Homophony in the symbolic expression of Chinese folk paper-cutting art
The overall meaning of the auspicious patterns created by folk paper-cut artists is to "symbolize meaning, the words must be meaningful, and the meaning must be auspicious." Their allegorical techniques are implicit and full of profound meanings. The symbolic nature of paper-cut art is often expressed in a more subtle way. "The Chinese are a nation of reserved emotions and euphemisms. They don't like the straightforwardness and vulgarity of 'all-inclusive', but like the implicit beauty of 'the words are exhaustive but the meaning is endless' and the drunkards intention is not in the wine."
"A Smooth Road" Author
Most of the paper-cutting artists are working women, who are panicked about natural disasters and pray for good fortune and safety for their families. In addition, Chinese women themselves are shy, reserved, and have serious feudal ideas, so they can only use paper-cutting to express their inner longing for a better life and express their own blessings. Therefore, paper-cutting artists use implicit expression techniques to express their inner aspirations for an ideal life and their good wishes to ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters.
Author of "Qing Yun De Lu"
Chinese people’s folk customs of seeking good fortune and avoiding evil and yearning for a better life are often expressed through the artistic images of paper-cut patterns, and often use homophonic meanings. For example, the road (deer) goes smoothly (pear); the blue clouds (luck) bring success; the doll sits on a lotus with many seeds (seeds) and is blessed (bat). The word "bat" in the bat is a homophone to the word "福", etc., which are very popular among the people.
"Old Mans Picture" Gansu Wang Zigui
Homophony meaning is a method of using the homophony of Chinese characters to express auspicious meanings. It is the most common and commonly used expression technique in paper-cut art. When people are celebrating a happy and auspicious occasion, they often like to get some "kudos". Just like the polyphonic characters in Chinese, which have the same pronunciation but different meanings, these graphics are easy to understand.
"Deer and Crane Spring Together" Gansu Wang Xiulian
Homophony can be divided into absolute homophony and relative homophony. Absolutely homophonic, such as Lian (Lotus) Sheng (Sheng) Gui (Gui) Zi (Seed); Zao (Jujube) Li (chestnut) (Seed); Generations (Back) Seal (Bee) Hou (Monkey); Peace ( bottle saddle), octogenarian (cat butterfly), etc. Relative homophones include Fulu (gourd); Liuhe (deer and crane), Tongchun, lotus (harmony), Jixiang (sheep), etc.
"Liu Bai Bai Zi" Hohhot Han Chunxia
The meaning of homophony is divided into two types: clear harmony and dark harmony. It is a very common phenomenon in folk paper-cutting, which is used to express auspicious themes and profound implications. Mingxiong means that there is a direct internal connection between the object image and the given text, which is clear at a glance and can be directly felt by people. For example, a pomegranate with a hundred seeds (seeds) and a pomegranate with many seeds means that it has many descendants; good luck (rooster) means more than one (fish, wealth); good luck (bat) and longevity (money); happy eyebrows (plum blossoms), etc. All of the above can make the viewer directly appear in the mind after seeing the image.Auspicious language words.
"Brows with Joy" Laiwu Anonymous
Hidden harmony is a homophonic method that has no direct internal connection between the object image and the given text. It is a method of forced connection between the object and the given word for the purpose of auspicious language.
"Growing Old Together" Liao Guiying
For example, during the Chinese New Year, we eat rice dumplings wrapped in oranges (lucky); grasshoppers (brother) Qiuju, grasshopper and brother are homophonic, which means that men and women play together; and (lotus) bring good luck; chickens (lucky) peck cabbage ( Wealth); grow old together with (crab); the combination of cockscomb (official) flowers, crown on top of crown, has the auspicious meaning of "increasing official positions, official luck, and continuous promotion"; immediately become (bee) marquis (monkey); old age (Cat) (Cat) (Butterfly) Wealth; onions, water chestnuts, lychees, and the picture combined with the lotus root with airy characteristics, symbolizing the early birth of a noble son, and being smart (onions) and bright (Ling) Li (Li); good luck (chicken) (Xiang) Peace (甁); Everything goes well (Persimmon); The combination of persimmons, oranges and bottles means good luck; Ox stepping on (wealth) snake, good luck every year; Pigs trotter pattern, hoof and the inscription on the gold list The homophonic sound is also an auspicious symbol.
"Immediately Become a Marquis" Pan Changwang
