Folk paper-cutting and folk customs

The ancient traditional art of Chinese folk paper-cutting is rooted in the fertile soil of the people. It has been inherited and developed in Chinas agricultural society. It is an art style loved by the working people. Rural life, production characteristics and customs, as well as the economic and practicality of paper-cutting, have brought a lot of room for the form and development of folk paper-cutting. Folk customs and traditional customs have become the source of paper-cutting artistic creation. For example, New Year customs have produced window grilles, lanterns and doorsteps, wedding customs have produced happy flowers, and customs have produced cellar flowers, festive patterns, embroidery patterns and so on.

Chinese people’s folk custom concepts and pursuit of beauty are often expressed by looking for objects that can be used as metaphors in life. The "cuteness" of folk paper-cutting is precisely this clever use of expression techniques with homophonic and symbolic meanings. A series of folk paper-cuttings with homophonic sounds of auspicious words and metaphors of auspicious meanings have been formed, such as "more children, more blessings", "more blessings for many years", "five blessings and longevity", and "baby sitting on lotus".

Tian Xiaoming’s paper-cut work: "The Butterfly Lovers"

China’s endless folklore and mythological stories are the best creative themes for Chinese folk paper-cutting. Such as the touching and sad love stories "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", "Xu Xian and the White Snake", "Havoc in Heaven" challenging the royal power, "Hai Rui dismissed from office" showing justice and integrity, etc., we can see them from time to time to the screen. These paper-cuts on the themes of "love" and challenging "authority" and "justice" are very different from the literatis "worrying about the country and the people" and "yong plum blossoms and appreciating the moon". The yearning for a better life besides "blessing" and "more than every year".

Author: Zheng Weishan Guangdong Foreign LanguagesTeacher of Art Department of Art Vocational College