What is folk paper-cutting?

It is a folk art of cutting and carving patterns on paper with scissors or carving knives, which is used to decorate life or cooperate with other folk activities. In China, paper-cutting has a broad mass base and is integrated into the social life of people of all ethnic groups. It is an important part of various folk activities.

It inherits the continuous visual image and modeling format, contains rich cultural and historical information, expresses the social cognition, moral concept, practical experience, life ideal and aesthetic taste of the general public, and has multiple social values such as cognition, education, expression, lyricism, entertainment and communication.

The development of history

Paper was invented in the Western Han Dynasty (6th century BC). Before that, there could be no paper-cutting art. But at that time, people used very thin materials to make handicrafts by hollowing out and carving, but it was popular long before paper appeared, that is, patterns were cut on gold foil, leather, silk and even leaves by carving, carving, picking, carving and cutting.

According to Records of the Historian Jiantong Di Feng, in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the leaves of the pole were cut into "poles" and given to his younger brother, who was named Tang Hou. During the Warring States period, leather carvings (one of the cultural relics unearthed from Chu Tomb No.1 in Jiangling, Hubei Province) and silver foil carvings (one of the cultural relics unearthed from the Warring States site in Guwei Village, Huixian County, Henan Province) were all demolished together with paper-cutting, and their appearance laid a certain foundation for the formation of folk paper-cutting.