Paper-cutting · Chinese Craft Stories

01 · Historical Records

Shanghai papercutting appeared in the early 20th century, when it was used mostly as door banners (menjian), shoe flowers, and embroidery patterns. Over nearly a century of historical evolution, Shanghai papercutting has gradually formed its distinctive Shanghai-school (haipai) style.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Wang Zigan is a representative figure of Shanghai-school papercutting. Inheriting traditional techniques, he merged the boldness and expansiveness of northern papercutting with the delicacy and smoothness of southern papercutting, displaying an extremely strong artistic individuality. His works are concise and exaggerated, with strong decorative quality: flowers, birds, fish, and insects; flying fowl and running beasts; landscapes and scenery; figures and architecture—nothing is beyond their range. Another representative figure of Shanghai-school papercutting, Lin Ximing, struck out a different path, incorporating various painting elements into papercutting. The two representative figures learned from each other and improved together, promoting the development of Shanghai papercutting. Under the influence of the city's open culture, Shanghai papercutting has formed a Shanghai-school character combining the strengths of north and south: bold without being coarse, delicate without being stiff, attentive to formal beauty, and full of the flavor of life, occupying a unique position among the various papercutting traditions of China. Shanghai-school papercutting takes in both the boldness and expansiveness of northern papercutting and the delicacy and smoothness of southern papercutting. Its compositions are concise and exaggerated with strong decorative quality, attending to the rhythm and negative space of the picture; its subjects cover flowers, birds, fish, and insects; flying fowl and running beasts; landscapes and scenery; figures and architecture—nothing is beyond their range.

Haipai cutting and Wang Zigan

Wang Zigan, the leading figure of Haipai cutting, fused the boldness of northern work with the delicacy of southern work into a strong personal style.

Lin Ximing bringing in painting

Lin Ximing took another path, integrating painterly elements into cutting and, with Wang Zigan, advancing Shanghai paper-cutting.

Door tags, shoe flowers and embroidery patterns

Appearing in the early twentieth century, Shanghai cutting served as door tags, shoe flowers and embroidery patterns for the urban market.

Dimensional, creped and coloured cuttings

Xi Xiaoqin pushed for breakthroughs in materials and modelling, devising three-dimensional, creped and coloured cuttings with works such as Koala and Woodpecker.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Shanghai papercutting circulates mainly in the central urban districts of Xuhui, Huangpu, and Jing'an, and in suburban townships. In the early 20th century it was used mostly as door banners, shoe flowers, and embroidery patterns; later, through the promotion of Wang Zigan, Lin Ximing, and others, it gradually formed a Shanghai-school visage unique among the papercutting of China. The Fenglin Road Subdistrict Office of Xuhui District, Shanghai, is the protecting unit for this project.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

With the continuous deepening of the marketization of the urban economy, Shanghai papercutting has suffered the impact of modern industrial civilization and high technology; its transmission and development face a crisis, and protection is urgently needed. Xi Xiaoqin (recorded in the official archives of an affiliated inheritor): Female, Han ethnicity, born in March 1956, native of Shanghai. Senior arts-and-crafts artist, master of arts and crafts of Shanghai, and vice president of the Shanghai Papercutting Association. Her creative work emphasizes a sense of lived experience. Her works draw on flowers, birds, fish, and insects, figures and animals, or landscapes and scenery; the range of subjects is broad and full of the flavor of life. Representative works include "Tree Bear," "Sleeping Together," "Woodpecker," "Cat," "Song of the Four Seasons," "Rising Joint by Joint," and "Caidongli Cai." Representative inheritor of the papercutting (Shanghai papercutting) project in the fourth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. She strives for breakthroughs in material selection and formal treatment; the three-dimensional papercutting, wrinkled-paper papercutting, and colored papercutting she created are highly original and have won numerous awards. Xi Xiaoqin is a national-level representative inheritor of Shanghai papercutting and a senior arts-and-crafts artist. Her works draw on flowers, birds, fish, and insects, figures and animals, and landscapes and scenery, and she strives for breakthroughs in materials and forms, creating styles such as three-dimensional papercutting, wrinkled-paper papercutting, and colored papercutting.

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 ↗