The origin of paper-cutting art: folk art in Han Dynasty.

Paper-cutting should be one of the most interesting contents in my handicraft class or art class when I was a child, but paper-cutting is not only a learning project to train children's hands-on ability and imagination, it is one of the important folk arts in China, with a long history and far-reaching influence. So today we will learn about the history of paper-cutting and what is the origin of paper-cutting art.

About the origin of paper-cutting, it actually began to sprout a long time ago. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, people made handicrafts on some thin materials through hollow carving technology, such as carving, carving and cutting patterns on gold foil, leather, silk and even leaves. This was very popular before paper appeared. Although it is not made of paper, it is exactly the same, laying the foundation for the emergence of paper-cutting in the true sense.

But the paper-cutting art in the true sense should be officially started from the appearance of paper. The appearance of paper in Han Dynasty promoted the emergence and development of paper-cutting. At first, paper was a material that was easy to get moldy. In the southeast of China, with humid climate and rainy days in May and June every year, paper products will rot over time, and folk paper-cutting is a popular thing. People don't keep it like a treasure. If it is damaged, they can cut it again.

In the northwest of China, the weather is dry and the climate is dry, so the paper is not easy to get moldy. This may also be an important reason why people later found the earliest and well-documented paper-cut works of China-five paper-cuts of the Northern Dynasties in Turpan, Xinjiang. Until the Eastern Han Dynasty, with the innovation and popularization of papermaking, the real paper-cutting and paper-cutting art came into being.