An overview of folk paper-cutting in the Yellow River Basin
A considerable part of the folk paper-cuttings in the Yellow River Basin are from the perspective of human beings, using ordinary elements to seek happiness in an invisible way. This kind of theme is reflected in the folk paper-cutting in northern Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei and other regions. Graphics such as "snake coiled around a rabbit" and "eagle chasing a rabbit" are common theme patterns in the Yellow River Basin. Such patterns inherit the Chinese nations yin and yang philosophy and the concept of fertility worship.
It is said that men and women whose zodiac signs are snake and rabbit are the most happy. There is a folk saying: "A snake coiled around a rabbit will definitely make you rich", "Put it on a snake coiled around a rabbit and plant a money tree." So people used these two animals in traditional Characteristics in folk customs, in the form of a graphic combination of snakes and rabbits, express love for men and women, a happy life and implicit appeals; the pig is one of the twelve zodiac animals and is also the animal most closely associated with farm life. Since "pig" and "zhu" are homophonic, "everything goes well" symbolizes prosperity and wealth of the family. A series of similar words such as "fat pig arch", fat pig carrying money tree, cornucopia or "bumpy grain harvest" grain farm, etc. use animals and plants to express abundance. Recreational graphics frequently appear in northern paper-cut works.
The paper-cutting in Henan area has the common characteristics of folk paper-cutting in the Yellow River Basin. Most of the themes are expected to be supernatural communication between humans and "gods". However, when looking for ways of expression, there are many kinds of them that are unique to the regional culture. Metaphorical means of inclusion. The theme patterns of Henan folk paper-cutting mostly use common things in life to form allegorical graphic forms through homophony, symbolism and other techniques.
The image representation of "lion dance" in Henan paper-cutting is the lion dance activity, but the folk connotation is that lion dance is a metaphor for "the reproduction of offspring". The sexual characteristics of the lion dancer are male, and the "double hydrangea" dance symbolizes the males high spirits. It is an act of "praying for a child" in the folk activities of the Central Plains. Here, the human instinct for reproductionConsciousness has been included in the "Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues" and the feudal ethical norms of "Three cardinal principles and five constant principles, and the greatest is having no offspring". Once this kind of thinking norm is displayed in graphic form, it can be easily understood, recognized and disseminated by regional groups. The combination of paper-cut graphic connotations most commonly used in wedding celebrations in Henan conveys peoples semantic hope of "happy marriage, "mandarin ducks playing with lotus flowers", and special longevity together through the forms of animals and plants."
Compared with the patterns on folk paper-cuts in remote areas such as Yunnan, Guizhou, Shaanxi and Gansu, the paper-cut window grilles in Henan seem to have gone beyond early humans' simple worship of illusory animal spirits or intuitive "reproductive totems" and entered into a new era. Feudal society was a period in which the theocracy of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism was restricted by ethical thinking. In a sense, Henan paper-cutting in the Yellow River Basin has gradually broken through the small space of regional culture and entered the large space of modern culture.
