Liu Lianhua

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Liu Lianhua, Female, Han, from Tonglu, Zhejiang, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Paper-cutting (Ⅶ-16). The tradition is documented in Tonglu, Zhejiang. Within the regional tradition and school record of Paper-cutting in Tonglu, Zhejiang: The fashion for paper cutting is relatively strong in western Zhejiang Province, and Tonglu County is one of the representative areas; centered on Tonglu county town, it is distributed throughout the villages of the county. Tonglu paper cutting is directly continuous with local folk activities; people use paper cutting as a form of expression to convey their ideals and wishes. Paper cutting constitutes an inseparable part of folk life and has rich folk character and broad mass participation. Paper-cutting artists of successive generations continuously explored the laws of the local traditional art of paper cutting, enabling Tonglu paper cutting to be well preserved. According to documents of the Ming and Qing dynasties, paper cutting was prevalent among the people of Tonglu and was applied to local folk activities.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Liu Lianhua is anchored in the documented technical standards of Paper-cutting in Tonglu, Zhejiang. Within the documented technical tradition of Paper-cutting in Tonglu, Zhejiang: Tonglu paper cutting is a traditional folk art in which folk artists in Tonglu County, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, use scissors or carving knives to cut or carve various patterns of flowers, melons and fruits, figures, animals, and scenery on red report paper, maobian paper, wax-glossy paper, and xuan paper, for use in folk customs such as festival blessings, weddings, and funerals. In addition, there are folk records of every household cutting window flowers and pasting door-god images. According to research, the window flowers, door panels, and 'cow-leg' wood carvings on the ancient buildings of Shen'ao Village, Dipu Village, and other places in Tonglu County were all carved from paper-cutting templates. Paper-cutting artists use exquisite cutting techniques to produce various round bouquet flowers (tuanhua), with exquisite compositions combining thickness and fineness, embodying the character of Tonglu paper cutting: 'elegance revealed within fullness, exquisite and translucent, plain and elegant, reservedly splendid.' Tonglu paper cutting has rich folk character and broad mass participation, and it integrates practicality and ornamental value. Besides being used for window flowers, door pastings, and other traditional folk activities, it is also closely connected with local folk wood carving and still plays an important role in wood carving today. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Substance with refinement": Tonglu cutters produce round medallions of fine composition, coarse and fine strokes together, achieving substance with refinement, plainness with hidden richness. "Woodcarving and cutting templates in Shen'ao and Dipu": The window, door-panel and bracket carvings of Shen'ao and Dipu were carved from paper-cutting templates, the two crafts long sharing designs. "Red press paper, deckle-edged and glazed papers": With scissors or knife, flowers, fruit, figures, animals and landscapes are cut from red, deckle-edged, glazed and xuan papers for festivals and ceremonies. "Window, lantern and wedding flowers": Its common formats, used at festivals and family ceremonies and embodying the life of Jiangnan households.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Liu Lianhua was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Paper-cutting, with Tonglu, Zhejiang as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Paper-cutting in Tonglu, Zhejiang: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2014 (batch 4), with Tonglu, Zhejiang as its declared area, and Tonglu County Culture Development Center (Cultural Center, Feiyi Center) as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.

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. Liulianhua (Tonglu, Zhejiang) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Liulianhua · China ICH Official Archive