Paper-cutting · Chinese Craft Stories

01 · Historical Records

Xuzhou lies at the junction of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, and Anhui provinces and has long been known as a "thoroughfare of five provinces", where northern and southern cultures meet. Paper cutting has been passed down from generation to generation along with local customs such as New Year festivals, weddings, and other celebrations, retaining both the boldness and robustness of northern paper cutting and blending in the delicacy and refinement of southern paper cutting.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Xuzhou paper cutting is widely practiced in the counties, cities, and districts of Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province. Xuzhou, situated at the junction of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, and Anhui provinces, is a zone where northern and southern cultures blend, and has long been known as a "thoroughfare of five provinces". Shaped by this special geographic setting, Xuzhou paper cutting gathers the strengths of north and south: its works incorporate the boldness and robustness of northern paper cutting while blending the delicacy and refinement of southern paper cutting. Xuzhou paper cutting has two main styles. One, represented by Pizhou paper cutting, features compact compositions, a proper balance of density and openness, a rugged and robust structure, and an unadorned style; it favors deformation and exaggeration, giving it a bold and vigorous character. The other, represented by the paper cutting of Wu Guoben and Zhang Lijun in the urban districts of Xuzhou and that of Jing'an Town in Pei County, is characterized by an elegant and handsome style, fine and flowing lines, and exquisite delicacy. The subjects of Xuzhou paper cutting are extremely broad: figures ancient and modern, Daoist and Buddhist tales, operatic images, local customs, and animals and birds can all enter the scissors. Works on real life are especially prominent, with scenes of farming, animal husbandry, transport, and construction frequently appearing in the picture; the lines are simple and bright, full of the flavor of everyday life.

The bold Pizhou manner

The bold Pizhou manner is XuZhou cutting's main representative, excelling at everyday life and local custom in terse, bright lines.

Wang Guiying's remembered-imagery cutting

Born in 1941, Wang Guiying moved from window and shoe flowers to a plain, bold style of her own, cutting from memory without any draft.

Farming, breeding, transport and building subjects

Works on real life are especially varied, depicting ploughing, breeding, transport and building in simple, lively lines.

Wu Guoben, Zhang Lijun and Jing'an town

Wu Guoben and Zhang Lijun of the city and the cutters of Jing'an town in Pei county represent the fine, flowing counterpart to Pizhou's boldness.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Xuzhou paper cutting can be roughly divided into two stylistic lines. One, represented by Pizhou paper cutting, has compact compositions, a proper balance of density and openness, a rugged and robust structure, favors deformation and exaggeration, and appears bold and vigorous. The other, represented by the paper cutting of Wu Guoben and Zhang Lijun in the urban districts of Xuzhou and that of Jing'an Town in Pei County, is elegant and handsome, fine and flowing, and exquisitely delicate.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The bold and rugged Pizhou style is the principal representative of Xuzhou paper cutting. It excels at depicting local real life and folk customs, and its subjects are rich and varied: figures ancient and modern, Daoist and Buddhist tales, operatic images, local customs, and animals and birds can all be vividly represented. Among them, figure cuttings on themes of real life are especially colorful; works depicting productive scenes such as farming, animal husbandry, transport, and construction shape their images with simple and bright lines, preserve the pure character of primordial art, brim with a strong humanistic atmosphere, and possess very high artistic value. At present, with the spread of modern applied technology, mechanized production methods have appeared in Xuzhou paper cutting, and works that truly possess the traditional spirit are very few. The transmission of Xuzhou paper cutting faces a crisis, and it is necessary to formulate plans for its protection. Wang Guiying (associated inheritor, official archival record): Female, of the Han nationality, born in December 1941, from Xinyi, Jiangsu Province. Her earliest works were mostly window flowers and shoe flowers. Later she attended the paper-cutting training class held in Pi County (present-day Pizhou City), which broadened her horizons. Her paper-cutting skill improved greatly; building on the tradition, she gradually broke new ground, and her style tended toward the plain and bold, becoming one of her own. She never makes a preliminary sketch; relying on close observation and memorization of things, "when she closes her eyes it is as if before her eyes, and when her hand moves it falls beneath the scissors". Her representative works include Washing the Bed Sheet, Sketches of Rural Life, and Spring Plowing and Autumn Harvest. She is a representative inheritor of the paper cutting (Xuzhou paper cutting) project of national-level intangible cultural heritage, third batch. To promote the art of paper cutting, she has taken on pupils such as Yu Min and has voluntarily taught the skills of Xuzhou paper cutting to the paper-cutting interest classes of the local central primary school.

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 ↗