Chinese folk paper-cutting as a meaningful tradition
After paper-cutting was discovered by intellectuals as a daily use, experts in the art field also began to explore the decorative interest, art and practical life of folk paper-cutting, including modeling, color, composition, techniques, etc. In particular, there are many discussions on the artistic characteristics, and in comparison with other folk arts, the issue of the artistic modeling system of folk paper-cutting is raised. After studying the scope of use and pattern characteristics of folk paper-cutting in combination with specific regions and ethnic groups, researchers gradually formed a positioning judgment on the folk culture represented by paper-cutting: paper-cutting is regarded as part of the excellent folk culture of the Chinese nation created by the ancient working people. , the crystallization of ancient culture, the mother art, has incorporated paper-cutting into the orbit of traditional culture.
In the view of Raylnond.Williams, tradition is a dynamic influencing force. In terms of practice, tradition is the most obvious dominant and dominant pressure and restriction. Tradition is not a lifeless historical fragment; in fact, it is the most powerful form of practical cooperation. What we are looking at is not just a "tradition" but a "selective tradition": one that intentionally and selectively influences the past and shapes the present, thus powerfully influencing social and cultural definitions and identities. process. Each state tradition is regarded as a concept with active power, that is, in the process of modernization, the content of tradition is not static. This point is expressed more clearly in Hobsbawm. Those "traditions" that appear or claim to be ancient often originate quite recently, and sometimes they are even invented. In this invention, political promotion, cultural quackery and commercial activities all played an extremely important role. As for paper-cutting specifically, it has gradually become an object of academic research since the early 20th century. As researchers capture and arrange its related history and present huge historical continuity, the traditionalization process of paper-cutting has become increasingly clear.
In the research on paper-cutting, the history of paper-cutting, related techniques, materials, tools, custom development and other aspects have attracted the attention of researchers. Zhang Daoyi believes that “Historically, the emergence and development of paper-cutting have not beenis isolated. As far as existing information is known, it itself has lasted for about 1,500 years. Before paper-cutting, there was the craft of engraving gold foil and leather; after paper-cutting, there were carvings on wooden boards, cutting silk, pulling out leaves, etc., which were transformed into decorative arts such as shadow puppets, printing and dyeing, and ceramics. "According to Chen Jings research, the origin of paper folk paper-cutting should be the Wei and Jin Dynasties. In the newly published book "History of Chinese Folk Paper-cutting", paper-cutting is divided into the following categories according to historical periods: The gestation of folk paper-cutting period (primitive society - Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties), the generation period of folk paper-cutting (Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States - Qin and Han Dynasties), the evolution period of folk paper-cutting (Wei, Jin - Southern and Northern Dynasties), the popularization period of folk paper-cutting (Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties), and the development of folk paper-cutting period (Song, Liao and Yuan), the heyday of folk paper-cutting (Ming and Qing), and the decline of folk paper-cutting (late Qing and 1949). Classify and trace the changes in paper-cutting in each historical period from four aspects: festivals, beliefs, life, and etiquette. Development process.
When judging the relationship between paper-cutting and traditional culture, we usually examine it from the perspective of class. Collective concepts such as the people, folk, and working people are also often referred to. "Paper-cutting and window grilles are both folk arts created by working people and have achieved high achievements. Just because they are folk arts, they are not noticed by the intellectuals of the scholar-bureaucrat class in the old society, and are rarely mentioned in the records in books. It." Curran Dundes believed that the theory of the 19th century focused on reconstructing the past. Use those remnants to illustrate things that existed in the past, use text or imagination to fill the gaps between stages, and create an evolutionary history. If the history of cultural development was studied in the past by studying residues, in modern times it has been replaced by the terms traditional culture and national culture to replace the concept of residues...Creating culture within a modern nation-state The evolutionary schema is a hidden way for different classes within the country, especially the cultural class, to express their political ambitions. As the countrys political environment changes, the peasant class that was previously transformed and liberated has become a class that needs to express its cultural characteristics. From a diachronic perspective, researchers linked the content of paper-cutting with the vast historical time and space for analysis, and incorporated paper-cutting into the category of traditional culture. In this sense, paper-cutting has transformed from a "relic" of past social life into a "crystallization" of culture. It can be seen that the specific content of daily life is cancelled, and specific meanings and practices are selected according to the grand historical and cultural context, while other meanings and practices are ignored or excluded. However, within certain hegemonies, as a decisive process, the entire selection is often successfully presented in the form of a "tradition," a "meaningful past." In the process of historical selection and combination of paper-cutting, the relationship between paper-cutting and ancient culture and traditional culture was selected and expressed emphatically, becoming ""A meaningful past"; and those selected pasts may have multiple meanings to the people living in them; but to researchers, they are a homogeneous continuum spanning ancient and modern times. The existence of meaning, they represent tradition. Considering the time when paper-cutting gradually disappeared from peoples daily life after the 1980s, researchers have used diachronic research to shape the paper-cutting group, and their efforts to extend the time and space from modern times to ancient times, along with With this effort, paper-cutting has gradually been traditionalized and become a meaningful past that carries national and national culture.
As a daily life phenomenon, paper-cutting was discovered by intellectuals through a specific "aesthetic vision" in a specific era. This process itself is accompanied by the process of researchers understanding themselves, judging and concretizing social structures. As the history of paper-cutting is traced or constructed, researchers focus on giving paper-cutting the meaning of traditional culture and ancient culture. Through such construction, the selection and shaping process of paper-cutting tradition is completed; gradually from a spontaneous state Transform into national, folk, simple, traditional, ancient, Chinese culture, and far-reaching culture and become a selected tradition.
