Gao Fenglian

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Gao Fenglian, Female, Han, from Yanchuan, Shaanxi, is a fourth-batch national representative bearer of Paper-cutting (Ⅶ-16). The tradition is documented in Yanchuan, Shaanxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Paper-cutting in Yanchuan, Shaanxi: Yanchuan paper cutting is widely used in local social life; festivals, weddings, and funerals could never do without paper cutting. Among the local people, paper cutting and housework are important ways for working women to display their talents. A local folk proverb says: 'When a daughter is born, she should be skillful — pomegranate and peony patterns cut offhand.'

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

She was appointed a research fellow in folk art creation by the Chinese National Academy of Arts. Influenced by her grandmother and mother, she began learning to cut floral and plant motifs at the age of ten, and from 1986 she devoted herself to paper-cutting as an art. Her cuttings come spontaneously and appear naturally formed; even when cutting a monumental work several metres long she works with complete assurance, wielding the scissors in bold strokes and completing it in one continuous effort. Her personal hardships and her resilient, optimistic character have poured ceaseless energy and spirit into her creation. Her forms are exaggerated and distorted, rugged and expansive, sumptuously decorative and strongly individual in style, and their content mostly reflects a primal, unadorned human understanding of life and of reproduction and increase. Within the documented technical tradition of Paper-cutting in Yanchuan, Shaanxi: Yanchuan paper cutting is a folk art created mainly by women, reflecting a great variety of social customs and family life. Its techniques of expression include the freehand (xieyi) and the realistic (xieshi) styles, which are often related to the character of the maker. Subjects covered by Yanchuan paper cutting include the images of deities and Buddhas, auspicious and festive themes, farm work, seasonal customs, human figures, stories, birds and beasts, spinning and weaving, landscapes and flowers, and reproduction and fertility. They are commonly presented in such forms as window flowers, wall flowers, ceiling flowers, lantern flowers, and ceremonial flowers, with simple compositions, tight structures, and clear distinctions between primary and secondary elements. The images depicted have a plain and simple modeling; their outer contours are either square or round, and the lines are thick and strong, which makes them easy to cut with scissors as well as convenient for pasting and copying. They possess a rugged, vigorous, and exuberant local style. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Gao Fenglian's large-scale works": Born in Yanchuan in 1936, Gao Fenglian began creating in 1986 and cuts boldly and without hesitation, even on works several metres long. "Soul of the Great River, three generations of cutting": Her three-generation exhibition Soul of the Great River was held at the National Art Museum, and over two hundred of her works entered public collections. "Window, wall, ceiling and ceremonial flowers": Its formats: window, wall, ceiling, lantern and ceremonial flowers, simple in image, tightly structured and clearly ranked. "Freehand and realistic approaches": Two approaches, freehand and realistic, often matching the maker's temperament; forms are plain, outlines square or round, lines thick for easy cutting and copying.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

Female, of Han ethnicity, born in February 1936 in Yanchuan County, Shaanxi Province, and died in January 2017. National representative bearer of paper-cutting (Yanchuan paper-cutting), a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. She received more than fifty major awards at home and abroad, and her work was shown at the National Art Museum of China in the exhibition Soul of the Great River: Three Generations of Paper-cutting by Gao Fenglian; more than two hundred of her paper-cuttings are held by the National Art Museum of China and other institutions.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Gao Fenglian · National Representative Bearer Archive