China Traditional Culture Paper-cutting

Paper cutting, also known as paper carving, window cutting or painting cutting. The difference is that when creating, some use scissors and some use carving knives. Although the tools are different, the artistic works created are basically the same, which is collectively called paper-cutting. Paper-cutting is a kind of hollow art, which gives people a sense of emptiness and artistic enjoyment visually. Its carrier can be paper, gold foil, silver foil, bark, leaves, cloth, leather and other sheet materials.

The history of paper-cutting handicraft art, that is, paper-cutting in the true sense, should begin with the appearance of paper. The invention of paper in Han Dynasty promoted the appearance, development and popularization of paper-cutting. Paper is a moldy material. In the southeast of our country, the climate is humid, and the rainy days in May and June every year, paper products will rot over time. Folk paper-cutting is a popular thing. People don't keep it as a treasure, and they can cut it if it is broken. In the northwest of China, the weather is dry, the climate is dry, and the paper is not easy to get moldy, which may also be one of the important reasons for the discovery of paper-cutting in the Northern Dynasties in Turpan, Xinjiang.

Paper-cutting has been in a period of great development in the Tang Dynasty. In Du Fu's poem, there is a saying that "warm water trapped my feet, and paper-cutting called back my soul", and the custom of paper-cutting called back my soul had spread among the people at that time. The paper-cut in the Tang Dynasty, which is now in the British Museum, shows that the paper-cut at that time had a high level of manual art and a complete picture composition, expressing an ideal realm between heaven and earth. Popular in the Tang Dynasty, the carved patterns of flowers and trees have the characteristics of paper-cutting. For example, the pattern of "Duiyang" in Masakura Hospital in Japan is a typical artistic expression of hand cutting. In the Tang dynasty, there was also block printing made of paper-cutting. People carved it into wax paper with thick paper, and then printed the dye on the cloth to form beautiful patterns. In Song Dynasty, the paper industry was mature and there were many kinds of paper products, which provided conditions for the popularization of paper-cutting. For example, it can be used as "fireworks" for folk gifts, "window grilles" pasted on windows, or as decorations for lanterns and teacups. The application scope of folk paper-cutting in Song Dynasty gradually expanded. Jiangxi Jizhou Kiln uses paper-cut as the pattern of ceramics, and makes the ceramics more exquisite by glazing and firing. Folk also use paper-cutting to carve figures in shadow play with the skins of animals such as donkeys, cows, horses and sheep. Engraving plates made of blue printed cloth are carved into patterns with oilpaper board, and the scratched patterns are made by paper-cutting technology, which is divided into yin and yang engraving. Long lines should be cut off to distinguish facts from truth. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the paper-cut handicraft art matured and reached its peak. Folk paper-cut handicraft art has a wider range of applications, such as flower decorations on folk lanterns, decorative patterns on fans and embroidery patterns, all of which are reprocessed with paper-cut as decoration. What's more, Chinese people often use paper-cutting as decoration to beautify the home environment, such as door battlements, window grilles, cabinet flowers, wedding flowers and ceiling flowers, which are all used to decorate doors, windows and rooms. In addition to the paper-binding pattern craftsmen who appeared after the Southern Song Dynasty, the most basic team of folk paper-cutting handicrafts in China is rural women. Female red is an important symbol of the perfection of traditional women in China. As a compulsory skill of needlework, paper-cutting has become a skill that girls have to learn since childhood. They want to learn paper-cut patterns from their predecessors or sisters, cut out new patterns through cutting, re-cutting, painting and cutting, and describe the natural scenery they are familiar with and love, the scenery of fish, insects, birds, beasts, flowers, trees, pavilions and bridges, and finally reach the realm of their will. China folk paper-cut handicraft art, like an ivy tree, is ancient and evergreen, and its unique popularity, practicality and aesthetics have become a symbolic meaning that meets people's psychological needs.