A brief history of Chinese folk paper-cutting

As one of the most widely circulated folk arts in China, paper-cutting has always been a popular art form among the people. In my country, the earliest record of paper-cutting comes from a story about "cutting a tung tree to confer a younger brother", which is recorded in "Historical Records of the Jin Family": "King Cheng lived with Tang Shu Yu Yan, and gave the tung leaf as a guide, and gave it to Tang Shu Yu, saying: 'Yu Yi This is your seal. "My uncle Yu was so happy that he told the Duke of Zhou... So I granted my title to my uncle Yu in Jin Dynasty." King Cheng of Zhou used sycamore leaves to cut into the shape of Gui, which is similar to the later "paper-cut" in expression techniques.

The history of paper-cutting in the true sense begins after Cai Lun invented paper in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The earliest paper-cutting works discovered in my country were from 1959 to 1966 in the Astana Tomb near the ancient silk route in Xinjiang, China. According to literature records, the five paper-cuts unearthed from the group were created during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The five paper-cuts are all radiant compositions with geometric patterns, animals, and flower boats as themes. They are folded and cut out. They are quite skilled in both cutting skills and composition forms, and have reached a high level of art. level. If we estimate from the emergence of the art form of paper-cutting, paper-cutting as a folk art has a history of more than 3,000 years.