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As you enter the Shān Bǎn Qiáo Face Painting Cultural Life Museum, you'll see a row of face paintings ranked as "Five Ways to Wealth" at the entrance. Due to their vibrant colors and auspicious meaning, they stand out in the quiet mountains and forests, making you can't help but want to explore the museum. Sanqiyi's wood carving industry is quite developed, with various wood carving factories standing, and Shān Bǎn Qiáo was originally a wood carving studio. The museum's owners, a couple, used to work in a wood carving studio, mainly creating practical art pieces such as flat wood carvings, screens, tables, chairs, and teacups. However, with changes in the social and economic structure, the wood carving industry gradually declined, and the couple began to think about the direction of their studio. At first, they transformed their studio into a farm focused on wood carving teaching. Since they were deeply interested in Peking Opera face paintings, they used face paintings as teaching materials to instruct beginners in basic carving techniques. However, using sharp carving knives posed a risk for untrained beginners, so they later designed a face painting activity. Shān Bǎn Qiáo gradually became a place centered on face painting art and transformed into a space suitable for mass and family impromptu painting. The museum is divided into several areas, including a historical and cultural area introducing local Sanqiyi history, a wood carving and face painting display area, and a wood experience area where visitors can gain hands-on experience. The most eye-catching is a wall displaying over a thousand traditional Chinese opera face paintings. These works are the crystallization of the museum owners' family's hard work. Upon close inspection, you'll find that each face painting has a unique design and exquisite craftsmanship. Through colors and lines, the personalities and spirits of various characters are vividly presented. With a clear theme, Shān Bǎn Qiáo successfully popularized face painting and wood carving art, allowing these cultures to be recognized through interesting methods and achieving sustainable inheritance. There are two theories about the origin of face paintings. One says that in ancient festivals, people used ferocious masks to represent demons' fearfulness. The other theory dates back to the Northern and Southern Dynasties and Sui and Tang dynasties, when masked dances and songs, the predecessor of face paintings, appeared. Regardless of the origin, since wearing masks made it difficult to express the performers' emotions and eyes, artists directly used makeup and colors to draw on their faces, forming face paintings. To allow audiences farther from the stage to see the actors' facial expressions clearly, early face paintings used only black, red, and white to emphasize facial features, skin tone, and contours. As opera art developed, face painting designs and colors became increasingly rich. By the late 18th century and early 19th century, a complete set of makeup patterns had been derived from Peking Opera face paintings. The colors on face paintings gradually developed symbolic meanings. In terms of color, red represents loyalty, like Guan Yu; black represents loyalty and integrity, like Bao Zheng; purple represents wisdom and bravery, like Jing Ke; white implies cunning, like Cao Cao; blue means strong and courageous, like Lu Meng; green symbolizes bravery, like Cheng Bitejin; yellow indicates cunning and ferocity, like Pang Juan; while gold and silver are often used for gods, Buddha, and ghosts, symbolizing the virtual. If you understand the meanings behind these colors, you'll have more fun appreciating face paintings.