A summary of folk paper-cutting in many regions
Folk paper-cutting in North China
Most of the paper-cuts in North China are based on the themes of opera characters, and some are based on auspicious homophonic patterns such as flowers, birds, fish, insects, birds and animals, with full compositions and vivid shapes. For example, the traditional graphic Haokui is also known as "cat and butterfly playing". Often compositions are composed of peonies, butterflies and cats. Hao refers to seventy years old: Kui refers to the year, especially eighty years old.
"Book of Rites": "Seventy is called Hao, eighty is called Kui, and a hundred years is called Qi Yi." "Emperor Wu of the Wei Dynastys Wine Song" "All Hao and Kui will die." "Cat" and "Hao", "Butterfly" and "Kui" have the same pronunciation. Peony means wealth. The ancients often used Hao Kui as a gift to the elderly to convey the blessings of wealth and longevity. "Sanduo" is an auspicious theme pattern composed of pomegranate (many sons), bergamot (many blessings), and peach (many longevity); the "three sheep kaitai" auspicious graphic composed of three sheep, pine trees and the sun, The word "sheep" and "yang" are homophonic puns, and the three sheep represent the three yangs.
Sanyang is the ninth, ninth, and ninth yang hexagrams of the Book of Changes. "Tai" is one of the Yang hexagrams. It means that the qi of heaven and earth are in harmony and governs smooth communication. Kaitai means Kaitai Sanyang Gua, which contains good luck. The sun and pine symbolize heaven and earth. "Three Yang Kaitai" means good luck in heaven and earth, and everything is renewed.
Folk paper-cutting in the Huaihe River Basin
Paper-cutting in the Huaihe River Basin is mainly concentrated in Nanjing, Yangzhou and Nantong, Jiangsu. Yangzhou is one of the earliest areas where paper-cutting became popular in my country. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, people regarded paper-cutting as a kind of fun to embellish and beautify their daily life. In the Tang Dynasty, Yangzhou already had the custom of paper-cutting to welcome the spring. On the day of the beginning of spring, paper cuttings are used as window decorations, or as spring butterflies, spring money, spring victory, "or hanging on the head of a beautiful lady, or embellishment under the flowers"o;, look at each other and feel happy. At that time, there were many folk artists in Yangzhou who made a living by paper-cutting.
Paper-cutting in the Huaihe River Basin was already very popular in urban and rural areas at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China. The paper-cutting graphics were influenced by the aesthetic taste of the urban class at that time, and the theme of invisible appeals with poetic meaning became mainstream. This theme became popular in the Huaihe River Basin. Paper-cut works account for the majority.
Folk paper-cutting in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and South China
The themes of paper-cutting in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and South China are mainly dramas, folk tales and legends. There are also a large part of the invisible appeal theme that is a combination of common animals, plants, utensils and other graphics. The word "pot" and the word "礤" (i.e. gourd) in teapots have different shapes but the same meaning. They both have the meaning of life and reproduction, so folk in South China The theme pattern of paper-cutting, "teapot", often includes a boy and a girl as decoration. The appearance of Pisces and Double Happiness in the picture above contains the beautiful meaning of the union of men and women and the marriage.
