The origin of Chinese folk paper-cutting
Chinese paper-cutting art is an ancient handicraft art and a beautiful folk art in my country. It has a long history. However, in the research on the development history of Chinese traditional culture, the exploration of the origin of paper-cutting is relatively Difficult thing. The reason for the difficulty lies in its material characteristics. The paper is thin, fragile and difficult to preserve. It is also disposable and difficult to retain. Another reason is that most of our historical records are records of official history or mainstream culture. Disdainful of the craftsmanship of working women who were in the middle and lower classes at that time. Due to the dual reasons of material and prejudice, we lack both physical archaeological data and documentary data. Fortunately, a small number of ancient paper-cutting objects have been discovered in special environments such as Dunhuang and Xinjiang. Researchers have also discovered clues about paper-cutting from various documents and weaved together the scattered information. Finally, Chinese paper-cutting can be vaguely seen.
The origin of traditional Chinese paper-cutting can be traced back to before Cai Lun invented papermaking in the Eastern Han Dynasty. With the evolution of history and the improvement of economy, culture, technology and many other aspects, the folk paper-cutting art matured in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and became truly prosperous. It was after the mid-Qing Dynasty. Due to its "preciousness" in the early days of its invention, the art of paper-cutting first began to spread in the palace and the residences of scholar-bureaucrats, becoming the "favorite" of ladies. By the Tang and Song Dynasties, it had become very popular in various folk festivals; by the Yuan Dynasty, it had been spread to the Middle East and Europe; by the Ming and Qing Dynasties, its artistic works had been integrated with peoples daily life festivals. Of course, the earlier records in our country can be found in "Lus Spring and Autumn Annals": "King Cheng lived with Tang Shu Yu Yan, supported Wu Ye as a guide, and awarded Tang Shu Yu, saying, 'I will use this to make my daughter.' Uncle Yu was so happy that he told the Duke of Zhou... So he named his uncle Yu in the Jin Dynasty." "Historical Records of the Jin Family" also records this matter. This incident spread widely to later generations and was cited many times. In the end, "Jian Tong" was used as the code name for the enfeoffment. King Cheng is King Cheng of Zhou, and Shuyu is the son of King Wu. It was a matter of the Western Zhou Dynasty that Shu Yu was granted the title. The act of shaping leaves to imitate kyu is a plastic art that is close to paper-cutting. To this day, manual "paper tearing" still exists among the people as a variety of paper-cutting. therefore, it is not unfounded to say that the prototype of paper-cutting had already appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
In the Astana area of ??Turpan County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, five paper-cuts were unearthed from three tombs of the Northern and Southern Dynasties from 1959 to 1966. Due to the local dry climate, the paper-cuts from 1,500 years ago are well preserved. These paper-cut works are all cut using the origami method. Paper had not been popular for a long time at that time, but the degree of maturity of paper-cutting technology presented in "Dui Ma", "Tuan Hua" and "Double Monkey" is surprising. I believe they are not the earliest works and are the source of Chinese paper-cutting. Still have to move forward. The fact that ancient paper-cutting objects have been repeatedly unearthed from the ancient Western Regions along the Silk Road not only shows that Chinese paper-cutting was produced before the sixth century AD, but also reflects that the paper-cutting activity was widely popular in the Central Plains at that time and had spread to remote areas. In the Mainland, a batch of Tang Dynasty paper-cut works were discovered in an ancient tomb in Yuantongtou Village, Longxian County, Shaanxi Province. There were ten paper-cut works in total, all of which were affixed to the outer wall of a clay pot. They were floral patterns with diameters ranging from eight to ten centimeters. They were unearthed in a shape of White, then weathered, leaving only traces of the pattern.
This ancient handicraft art is very popular among the people. As a part of folk customs, paper-cut art is existing and developing with its tenacious vitality among the people. Today, its strong vitality has been greatly demonstrated. It is the industrious and dexterous hands from the lowest level of society of ordinary farmers who have composed a silent and beautiful chapter for the glorious development of our folk handicraft art.
