Cantonese Vision Issue 13 Guangzhou paper cutter Lian Xiaohong

The value of traditional art lies not in the lineage, but more importantly in the persistence and inheritance. In Guangzhou, there is such a "halfway" paper-cutting person, relying on a pair of scissors and a few sheets of colorful paper, traveling around the city, spreading the seeds of paper-cutting art to the land of Yangcheng.

△ Lian Xiaohong and her parents

Lian Xiaohong, the inheritor of Cantonese paper-cutting, is the daughter of Li Xiaoling and Lian Hanfeng, the masters of Guangzhou paper-cutting, and she has not received systematic study of paper-cutting, the reason why she is associated with paper-cutting is probably just because her mother's paper-cutting teaching, "more than a few glances".

△Lian Xiaohong

Lian Xiaohong always accompanied her mother to the class and acted as a small assistant. Once by chance, she took a class for her mother to teach the children, and with her original art skills, coupled with her flexible and lively teaching style, she instantly captured the hearts of many children. Under her mother's influence, the talented Lian Xiaohong has embarked on the road of paper-cutting heritage, which is an "accidental and inevitable" result for her.

△ paper-cutting studio in Liwan Lake Liyuan

Not only that, her mother, Li Xiaoling, was also a "halfway house" in the art of paper-cutting. Li Xiaoling's first contact with paper-cutting was in 2003, when she was suffering from polio, she had a disability in her legs, but God gave her a pair of flexible hands. In Liwan Renwei Temple in a bead exhibition, because it is too empty walls of the exhibition hall, Li Xiaoling bought teaching materials to learn paper-cutting, in order to do the decoration, unexpectedly received a favorable response, from then on the family began to be associated with paper-cutting, a do is 15 years.

△ The basic technique of paper-cutting has five elements: "round, sharp, square, missing, line". The requirements are: "round as the autumn moon, sharp as a wheat mane, square as a green brick, missing as a jagged tooth, and a line like a beard."

What her mother left to Lian Xiaohong, in addition to the exquisite craftsmanship, there is also the spirit of craftsmanship with their own "struggle". If the work accidentally cut a wrong step, Li Xiaoling will have to overturn and start again, even if the flaw is so small that the next person can hardly notice. Once because of too many revisions, Lian Xiaohong was puzzled and advised her mother not to be "paranoid", but her mother balked: "Even if others can't see it, but you know in your own heart, if you're not striving for perfection, how can you call it a work of art?" This sentence touched Lian Xiaohong, and then has been firmly imprinted in her heart.

△In the past five years, the Guangzhou Paper Cutting Project has given more than a hundred lectures on paper cutting in the city.

In order to carry forward the art of paper-cutting, in the subsequent teaching, Lian Xiaohong combined her professional expertise in animation and tried to animate the steps of the teaching process, "In making paper-cutting works, the steps of scissors opening and closing are complicated, and a step not done properly will destroy the effect of the work." Lian Xiaohong in teaching has been groping for a set of more concrete teaching methods, and the friendly and interesting teaching style has also made her loved by many students.

△Paper cutouts

"What impressed me the most was when I was sick and hospitalized, and a child brought me a paper cutout filled with candy. That candy cutout was not only filled with the child's thoughts, but also showed that they truly loved paper cutting." Originally very fond of children's Lian Xiaohong, from then on determined to devote themselves to the teaching of paper-cutting.

△ In addition to traditional festive decorations, paper-cutting can also create a variety of creative shapes (student work).

But how can traditional paper-cutting skills go further? Lian Xiaohong felt that paper-cutting should appear in more everyday life scenes, so she chose to "cut paper" on the clothes.

△ Clothing exhibition appeared in the figure of paper cutting

Doing clothing is not the same as doing flat paper-cutting, there will be problems such as the size does not fit, so after making the work, you have to keep revising. The material used at the beginning of the "test piece" is cardboard, which can not withstand the folding, most of the damage, but Lian Xiaohong did not get discouraged, and continue to try new materials, and ultimately completed the fusion of paper-cutting and clothing with silk production.

△ 31-meter-long giant paper-cut "Legend of the Five Sheep Immortal" in Guangzhou Railway Station Metro Station

Now, I believe that many people will still be impressed by the giant paper-cut work "Legend of the Five Sheep Immortal" unveiled in 2015 in Guangzhou Railway Station Metro Station, and Lian Xiaohong recalled that at that time, it was also the first time to create such a large-scale work, which utilizes the principle of perspective of the near-big and far-small and does its best to let each sheep have a different shape, plus the addition of a large number of different pieces. She used the principle of perspective and tried her best to make each sheep have different shapes and forms, and added the "Little Barbarian Waist", which is a characteristic building of Guangzhou. Although it has been a few years since the work was displayed, she still remembers the expressions of appreciation from the neighbors when they appreciated the work, and it is as if she has realized the true meaning of the word "inheritance" that her parents always talked about from that time onwards.

This issue was planned by Che Yuan Yuan

This issue was written by Rao Jiali and Ye Shao Ming

(Some photos provided by the interviewee)