Paper-cutting · Chinese Craft Stories

01 · Historical Records

In the mid-Qing dynasty, as Northeast China was opened for settlement, large numbers of immigrants from within the Passes poured into Heilongjiang, bringing many achievements of the folk culture of the Central Plains peoples. It was in this period that the papercutting craft was introduced to Fangzheng. In 1993, Fangzheng County was named a "Hometown of Chinese Folk Papercutting Art" by the Ministry of Culture.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, and especially since the reform and opening up, Fangzheng papercutting has developed further, and papercutting artists have emerged who both command traditional papercutting techniques and excel at expressing new life. Fangzheng papercutting combines the strengths of local traditions and outside arts, forming a bold, concise style rich in the characteristics of Northeast Chinese folk art. In its making it employs self-made papercutting tools, with distinctive techniques and an emphasis on decoration. Its subjects are diverse, its forms plain and charming, and its compositions elegant and graceful, providing a vivid example for research into the emergence and development of Northeast Chinese folk art.

The craft brought in by migrants after the Qing lifting of the ban

When the northeast was opened in the mid-Qing, migrants poured into Heilongjiang bringing Central Plains folk arts, and paper-cutting reached Fangzheng then.

Ni Xiumei and The Fragrance of Northeast Soybeans

Born in 1967, Ni Xiumei joined the county cutting workshop in 1982; her Fragrance of Northeast Soybeans won the Shanhua gold prize in 2004.

Home-made tools and an emphasis on ornament

Fangzheng cutting blends local and imported traditions into a bold, spare style, using home-made tools and stressing ornament.

Named a hometown of Chinese folk paper-cutting in 1993

In 1993 the Ministry of Culture named Fangzheng a hometown of Chinese folk paper-cutting, its cutters forming many schools.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Fangzheng papercutting is a distinctive kind of Northeast Chinese folk papercutting, popular in the area of Fangzheng County, Heilongjiang Province. Through the continuous efforts of local residents, Fangzheng papercutting has gradually formed regional characteristics different from those of Central Plains papercutting. Fangzheng papercutting is plain, pure, and beautiful, full of artistic charm; its papercutting artists have learned from many different schools, and a great variety of styles flourish.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

At present, the older local varieties of Fangzheng papercutting are on the verge of dying out. Papercutting artists outside family transmission have changed careers or migrated for reasons of livelihood, and forceful measures are urgently needed to ensure the continued transmission and development of this outstanding folk art. Ni Xiumei (recorded in the official archives of an affiliated inheritor): Female, Han ethnicity, born in May 1967, native of Fangzheng County, Heilongjiang Province. Influenced by her mother from childhood, she developed a deep love of papercutting. In 1982, she attended the county fine arts (papercutting) creative workshop, learning papercutting from the workshop's teachers and from local elderly folk artists. Representative inheritor of the papercutting (Fangzheng papercutting) project in the third national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. In 2004, her "Fragrance of Northeast Soybeans" series won the gold prize of the Shanhua Prize for Chinese Folk Literature and Art, jointly sponsored by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the China Folk Literature and Art Association. In 2013, she received the Chinese Papercutting Art Creative Achievement Award presented by the Papercutting Art Committee of the China Culture Promotion Society. Taking the rescue, protection, and development of Fangzheng papercutting as her mission, she has worked hard to train new talent, successively founding the Deshan Papercutting Art Training Center, the Songnan Township Papercutting Training Center, and the Fangzheng School for the Deaf Papercutting Training Center, with notable results.

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 ↗