The content and meaning of a complete collection of Chinese folk paper-cut patterns
The contents of the Chinese Paper-cut Pattern Collection are truly colorful and all-encompassing. There are classic and historical stories, myths and folk tales, opera novels, poems and prose, folk songs and nursery rhymes, idioms and proverbs, customs and relationships, real life, flowers, birds, fish and insects, cultural relics and texts, etc. The most distinctive features are the window grilles and patterns. The theme of window grilles symbolizes loyalty, filial piety, justice, exorcism and evil, and the patterns are mostly for happiness, wealth, longevity and good luck. Chinese paper-cutting adopts a "meaningful" expression method for the subject matter, with the main themes of Naji, blessing, praying, eliminating evil, exhorting, and warning. If there is a profound meaning, the meaning of a word cannot be expressed, or it is difficult to express a scene, we can use methods such as "false objects to illustrate things" or "borrowing sounds to explain the meaning", for example:
① Fake objects as metaphors:
Characters: Heavenly official blessing, Magu offering longevity, Guanyin sending children, Zhong Kui warding off evil spirits, Goddess scattering flowers, Emperor Gaozu killing snakes, Zhou Chu getting rid of harm, Qingyun rising (two boys flying kites);
Animals: dragons and phoenixes showing good fortune, flying dragons and phoenixes, turtles and cranes prolonging life, auspiciousness approaching, phoenixes mingling in the morning, heroes succeeding (an eagle holds a flower branch), happy birds in the screen (a peacock opens its tail in the middle, and magpies fly on both sides);
Numbers: Yipin Dangchao (red-crowned crane standing in front of the tide), two dragons playing with pearls, three Yangs prospering, four seasons of good fortune, five blessings coming to the door, six springs together (deer, crane and periwinkle), seven fragrant gardens (lilies, narcissus) , plum, osmanthus, chrysanthemum, jasmine, gardenia), eight treasures (conch, dharma wheel, umbrella, white cover, lotus, vase, goldfish, panchang), Jiuding Xianning, perfect wealth (ten ancient coins , a peony), a happy union for a hundred years (a lily with a treasure box), a thousand years of peace (a tube of lottery with the flag of "peace in the world"), eternal glory (vines wrapped around the hibiscus);
Cultural relics: Zhongding Family, Crown and Belt of Glory, Sanyuan and Di (three ingots or three ancient coins), Eight Immortals offering auspiciousness (eight kinds of magic tools of the Eight Immortals), attracting wealth;
Text: Use repeated words;
② Borrowing sounds to clarify meanings:
animal:Bat (luck), deer (luck), ribbon bird (longevity), magpie (joy), elephant (auspicious), chicken (auspicious), sheep (yang or auspicious), cat (old), butterfly (old), goldfish ( Gold and jade), crane (here), carp (profit), bee (feng), monkey (hou), grasshopper (guan'er), double happiness and longevity (two bats fly to the ribbon bird), old age and wealth (cat) , butterflies, peonies), a house full of gold and jade (goldfish swimming in the water);
Plants: Chrysanthemum (lift or live), lotus (connected), lotus (joint or box), plum (standing or box), osmanthus (noble), Dieffenbachia (ten thousand years), jujube (morning), bamboo (blessing), water chestnut (ling) ), hibiscus (prosperity), peony (wealth), early birth of noble son (jujube, osmanthus, chestnut, or osmanthus, sheng);
Cultural relics: Ruyi (ruyi), double money (shuangquan), Baijie (baiji), pen mirror (after all), pen ingot (sure), halberd (and), saddle (an), crown and belt spread (crown, jade belt, Boat and pomegranate), good luck (halberd and fish-shaped chime). It can be seen that the subject matter of Chinese paper-cutting is very wide and the scope is large.
