Introduction to Manchu paper-cutting

As early as the Ming Dynasty, Manchu paper-cutting has become popular among the people. Although every household has a paper-cutting expert, the main practitioners of this type of paper-cutting are Manchu farm women, so it is called "Manchu paper-cutting". Paper cutting”. In todays Northeast and North China regions, we can still see many farmhouses pasting paper-cuts on door lintels and windows during the New Year and festivals to pray for peace and harmony.

According to social and historian research, the rise and popularity of Manchu paper-cutting are inseparable from the formation of its basic conditions. During the Tai Chi period of the Later Jin Dynasty, the Jurchens had already begun to make paper, which created the basic material basis for the subsequent emergence and development of Manchu paper-cutting.

Due to the simple materials and tools of Manchu paper-cutting, coupled with the influence of historical, geographical and ethnic factors, a style with strong own characteristics has been formed, which can be mainly divided into the following two aspects: First, the themes of Manchu paper-cutting are quite It is extensive and mainly records and depicts people, animals and folk life and customs; secondly, it has unique paper-cutting techniques that are different from other paper-cutting styles. Compared with the Han paper-cutting that we are more familiar with, its shape is clumsy and its cutting is rough.

It is precisely because of the Manchu folk culture and life background that Manchu paper-cutting is attached to that it has formed a folk paper-cutting art with unique artistic language and style that carries the splendid and rich culture of Changbai Mountain. After hundreds of years of inheritance and development, Manchu paper-cutting has become a folk skill with strong cultural influence at home and abroad.

Paper-cutting is an important part of Manchu traditional culture. The ingenious Manchu folk artists cut out the characters and scenery they saw, heard, and loved into works to decorate a happy and fulfilling life. Due to the worship of the God of Mammy, the Manchu paper-cutting produced "Mammy Ren'er", which is the representative work of Manchu paper-cutting; due to the worship of animal gods, "Dog", "Turtle", "Magpie", "Deer", " Paper-cuts such as "Eagle" are very common and are often posted on the wall as mascots. There are still many folk paper-cuts in the Changbai Mountain area, such as "Sacrifice to Ancestors", "Hanging Signs", "Wild Sacrifice", etc. The contents directly express the activities of national sacrifices and have become treasures that reflect Manchu customs and provide insight into Manchu culture. There are also many works that express natural features, production customs, seasonal customs, wedding and funeral customs and folklore, such asA series of paper-cuts such as "The stick beats the deer and the ladle scoops out the fish, and the pheasant flies into the rice pot"; such as "Jingyan", "Cradle" and other style paper-cuts that express the "Three Great Monsters of Guandong"... Manchu people are romantic, so Manchu people are romantic. Folk paper-cutting has also created a large number of fairy tales. "Ginseng Girl", "Hunting in the White Mountains", "Sisters in Disguise"...each story reflects the simple, kind, upright and innocent moral character of the Manchu people.