The origin of Chinese folk paper-cutting and current research status of paper-cutting
With the development of paper-cutting art, it has become a kind of popular art that people like to see in folk life, because it is easy to make, the materials are easily available, the production cost is low, and it is highly decorative. It is precisely because of these characteristics of paper-cut art that it has been loved and recognized by the masses. However, it has not been long since the art of paper-cutting was really taken seriously and was regarded as a research material. "In the early years of the Republic of China, folklore began to appear in China...the art of paper-cutting began to be valued by artists." It can be seen that the art of paper-cutting began to be valued not only because of its artistic and decorative qualities, but also because of its practicality. It is the concrete manifestation of peoples folk life that attracts the attention of researchers. From this perspective, the development of paper-cutting art is inseparable from peoples folk life.
In the modern version of the dictionary, there are explanatory entries for "paper-cutting" and "paper-cutting", and the explanations are very detailed. For example, the word "paper-cutting" is explained in this way in "Cihai": Chinese folk decoration One of the handicrafts. As early as the Han and Tang Dynasties, folk women had the custom of using gold and silver foil and colored silk to cut into square shapes, and decorate the corners of their manes with flowers and birds. Later, it gradually developed. During festivals, colored paper is used to cut various flowers, animals or story characters, and is pasted on the windows (called "window flowers"), "door stickers" (called "door stickers") as decorations, and also as gifts. It is used for decoration or embroidery patterns. The tool for paper-cutting usually only uses a pair of small scissors. Some professional artists use a special carving knife to carve, so paper-cutting is also called "paper carving". During the Anti-Japanese War, Yan'an Some artists have collected, organized, researched and introduced folk paper-cutting in the northwest. Nowadays, folk paper-cutting works of different styles are produced in various places.
There is no entry for "paper-cutting" in "Ciyuan", but there is an entry for "paper-cutting to evoke spirits", and the explanation is: In the old custom, paper-cutting is in the shape of money, hanging on the eaves of the door.To show the soul.
Some scholars cite the word "paper-cut" appearing in the five-character poem "Peng Ya Xing" by the great poet Du Fu of the Tang Dynasty as the earliest example. The five-character ancient poem "Peng Yaxing" is written like this:
An old friend is Sun Zai, Gao Yi Bo Layun.
Yan Ke has already darkened, and the lanterns have been opened to open the heavy door.
The warm soup fills my feet, and the paper cutting attracts my soul.
The modern meaning of "paper-cut" is a continuous word. The two words cannot be separated. Once separated, the meaning expressed will completely change. The word "paper-cut" in the poem is just the opposite. The word "cut" is used as a verb, and "paper" is just a working object of the former. Moreover, in "Shuowen Jiezi", "Song Benyu Pian", "Kangxi Dictionary" and other classics, the interpretation of the word "Jian" is: cut, Qi Du. This is inconsistent with the basic characteristics of "paper-cutting". Moreover, the physical materials discovered by archaeologists also prove that the emergence of the word "paper-cut" is a modern thing. Therefore, it is a bit reluctant to cite the word "paper-cut" that appears in "Peng Ya Xing" as an example.
From ancient literature, we can see that whether it is the so-called "paper-cut" made of "paper" or the "ribbon-cut" and "Huasheng" made of other thin materials (the third century AD and the Jin Dynasty) title) and the "soul calling" mentioned above are all practical arts produced to satisfy peoples certain folk cultural life.
The earliest researcher who really studied paper-cut art as an art category, collected it, and compiled it into a volume was not a Chinese, but the Japanese Shinobi Komori. He collected embroidery patterns in northern China and selected 101 Zhang Bing wrote a preface and compiled it into a book called "Chinese Embroidery Patterns", which was published in the 13th year of Taisho (1924 AD) as the ninth volume of the "Ku Klux Society" picture album in Kyoto, Japan. This is what Komori studied through embroidery patterns, another practical aspect of paper-cut pattern art.
China’s research on paper-cutting art lags behind that of foreign countries for many reasons. The main reason is that many scholars believe that paper-cutting is a vulgar art and cannot be refined. Fortunately, as peoples understanding of traditional culture continues to deepen, many scholars have begun to have a new understanding of the art of paper-cutting. In recent years, several works on the history of paper-cutting have been published, such as China"History of Chinese Folk Paper-cutting" by Professor Wang Bomin of the Academy of Fine Arts, "History of Chinese Folk Paper-cutting Art" by Professor Wang Shucun of the China Academy of Art, etc. However, these treatises only keep the research field at the "folk" level, because now many art professionals have devoted themselves to the creation of paper-cutting art. This cannot but be said to have added a new source of energy to paper-cutting art. . But now there is a phenomenon that cannot but arouse our attention
However, some scholars have always believed that the art of paper-cutting can only be done by those uneducated rural old people who use scissors to cut things casually, and things made by other people using other means are not considered paper-cutting. Moreover, they They are still running around talking about how to protect these "traditional cultures". Whether it is a kind of folk culture or a kind of folk art, one of the first conditions for its emergence is the actual needs of peoples folk activities. If this kind of folk culture or folk art can survive, develop and improve, it is also the key to peoples folk activities. The result is that only the culture that people need for folk activities is living culture and has vitality.
