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Abstract The Great Nuo Painting collected by the Imperial Palace in Beijing can be regarded as a masterpiece of customs painting, and has attracted the attention of many scholars.This article traces back to the extant original documents, discriminates the original meaning of the Nuo, the Rain Praying, the Rain Stopping and the Shehuo, tabulates the symbolic decoration and props of the characters in detail, reveals the folklore belief factors, and concludes five conclusions: First, this painting depicted a team of Shehuo with the function of Nuo(exorcism), rain praying and entertainment. The flowers and branches worn by the characters are both vigor and power in the middle of the spring; the figure is twelve, which conforms to the twelve beasts of the Nuo; the characters all wear the false face, conforms to the Nuo; The decoration of the characters is the avoidance of evil; the props of the characters can exorcise the devil; The symbols of frogs, tortoises, thunder patterns, moire, and fret on the costumes are not only the demands of life, but also the water.Therefore, it is more accurate to rename this painting as ″the Shehuo″, it doesn't matter if we don't rename it. Second, adornments of the characters have ″Ximen″ color. ″Ximen″ , ″five Ximen ″, are the general name of the modern Miao and Yao ethnic groups since the Qin and Han Dynasties. But during the Tang and Song Dynasties, most Miao people from the middle and lower reaches of the Han River to Huaihe River had been gradually merged and disappeared. The characters in this painting are very keen on the patterns of maple leaves, butterflies, moths and birds, and give special significance to them, which are different from the records of the general literature, and echoes with Miao people's maple, butterfly mother and Jiyu bird worship. In addition,that man with butterfly cap,has some special story patterns on the chest and left shoulder of his dress. Each of these two patterns has an honorable man with a Guanjin scarf and a feather fan. We think the honorable man might be Zhu Geliang who has sacred prestige among the Miao people and other southern minority nationalities. In the pattern on the chest of the man with butterfly cap, there is a salute man with headscarf, dancing and playing the barrel of Lusheng, still a common image of the Miao people. Therefore, we believe that this painting has the color of ″Ximan″. It can also be considered that this painting retains the traces of ethnic integration in southern China since Tang and Song Dynasties. Third, the man with broom is generally regarded as the number one, but we think that the man with butterfly cap is the leader or the number one, and according to the characters and the state, we restore characters formation as anti S shape, like ″the Rise of the Dragon″, actually also belong to the Tai Ji schema. They act as they walk.The team is in a bit of a mess because the leader changed the way forward temporarily. The painter painted the noisy moment of the team, not only expressed the profound implication of ″the Rise of the Dragon″, but also conveys that strong festive funny, his originality is very praiseworthy. Fourth, it is doubtful to set the painting as the Song Dynasty. Clearly, figures 1, 6, 7, 9, and 11 have ″Buzis″(patches) on the chest.In particular, there is a ″Buzi″(patch) on the chest and back of the figure 7 and 9 respectively.This is the real ″Xiongbei″ (chest-back)(the alias of the Buzi).But according to the unearthed cultural relics and related research works on Chinese clothing, the Buzi was formed in the Ming Dynasty, and a new grade symbol of the Ming Dynasty official uniform.Therefore, the scenery painted in this painting should belong to the Ming Dynasty, the painter also seems to be a man of Ming dynasty. Fifth, the black symbols on the masks of this characters still exist in the facial expressions of the Shehuo and operas, and should be the early form of the facial makeup of Chinese operas. In the painting, except for No.4 ,No.7 and No.10, the other characters have black dots and tadpole points on their false face. These black symbols seem to be related to water, seem to be suggestive of facial features, and still exist in the facial makeup of the opera in the later generations.
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