Protection of traditional folk paper-cutting in Yu County
With the development of commodity economy and changes in cultural concepts, the existence of paper-cutting in Yu County has also undergone new changes. As a modern craft commodity, Yuxian paper-cutting is still flourishing, but its folklore connotation is gradually weakening. Artists who make traditional Yuxian paper-cuts are rare, and the older generation of artists have died one after another.
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The values, spiritual beliefs, and lifestyles of the younger generation of artists have undergone fundamental changes, and the business of making traditional Yuxian paper-cuts has been ignored. In the past, Nanzhangzhuang produced traditional Yuxian paper-cuts with the most variety and the best quality, but now most of them are no longer made. Yuxian Paper-cutting Factory used to be the largest production and sales base for paper-cutting in Yuxian County. The production workers have now set up factories or are employed by other paper-cutting factories. Today, Yuxian Paper-cutting Factory is in name only. Every year during the "Little New Year", the markets in Yuxian City and Nuanquan Town still sell traditional Yuxian paper-cuts, but they are only products with simple patterns, single themes, and limited quantities.
Currently, Yuxian paper-cutting products are supplied to the Yuxian paper-cutting commodity market by individual and professional households. Their production methods tend to be gift-based, batch-based, and streamlined, gradually losing their original innocent and simple appearance, and becoming increasingly deviated from the original folk cultural connotation. Come farther and farther. The traditional shapes are reduced, and various themes and patterns are made according to the buyers requirements, and the specifications are no longer suitable for pasting on the windows, but are produced according to the specifications of decorations and souvenirs, becoming modern handicrafts that are tangible but not spiritual. Ornaments. Todays Yuxian paper-cutting, from pattern design to engraving and dyeing production, is exquisite and kitsch that tends to be ornamental, in order to adapt to market needs and obtain higher commercial returns. Therefore, the productive protection of Yuxian paper-cutting is the survival problem of traditional Yuxian paper-cutting products and its traditional handicrafts. This is also a problem encountered by many other traditional handicrafts now.
