Paper-cutting · Chinese Craft Stories

01 · Historical Records

Xinbin Manchu Autonomous County is located in eastern Liaoning and is one of the birthplaces of the Qing dynasty; formerly known as Xingjing, it has a concentrated Manchu population. Local papercutting has a history of more than two hundred years to date; it has circulated with the Manchu shamanic beliefs and folk activities, and is used mostly for sacrifices, New Year and festivals, and life-cycle rituals.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Xinbin Manchu papercutting is popular within Xinbin Manchu Autonomous County, Liaoning Province, and has a history of more than two hundred years. It takes Manchu shamanic culture and folk activities as its main subjects of representation. Its content covers traditional beliefs, folk legends, mythological tales, local customs, life-cycle rituals, and flowers, birds, and insects, exuding a strong rustic flavor. Xinbin Manchu papercutting has concise forms, bold flowing lines, strong red-white contrast, and a strong sense of overall unity. The designs are often paired with Manchu script, so that image and text enrich each other, displaying distinct ethnic characteristics. In its making there is no drawing, sketching, or preliminary draft; everything relies on the artist's improvisation and is completed in one continuous motion. Sometimes, as needed, charcoal, cigarette butts, or incense sticks are used to burn out dots and lines to strengthen the expression. This improvisational technique has become a major characteristic of Xinbin papercutting. In addition, the hanging-string papercutting and three-dimensional composite papercutting unique to Xinbin are quite distinctive. Xinbin Manchu papercutting takes Manchu shamanic culture and folk activities as its main subjects; its content covers traditional beliefs, folk legends, mythological tales, local customs, life-cycle rituals, and flowers, birds, and insects, exuding a strong rustic flavor. Sometimes, as needed, charcoal, cigarette butts, or incense sticks are used to burn out dots and lines to strengthen the expression.

Thread-hung and three-dimensional composite cutting

Beyond flat work, Xinbin has thread-hung cuttings and three-dimensional composites that hang or layer cut shapes into depth.

Improvised cutting without drawing

Nothing is drawn or drafted: the cutter improvises in one continuous flow, often singing and telling old tales while cutting.

Point and line burning with charcoal and incense

Besides cutting, artists burn dots and lines with charcoal, cigarette ends or incense sticks, giving scorched edges that offset the red-and-white contrast.

Guan Shumei's many styles and materials

Born in 1956, Guan Shumei learned from her mother Jin Yazhen and works in many styles, depicting Manchu worship, fishing, hunting and archery in paper, leather, linen and birch bark.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Xinbin Manchu papercutting circulates widely in the towns and countryside of the county, transmitted mainly through family lineages of Manchu women, orally and by hand between mother and daughter and between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. The works come in many styles—monochrome, colored collage, hanging, three-dimensional composite, pine-torch smoked, and fire-tip branded—and besides paper, materials such as leather, linen, and birch bark are also used.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Xinbin Manchu papercutting is a witness to the developmental history and folk life of the Manchu people, possessing research value in folklore studies, art studies, and local history and culture, and is all the more precious. Guan Shumei (recorded in the official archives of an affiliated inheritor): Art name Guan Sumei. Female, Manchu ethnicity, born in June 1956, native of Xinbin Manchu Autonomous County, Liaoning Province. She began learning papercutting at the age of five or six, receiving the true transmission from her mother Jin Yazhen; her works have distinct Manchu characteristics. When cutting she does not draw, sketch, or prepare a draft, and she continues the traditional Manchu women's habit of cutting while singing and telling old tales. Her works are rich in type—three-dimensional composite, hanging, colored collage, pine-torch smoked, fire-tip branded, and other papercutting styles—with simple, distinctive forms. The content mostly depicts Manchu life such as sacrifices, fishing and hunting, and riding and archery, and besides paper, materials such as leather, linen, and birch bark are used. She has participated in papercutting exhibitions in various places and, in her hometown, has opened classes and taken on apprentices, transmitting the craft. Representative inheritor of the papercutting (Xinbin Manchu papercutting) project in the fourth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. The Xinbin Manchu Autonomous County Cultural Center is the protecting unit, responsible for the project's investigation, documentation, transmission, and promotion; Guan Shumei has opened classes and taken on apprentices in her hometown, transmitting the craft.

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 ↗