Abstract symbols in Chinese folk paper-cutting

The art of paper-cutting has been circulated among the people for a long time and has been abstractly symbolized. It is accumulated and used by paper-cutting artists in long-term practical activities and gradually solidified into a conceptual substitute. As French scholar Roland Barthes said: "It is a social habit... It is the social part of language. Individuals can neither create it nor change it by themselves; it is fundamentally a collective contract.

Ernst Cassirer said: "Symbolic thinking and symbolic behavior are the most representative features of human life." Esthetician Susan Lange believes: "The use of symbolic thinking in art is the most representative feature of human life." The symbol of art is a metaphor, an image containing an open or hidden true meaning, while the artistic symbol is an ultimate image, an irrational and inexpressible image, an image that resorts to A direct intuitive image, an image full of emotion, life and personality, a living thing that appeals to feelings. Therefore it is also the birthplace of rational knowledge."

The symbolic nature of the graphic symbols in paper-cut patterns also has certain meanings and implications, and a special connotation can be understood from them. For example, during the creation process of paper-cutting artists, the concept of auspiciousness often determines the paper-cutting artists choice of auspicious symbols. Many common things carry the symbolic connotation of auspicious culture. For example, some plants and animals can express blessings of longevity and health, happiness and good fortune, and all the best, and they all contain profound national historical heritage.

The abstract symbol in paper-cutting is not only a conceptual symbol, but also an artistic symbol. "It is composed of the authors association of symbolic language with his own concepts and emotions in real situations." As an abstract symbol, it is an independent and complete visual symbol system formed through long-term accumulation. In the process of symbol formation, a certain symbolic connotation gradually emerges.

The implicit expression in paper-cutting is a major feature of our national culture. The symbolic connotation it reflects has far exceeded the value and significance of paper-cutting itself.It has profound cultural connotation.