Paper-cutting · Chinese Craft Stories

01 · Historical Records

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, local people, in order to drive away evil and pray for blessings, pasted up door-paper strips, festive notes, and patterned papers, as well as images of auspicious children, the God of Longevity, the Eight Immortals, and Zhong Kui, and window flowers of flowers, birds, insects, and fish in every household at festivals. In addition, lanterns, dragon lanterns, and paper effigies also used paper materials, and the various decorative patterns were carved or cut with knives and scissors. In December 1993, Jintan was named a "home of paper carving" by the Ministry of Culture.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Jintan City, Jiangsu Province, lies in the watery region of the south of the Yangtze, with simple and honest folk customs. After long development, the craft of paper carving has been continually perfected, and has become widely popular among the people of Jintan, passed down from generation to generation with far-reaching influence. The craft of Jintan paper carving mainly consists of two skills: hand drawing and openwork carving. The works are made according to the rules and requirements of paper cutting, and the carving techniques draw on the strengths of many schools, producing both fine and even lines and clear, complete compositions and forms. Jintan paper-carving products come in flexible sizes with varied carving techniques, rich and delicate expression, and fine, lush compositions; from subject matter to artistic form, they all display a strong coloration of the era. The works of Jintan paper carving display a great variety of forms, constituting a beautiful genre painting of folk life in the south of the Yangtze, and forming an extremely valuable repository of specimens for the study of folk handicraft production. Jintan paper carving is a concrete embodiment of the intelligence and talent of the Chinese people; it plays a special role in promoting the cultural identity of the Chinese nation and strengthening cultural exchange at home and abroad. The craft of Jintan paper carving consists of hand drawing and openwork carving: a draft is first made, and then the openwork is carved with a knife. The carving techniques draw on the strengths of many schools, producing both fine and even lines and clear, complete compositions and forms. The products come in flexible sizes, from small bookmarks and greeting cards to large hanging screens and long scrolls.

The twin crafts of drawing and openwork carving

Jinke carving comprises hand drawing and openwork cutting, following the rules of paper-cutting for both fine lines and complete compositions.

Door, wedding and floral tags along with lanterns

From Ming-Qing times households pasted door, wedding and floral tags with figures of the Eight Immortals and Zhong Kui, while lanterns and paper effigies used cut ornament.

Yang Zhaoqun's universal rejoicing and galloping horses

Born in 1955, Yang Zhaoqun's carving is firm without, gentle within, with works such as Universal Rejoicing and Ten Thousand Galloping Horses.

The teaching of Xia Afeng, Jiang Zhaozhi and Zhang Jigen

Yang Zhaoqun was first taught by Xia Afeng, trained under Jiang Zhaozhi in the 1960s and advised by Zhang Jigen in the 1970s.

Over six hundred varieties

Through successive generations Jinke has accumulated more than six hundred varieties and tens of thousands of works, often winning prizes at home and abroad.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Jintan paper carving is transmitted in the towns and countryside of Jintan, Jiangsu, where folk customs are simple and honest; at festivals people paste up door-paper strips, festive notes, and patterned papers with images of auspicious children, the God of Longevity, the Eight Immortals, and Zhong Kui, while lanterns, dragon lanterns, and paper effigies also make extensive use of paper-carving patterns. In December 1993, Jintan was named a "home of paper carving" by the Ministry of Culture, and paper carving thereby became a representative local folk craft.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Through successive generations of transmission and development, Jintan paper carving has accumulated more than six hundred varieties and tens of thousands of works, which have repeatedly won prizes at exhibitions and competitions in China and abroad. At present the profits from Jintan paper-carving products are slim, and practitioners have changed jobs or moved elsewhere in large numbers; together with a lack of support funds, this leaves the whole paper-carving industry unable to achieve much in craft innovation or the training of new talent. With few inheritors, the craft is on the verge of extinction, its future is worrying, and it urgently needs protection. Yang Zhaoqun (associated inheritor, official archival record): Male, of the Han nationality, born in November 1955, from Jintan County, Jiangsu Province. In childhood he received his first instruction and influence from the paper-cutting artist Xia Afeng, imitating her in cutting shoe flowers and door-paper strips. In the 1960s he studied under the paper-cutting teacher Jiang Zhaozhi and acquired the basic skills of paper carving. In the 1970s he took part in the fine-arts creations of the county cultural center and received guidance from the famous paper-cutting artist Zhang Jigen. In 1975, his paper-carving work Going All Out for Great Change and Popularizing Dazhai County was selected for the Jiangsu peasant painting exhibition. His paper carving is characterized by an outwardly firm and inwardly soft quality, forceful cadence, fine knife work, and flowing lines. His works draw on a wide range of subjects, are highly original in conception, and combine traditional craft with modern popular styles in perfect unity. His representative works include Universal Celebration, The Goldfish Bowl, Big Red Lanterns, Songs and Dances of the East, and Ten Thousand Galloping Horses. The collaborative works Olympic Dream, Chinese Spirit and From Athens to Beijing are collected by the Beijing Olympic Committee and the National Art Museum of China respectively. He is a representative inheritor of the paper cutting (Jintan paper carving) project of national-level intangible cultural heritage, third batch.

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 ↗