Paper-cutting · Chinese Craft Stories

01 · Historical Records

In the early 20th century, driven by artists such as Wang Laoshang, Wang Shouye and Zhou Yongming, the style of Yu County paper cutting became increasingly distinctive, breaking free of the general conventions of folk paper cutting and acquiring deeper cultural connotations.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Yu County is located in the northwest of Hebei Province and is famous for producing paper cutting. Through the joint research of paper-cutting artists including Liu Laobu, the creative tools were reformed: some patterned work shifted from cutting single sheets to batch engraving with knives, giving the Yu County paper-cutting craft a new improvement. Yu County paper cutting is a product of folk society and, even more, a portrayal of the lives of ordinary people. Its subject matter is wide-ranging and its patterns numerous, covering opera figures, opera masks, myths and legends, flowers, birds, fish and insects, domestic fowl and livestock, auspicious birds and beasts, and much besides. The knife work of Yu County paper cutting possesses both the bold, unadorned character of northern folk paper cutting and the delicate, refined style of southern paper cutting. Its colors are rich and strong and its contrasts sharp; it is highly decorative and richly folk in flavor, full of rhythmic charm, presenting an artistic appeal at once graceful and gorgeous, plain and splendid, and it is cherished far and wide. On the crowded stage of folk paper cutting with its many varieties, Yu County paper cutting stands apart through its full compositions, vivid forms, brilliant colors and distinctive craft. It is based mainly on yin carving (cutting the lines away), with yang carving (leaving the lines standing) as a complement; the two are combined, and multi-color dot-dyeing and painted tinting are applied, achieving an effect at once meticulous and lifelike, suited to both refined and popular tastes. The process steps of Yu County paper cutting include drafting, smoking the pattern, carving and dot-dyeing: first the design is drawn in ink lines and smoked onto thin paper with an oil lamp to leave a black outline pattern; then a knife is used to carve according to the pattern; finally a brush dipped in dyes applies the color layer by layer. Cutting and dyeing proceed separately, and a single work is often completed through the cooperation of several people — this is also why Yu County paper cutting can be produced in batches with such a great variety of designs.

Yin carving dominant, yang carving secondary

Yuxian paper-cutting is mainly negative carved with positive carving as a supplement, then coloured with multiple dyes.

The shift from single-sheet cutting to batch carving

Led by Liu Laobu, Yuxian craftsmen replaced single-sheet cutting with knives that carve a stack of sheets at once, raising both output and precision.

Wang Laoshang, Wang Shouye and Zhou Yongming

Early in the twentieth century Wang Laoshang, Wang Shouye and Zhou Yongming pushed Yuxian cutting beyond the common run of folk paper-cutting.

The 'reverse-pulled beard' technique

The inheritor Zhou Guang's 'reverse-pulled beard' method carves over forty opera-character beard strands on a very narrow sheet of xuan paper.

Opera masks, auspicious beasts, flowers and birds

Its subjects range from opera figures and masks to myths, flowers, birds, fish and auspicious beasts, rendered in strong, contrasting colours.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Yu County paper cutting is also called 'window flowers' (chuanghua). It is a traditional decorative folk art of the region with a history of more than two hundred years; its early patterns were mostly auspicious motifs such as flowers, and later it absorbed the artistic features of the Yangliuqing New Year paintings of Tianjin and the Wuqiang New Year paintings, forming a style of its own.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Zhou Zhaoming (recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, of the Han ethnic group, born in 1935, a native of Yu County, Hebei. By the age of thirteen, Zhou Zhaoming had mastered the full range of the craft; his technique matured with each passing day, and thereafter he continually drew nourishment from outside sources and pursued innovation, forming an artistic style of distinctive individuality. He created more than 2,600 works, with subjects including opera figures, Buddhist figures, flowers, birds, fish and insects, and opera masks; his patterns are novel, his knife work masterly and his dyeing bright. Representative inheritor of Paper Cutting (Yu County paper cutting), a project of the first batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage. Over the years he has trained more than fifty apprentices. Zhou Guang (recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, of the Han ethnic group, born in November 1955, a native of Yu County, Hebei Province. His original 'reverse-pulled mustache' (daola huzi) technique can carve and pull out more than forty mustaches of opera figures on a strip of xuan paper 1.8 cm wide; and on a face only 0.5 cm wide he can carve the eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth, with lively expression and true-to-life images. His major works include 'Riches and Honor: Peonies' and 'Zodiac of the Six Harmonies', among others. Representative inheritor of Paper Cutting (Yu County paper cutting), a project of the fourth batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage. In 2010, his work 'The Eight Immortals' won the gold prize at the China Paper Cutting Art Festival hosted by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and other bodies. The patterns of Yu County paper cutting include opera figures and masks as well as auspicious birds and beasts and flowers, birds, fish and insects, and are mostly used for pasting on window paper and walls and for New Year festival decoration. Locally, paper cutting is taught through family workshops; the protecting unit, the Yu County Cultural Center, is responsible for collecting materials and promoting the craft, and national-level representative inheritors such as Zhou Zhaoming have trained more than fifty apprentices over the years.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗