Characteristics of folk paper-cutting of ethnic minorities in northwest China
The ethnic minorities in the northwest region mainly refer to the 14 ethnic groups including the Uygur, Kazakh, Tajik, Hui, Baoan, Dongxiang, and Salar distributed in the five provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, and Xinjiang. Most of them are engaged in farming. The economic life is mainly based on animal husbandry. Historically, we have experienced nomadic life, mainly believing in Islam. The ecological environment is an arid and semi-arid area. The region is relatively closed, so the traditional culture is well maintained. This is reflected in the paper-cut window grilles. It is particularly obvious.
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The folk art of ethnic minorities in the northwest is closely related to local religious beliefs. The sculpture art of each ethnic group is relatively developed. As early as the pre-Qin period, there were Kunlun jade and Yuwen jade carvings from the ancient Western Regions that were famous in the Central Plains; in the early AD, the Buddhist Eastern Gradually, Buddhist sculpture art entered Xinjiang and adapted to the local ethnic culture, resulting in cliff grottoes and Buddhist temple statues. In addition, brick carvings, wood carvings, plaster flower carvings used for architectural decoration, and Uighur bronze hollow carvings also have their own characteristics. . It is also used for embroidery and engraving on yurts, tents, clothing, tapestries, suitcases, saddles and other production and living utensils. The patterns have strong color contrast, are bright and eye-catching, and are full of grassland cultural atmosphere. Because Islam opposes idol worship, the patterns are mostly geometric deformations, plants, flowers, natural landscapes and other more abstract patterns. Among them, the traditional folk paper-cutting of the Han people in Shaanxi, Gansu and other provinces has a long history, is ancient and simple, and has profound cultural accumulation, while the paper-cutting of ethnic minorities is mainly concentrated in Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai regions. The earliest paper-cut work discovered in my country so far is the "folded sacrificial flower paper-cut" unearthed from the Ancient Northern Dynasty tombs in Astana, Turpan, Xinjiang in 1959.
