Having inherited painting traditions from the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1279-1368) Dynasties, as well as forms of woodblock printing, crafts, art and theatre in the Ming, the New Year Painting in Yangliuqing developed its own unique artistic style. With a wide range of subjects and lively content depicting people's lifestyles, customs, historical stories, mythologies, folklores, theatres, landscapes and flowers, and using allegories and metaphors, the New Year paintings expressed people's wishes in the form of art. As to the techniques, combined by woodblock printing and color painting, the New Year painting had both woodblock printing and national painting characters. With most subjects taken from real life and historical events, the paintings perfectly relate color and emotion, folk and standard painting, realism and romanticism. In the history of Chinese engraving, the New Year Paintings of Yangliuqing in North China and Suzhou in South China were regarded as Nantao Beiliu.

Various subjects of the Yangliuqing New Year pictures are popular among people. Some traditional paintings, such as Liannian Youyu and Heting Xiaoxia, are not only circulated in among the people but also collected by overseas artists as gems of art. As a form of folk art, the New Year Painting of Yangliuqing has been exhibited in Japan, France, Britain, Italy, Thailand, Singapore, etc. Supported by the government, the Society of the New Year Painting of Yangliuqing has become a special institution researching and developing woodblock printing of the New Year Painting of Yangliuqing. With a large resource of materials and data, the institution will create more and more modern works based on inheriting the tradition.