I want a 400-word essay on folk paper-cutting.

Paper-cutting is one of the most popular traditional folk decorative arts in China with a long history. Because of its easily available materials, low cost, obvious effect and wide adaptability, it is widely welcomed. Because it is most suitable for rural women's leisure production, it can be used as a practical object and beautify their lives. Paper-cutting can be seen all over the country, and even formed different local styles. Paper-cutting not only shows the aesthetic taste of the public, but also contains the deep social psychology of the nation. It is also one of the most distinctive folk arts in China, and its modeling features are particularly worth studying. As the embodiment of China's original philosophy, folk paper-cutting has the characteristics of comprehensiveness, beautification and auspiciousness. At the same time, folk paper-cutting conveys the connotation and essence of traditional culture with its own specific expression language.

On May 20th, 2006, the paper-cut art heritage was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. On June 8, 2007, Shanghai Li Paper-cut Art Master Studio won the first Cultural Heritage Day Award from the Ministry of Culture.

China folk paper-cut handicraft art has its own formation and development process. China's paper was invented in the Western Han Dynasty (6th century BC), before which the art of paper-cutting could not have appeared. But at that time, people used thin materials to make handicrafts by hollowing out and carving, but it was popular long before paper appeared, that is, cutting 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, a king claimed the title of king, and cut a plane tree leaf into a "reed" and gave it to his younger brother, who was named Hou in the Tang Dynasty. 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. The earliest paper-cutting works in China were discovered in 1967, when China archaeologists discovered two paper-cuts with flowers of the Northern Dynasties in Astana near Gaochang site in Turpan Basin, Xinjiang. They use hemp paper, all of which are folded sacrificial paper-cuts. Their discovery provides physical evidence for the formation of Chinese paper-cutting.

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 China, the climate is humid, coupled with 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 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 in Tang Dynasty-Paper-cutting in Tang Dynasty has been in a period of great development. There is a saying in Du Fu's poem that "warm water fills my feet, and paper-cutting calls my soul". The custom of paper-cutting calling my soul has 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. The engraved version made by the blue printed cloth technology is carved into patterns with oil cardboard, 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, is ancient and evergreen, and its unique popularity, practicality and aesthetics have become a symbolic meaning that meets people's psychological needs.

Paper-cut art has a long history, which is widely recorded in ancient poetry classics:

1. Don? In the poem left by Cui Daorong, there is such a sentence: "If you want to cut Yichun characters, people who are chilly in spring will cut scissors." The "Yichun Post" mentioned here is also commonly known as paper-cutting.

2. Don? Li Shangyin's poem Manyue says: "Carve gold to gain popularity, cut the ribbon to promote the people." Ribbon-cutting is also paper-cutting.

3. Don? Duan's Youyang Miscellaneous Notes said: "On the day of beginning of spring, the home of literati, paper-cutting is a kind of Xiaoping, which is hung on the head of a beautiful woman or decorated under a flower, and cut into a spring butterfly, which wins the drama with spring. Folk festival customs