Decorative animal and plant patterns in folk paper-cutting
The decorative animal and plant theme patterns referred to in this article mainly refer to the paper-cut patterns used as embroidery samples to emphasize the decorative function. Paper-cutting with this theme is relatively rare in the north, mainly concentrated in North China; it is a major trend in the south. The large number of patterned paper-cuts appearing in the south is not unrelated to the colorful national costumes and folk customs of the Han people and other ethnic minorities in the south.
In the Central Plains, embroidered clothes and shoes were the clothing fashion of Han urban and rural residents in the old days, which promoted the rapid development of paper-cut embroidery in the south. At this time, there were also a large number of paper-cut artists who specialized in carving, cutting and embroidering patterns. Mr. Shen Congwen once mentioned in his article "Tahu Paper-cutting Patterns" that in the old days, flower-cutting craftsmen in his hometown cut out patterns to satisfy the local customs of Miao and Han womens embroidery. "On the Laofeng road from Pushi to Fenghuang, there is such a small village called Tahu. The place is under the jurisdiction of Shenshui Liuhuxi County... There are about thirty families. They have been producing products for decades. (Paper-cut patterns) were dispersed to large towns and villages in various counties, enriching the lives of young women of the Miao and Han ethnic groups in the surrounding areas.
In its heyday, some of its products were sold by Piaoxiang merchants to villages in neighboring counties in Sichuan and Guizhou, and were widely welcomed!" The "Tahu" mentioned by Mr. Shen Congwen is todays Huxi County in western Hunan. Tahu Township is also the hometown of "flower-cutting". "Flower-cutting Lang" refers to male folk artists who specialize in embroidery-like paper-cutting. Such craftsmen were very common in the south in the past. Southern pattern paper-cutting It is the wonders that these embroiderers and flower-cutters jointly create and inherit in the colorful "Southern Clothing" environment.
