere and floating peach petals, which is the way to go, to find that hidden source."

Means of representation
From the lines, we can find that the ancient people often used to express the meaning of spring, beauty and hope with peach blossoms. Peach blossom is represented in the same way as auspicious clouds, as it appears as an additional element in the outdoor decoration and ticket design of Disneyland.

Auspiciousness in the Dimension of Colors
[  [14]. In modern Chinese society, people believe that red is the symbol of good luck, so red is often used in the Spring Festival, birthday party, wedding and other activities. The paper cuts with the character Xi (喜), couplets, red envelopes and other auspicious items that are all made in red. There are two main types of red in Disney's design. One is a dark red to be used in outdoor decorations, and the other is a bright red to be used in tickets, character costumes and product design. For color matching, red is frequently matched with yellow, which can not only create a strong visual impact but also present a warm and lively visual experience for the audience due to the warm colors.
[ In addition to red, yellow is the second most popular auspicious color. It wrote in Zhu Xi Ji Zhuan (朱熹集傳) that yellow is the color of land in the central regions. It indicate that yellow is the color of the land. Yellow symbolizes the land where all things grow, as well as the imperial power and the state. Therefore, the clothing of emperors in ancient China was called the yellow robe, and the throne of emperors was called the yellow throne. Yellow in China is considered to be the symbol of land, wealth and authority, so it conveys the pursuit of power and wealth in auspicious culture. In the New Year design, bright yellow is mostly used for auspicious symbols such as gold ingot and copper cash, which involves the cultural meaning of wealth.
Cyan is mostly used in the outdoor decorations of Disney and the costumes of Disney characters.
Cyan is a color extracted by ancient Chinese people who were inspired by the lush ecological landscape  Auspicious colors have highly prominent features, as they attach importance to the use of primary colors, using complementary colors for collocation, resulting in strong contrast between hue and temperature.

Analysis of the Integration of Patterns, Characters and Colors
[

Conclusion
Auspicious patterns have unique visual beauty and historical and cultural values, which are the essence of auspicious patterns. Formed over thousands of years, it is expressive, influential and malleable. In today's globalization, only by modernizing auspicious images and adding modern elements to design can we achieve a new breakthrough based on inheriting the tradition. Disney's New Year design in 2020 inherits and follows the design of traditional auspicious images in modern times. In this paper, the Disney culture and auspicious culture were studied to seek an appropriate way to connect the two, and auspicious images were visually represented with Disney as the medium so that it could present new vitality.
In this paper, the application of Chinese auspicious images in modern design was explored. It was supported by the theories related to the concept of auspicious images and the elements of visual representation in the second chapter. Combined with modern design cases, the means of visual representation and characteristics of auspicious images were mastered. From the dimensions of patterns, characters and colors, it analyzed and expounded the methods and ideas of visual representation of auspicious images from these three dimensions. Firstly, auspicious patterns were extracted and redesigned to look more modernized. One way to do this is to break down the pattern and add new elements to form a new pattern. Secondly, auspicious characters are transformed into pictures, and the auspicious characters are combined and reconstructed, such as integrating modern elements by using element substitution. We should master the extent to which the forms of character change to strive for unity in change. In particular, attention should be paid to the recognition, readability and integrity of characters while preserving the decorative nature of the characters. Thirdly, in terms of auspicious color, bright color schemes may be adopted. By adjusting the area, shape and spacing of colors, the decoration and visual impact of colors can be intensified to transmit the strong visual perception. It is essential to create the contract of flourishing and hot color contrast, and pay attention to the harmonious and unified visual effect. According to the above analysis, the author holds that the key to the visual representation of auspicious images is to grasp the cultural implication and national emotion behind auspicious images, so as to integrate with Disney elements. Through such integration, more vivid auspicious images can be displayed, making them more accessible and acceptable to the audience during the transmission process.
Finally, the core meanings of auspiciousness, beauty and luck in auspicious images are presented in new looks, thus realizing dialogue with modern people and arousing sympathy.
In a word, auspicious images have been recognized and preferred by the Chinese people for their diversified themes, rich cultural connotations and unique aesthetic characteristics.Auspiciousimages themselves are an enormous treasury for design, which provides a rich visual language for the fusion and regeneration of modern design and culture. Also, modern designers should constantly tap the charm and value of auspicious images, use them rationally, and develop new design ideas.