The beautiful symbolism of Chinese paper cutting

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The art of paper-cutting contains a wealth of symbolism

Qian Shi Jin Sheng said collection 2019/05/07

This answer is cited in the "superbly exquisite folk crafts", provided by Dakku Books

Every time of the New Year's festivities, people in many regions of China will stick a variety of symbolic symbols of the beautiful meaning of the window paper-cut window flowers. The appearance of these window flowers, not only to enhance the festive atmosphere, but also for people to bring the auspicious meaning, but also bring people the enjoyment of beauty.

To this end, China's paper-cutting artists in the creation of paper, paper is generally used in plain view composition, with the unfolding of the way of thinking, a number of images creatively organized, through the picture of the coherence between the structure, contrast, to express some kind of desire of the people, mainly borrowed symbolism, figurative, harmonic, allegorical and so on.

One of the most commonly used methods is to borrow things to symbolize. In China's paper-cutting works often borrow animals, plants and other images to express specific meanings. For example, the dragon is a symbol of power and prestige in China, but in paper-cutting is often combined with the phoenix. Our people often use "dragon and phoenix" to express the blessing of the new couple, the dragon flying phoenix big red paper cutting is a symbol of joy, happiness and prosperity in the newlyweds.

Another example is "Fish Leaping Dragon Gate", which cuts out a large carp leaping and jumping over the towering and spectacular Dragon Gate, symbolizing a higher level and a leap to change one's destiny and future.

If you need to express congratulations on the theme of prolonging life, borrowed objects to symbolize more pine trees, cranes, peaches, longevity and other patterns. This method of borrowing objects to symbolize meaning has been inherited in traditional paper-cutting.

The use of specific forms of objects to represent the content to be expressed is another way to express wishes in the art of paper-cutting.

For example, the cutting of "Heart to Heart" uses two hearts overlapping each other to express the couple's love for each other. Peace in All Seasons" uses the flatness of the bottom of the bottle to express the meaning of smoothness and peace, while "Plum Blossom", "Spring Flower", "Lotus Flower" and "Chrysanthemum Flower" represent the four seasons of the year.

The body of the snake in "Golden Snake of Fortune" resembles a string of ancient copper coins strung together with a rope, so the snake is also called "Fortune Snake", which represents the meaning of wealth. Happiness is long" is to make use of the curved and rounded shape of the Chinese knot, the Baoxiang knot, to wish for long-lasting happiness, which will last forever.

The "Happiness in Front of You" uses ancient copper coins with holes in the center to express the ideal of happiness in front of you.

The Happiness in Front of You uses an ancient bronze coin with a hole in the center to express the ideal of happiness in front of you. The "Buckle Bowl" utilizes two bowls that buckle together to express the meaning of yin and yang.

Additionally, many paper cuttings use harmonies in Chinese words. For example, the paper cutting "Everything is as it should be" utilizes "persimmon" as a harmonic to the word "thing". The word "梅" (plum) in "喜上眉梢" and "眉" (eyebrow) in "喜上眉梢" is a harmonic word.

The Five Fortunes of Longevity is a paper cutting that utilizes "bat" as a homonym of "bat" and "fortune" as a homonym of happiness, so the bat in the paper cutting represents happiness. The word "chicken" in "Great Luck" is a homonym of the word "lucky", so the chicken represents the meaning of auspiciousness and peace.

The word "lotus" in "Liannian Yuyu" is a harmonic word for "lian" and "lian" for connection, and the word "fish" is a harmonic word for "yu" for redundancy. The Chinese characters "莲" and "连" (connect), "鱼" (fish) and "余" (surplus) in "连年有余" (Lian Nian Yu Yu) are harmonized characters, which represent the richness of life. In "All the Way to Lianke", "鹭" (heron) is harmonized with "路" (road) and "莲" (lotus) is harmonized with "连" (continuous). The word "heron" and "road" in heron, "lotus" in lotus flower, and "even" in continuous are harmonized characters, which means wishing the candidates success in continuous examinations.

The bottle "瓶" and "平" of peace, "笙" and "升升" of promotion, "升" and """. The words "bottle", "ping" for peace, "sheng" for promotion, and "升" for rise, and "戟" for "level" in "Ping Rise Three Levels" are all homophonic, and they are used to wish for a peaceful rise in position and a soaring career.

In "Fortune, Longevity and Happiness", "bat" and "fortune", "deer" and "fortune" are all harmonic characters, used to express good wishes. in "Bat" and "Blessing", "Deer" and "Luck" are all homophones, which are used to express good wishes.

The paper-cutting of "Years of Peace", in which the "ears" of wheat and grain are harmonized with the word "years", which represents time, is a common blessing for the Spring Festival.

In addition to this, paper-cutting artists in China often use specific things to symbolize the content to be expressed.

For example, when cutting the Lion Embroidery Ball, it symbolizes the wish that "the lion rolls the embroidered ball, and the good is behind it". Cut a bird with two heads and a pair of wings, which means that both husband and wife in the work and life fly together.

"Mouse stealing grapes" and "fish drilling lotus" mean that men and women get married and have children. Mouse and goldfish mean men, while grapes and lotus mean women, because grapes and lotus can bear children, that is to say, have offspring.

The "Phoenix Playing Peony" and "Mandarin Ducks Playing in the Water" imply that husband and wife are in love and harmony.

The combination of pine and crane in "Pine and Crane Extending Years" implies longevity. The magpies in "Joyful" symbolize joyful events. In folklore, magpies are considered to be the bird of good tidings, capable of forecasting happy events.

Traditional paper-cutting in the creation of the technique is also often borrowed from the meaning of symbols, symbols, harmonic meanings and other combinations to express different thematic ideas.

The expression of good luck, such as the dragon and phoenix, magpies, auspicious celebration, fish leap dragon door, five sons, three suns, smooth sailing, peace and good luck, the four seasons of peace and so on.

The performance of longevity, such as pine and cypress evergreen, deer and crane with spring, pine and crane prolonged life, crane coiled peach, longevity than South Mountain, tortoise and crane life, the oldest and oldest rich and powerful, auspicious clouds and crane, five blessings of longevity, the Eight Immortals to wish for longevity, Ma Gu Xianshou, Qimei to wish for longevity, longevity, Nanking Immortal Weng, and so on.

The performance of Nafu inviting wealth, such as Lianyueyuyu, Fengnian dedication, the five valleys of abundance, Fukuro Joy, five blessings with the celebration, welcome the auspicious Nafu, the heavenly officials to give blessings, fortune into the treasure, gold and jade full of tang, the God of Wealth in the five ways, blessings such as the East China Sea, Baojiu CaiFeng, wealth, and Qi ShengCai, and so on.

Performing wedding blessings, such as luan and phoenix singing in harmony, mandarin ducks crossing their necks, swallows and couples flying together, dragon and phoenix sunrise, dragon and phoenix dance, dragon and phoenix double happiness, the night of the moon and flowers, blossoming and blossoming, phoenix playing peonies, bamboo and plum double happiness, Lotus Flower as you like it, the magpie bridge, and harmony, and as you like it, the hundred years of goodwill, mandarin ducks on the Lotus Flower, and so on.

The performance of praying for children, such as the unicorn to send a son, even the birth of a son, the sky fairy to send a son, mandarin ducks noble son, lotus child-rearing, the golden bell buckle baby, baby into a child, pomegranate open a hundred, the mouse ate grapes, the mouse climbed the candelabra, the mouse ate pumpkin, and so on.