Lu Faliang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Lu Faliang, Male, Han, from Yueqing, Zhejiang, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Paper-cutting (Ⅶ-16). The tradition is documented in Yueqing, Zhejiang. Within the regional tradition and school record of Paper-cutting in Yueqing, Zhejiang: Yueqing City lies on the coast of southeastern Zhejiang Province. Yueqing fine-line carved paper is a unique art circulating locally, concentrated mainly in Siqian Village and Houheng Village of Xiangyang Town, Dongcai Village of Beibaixiang Town, and Lecheng Town, Liushi Town and Wengyang Town of Yueqing City. Yueqing fine-line carved paper is concentrated in Siqian Village and Houheng Village of Xiangyang Town, Dongcai Village of Beibaixiang Town, and Lecheng, Liushi, Wengyang and other places, with artists most densely concentrated in the two villages of Siqian and Houheng. Yueqing paper cutting originated in the local folk 'dragon-boat flowers' (longchuanhua), with a history of more than seven hundred years. According to the 'Yueqing County Gazetteer', during the Dade era of the Yuan dynasty, 'in the villages, music and song lasted until dawn; on the thoroughfares, colored paper was cut for all to enjoy, sharing joy with the people'.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Lu Faliang is anchored in the documented technical standards of Paper-cutting in Yueqing, Zhejiang. Within the documented technical tradition of Paper-cutting in Yueqing, Zhejiang: The 'cutting of colored paper' mentioned here is paper cutting. Every year on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, dragon-boat lantern processions are held in the countryside throughout Yueqing. Paper filigree dragon boats and fine-line carved paper are the basic craft and decorative means of the dragon-boat lanterns. In early times the fine-line carved paper on the dragon-boat lanterns consisted of purely geometric patterns; later it developed to include flowers and plants, birds and beasts, landscapes, opera figures and mythological stories, with representative works such as 'Nine Lions' and 'Octagonal Double Fish'. Yueqing fine-line carved paper has subtle, exquisite knife work, vigorous and forceful, with patterns as fine as hairs — meticulous but not cloying, slender but not cluttered — giving it very rich expressive power. Its most outstanding characteristic is fineness: in the early 'dragon-boat flower' carvings, the finest could cut 52 lines within a single square cun (about 3.3 cm) of paper, and a fine-line carved piece the size of a rice bowl would take more than ten days to complete — extremely laborious. The fine-line carved-paper technique enables all kinds of folk patterns and motifs to be rendered meticulously and richly on paper only a few centimeters square, which has earned Yueqing fine-line carved paper the title of 'representative of the Southern School of Chinese paper cutting'. The fine-line carved-paper technique is highly difficult and cannot be mastered in a short time; generally it takes several decades of carving practice before one can create exquisite works. In the past twenty-odd years, with the vigorous rise of light industry in Wenzhou, the production of Yueqing paper-cutting craftware has been affected and has declined; many people have abandoned the art for business, older artists are enfeebled by age, and there are few successors. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Dragon-boat flowers and the dragon-boat lantern": Leqing cutting grew out of dragon-boat flowers over seven centuries ago; on the fifteenth of the first lunar month dragon-boat lanterns paraded through the villages. "Fifty-two lines in a square inch": Its defining trait is fineness: the finest early examples held fifty-two lines within a square inch, and a bowl-sized piece took over ten days to carve. "Nine Lions and Double Fish in an Octagon": Early dragon-boat cuttings were pure geometric patterns; later came flowers, beasts, landscapes, opera figures and myths, with works such as Nine Lions and Double Fish. "The lineages of Lin Bangdong and Chen Yuhua": Modern inheritors include Lin Bangdong, Lin Shunkui, Chen Yuhua and Zheng Yuanxun; Lin Bangdong could carve over two thousand holes in a small square of paper.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Lu Faliang was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Paper-cutting, with Yueqing, Zhejiang as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Paper-cutting in Yueqing, Zhejiang: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2006 (batch 1), with Yueqing, Zhejiang as its declared area, and Yueqing Cultural Heritage Safeguarding 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. Lufaliang (Yueqing, Zhejiang) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Lufaliang · China ICH Official Archive