Distinguish paper-cuts according to raw materials

In a broad sense, paper-cutting is a folk art that uses cutting, engraving, engraving and other methods to create images on thin sheets of material. Paper-cutting has a long history in my country. Before the invention of papermaking, metal, leather, silk and other materials were often used for engraving: the hollow-cut engravings of leather from the Warring States Period were unearthed in Hubei; the hollow-cut engravings of silver foil from the Warring States Period were unearthed in Henan; and the hollow-cut patterns of silver foil unearthed in Shaanxi Hats made of leather materials cut into patterns in the Tang Dynasty; therefore, those folk crafts that exist among ethnic minorities in my country and are carved out of thin sheets of material other than paper also belong to the broad category of paper-cutting or can be classified according to some Scholars call it "non-paper cutting".

In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Zong Lin, a native of Jingzhou in the Liang Dynasty, recorded the customs of the Human Day Festival in Jingchu area: "The seventh day of the first lunar month is Human Day. Seven kinds of vegetables are used as soup, ribbons are cut for people, or gold foil is engraved. As a human being, I stick to the screen, wear hair on my hair, and create beautiful flowers to pass on to each other." It means that on this day, people use scissors and carving knives to cut and carve human figures on colored silk and thin metal sheets, paste them, wear them, and give each other gifts. Li Shangyin, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, included in his poem "Ren Ri": "The engraved gold works are used to spread the customs of Jing, and the ribbon-cutting brings the Jin style to people." This "Ren Sheng" is also engraved with gold foil and pasted on the screen to celebrate the first month. Seven Days of Peoples Day. It is enough to prove that paper-cutting also used thin non-paper materials in the early days. However, after the invention of papermaking, the Han people basically used paper as the raw material for paper-cutting, while ethnic minorities still have this tradition of using other thin materials to cut and engrave.