Paper-cutting · Chinese Craft Stories

01 · Historical Records

Pujiang is one of the regions where paper cutting took hold earliest, not only in Zhejiang but in China as a whole. After the Qing dynasty began, local opera developed there to an unprecedented degree, giving rise to the distinctive Pujiang luantan. Under its influence, Pujiang paper cuttings of operatic figures with strong local color appeared, and through long development they formed a uniquely styled type of paper cutting: Pujiang paper cutting. Since the Republican era, the Pujiang paper-cutting field has produced more than a dozen representative figures, who have transmitted the craft in succession, and the techniques have been handed down to the present day. In 1993, the Ministry of Culture named Pujiang County a "home of Chinese folk (paper-cutting) art".

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Pujiang paper cutting has distinctive forms and varied techniques, employing both negative cutting and positive openwork, folding as well as color backing, all with original ingenuity. Its artistic style can be summed up in twenty characters: "fresh and beautiful, exquisite and gentle, rich in content, vivid in image, and ingenious in composition". Traditional Pujiang paper cutting covers a wide range of subjects, among which operatic figures are the most prominent; the works draw mostly on local operas such as Wuju (Jinhua opera) and Yueju, as well as on historical stories.

Pujiang luantan and opera-figure cutting

As local opera flourished in the Qing, Pujiang developed its own luantan, giving rise to opera-figure cutting of strong local colour.

Positive and negative cutting, folding and backing

Pujiang cutting combines positive and negative work with folding and backing, its style summed up as fresh, delicate, rich, vivid and inventive.

Wu Shanzeng and works such as Spring Fills the World

Born in 1932, Wu Shanzeng produced works including Spring Fills the World and Mr Dongguo, his cutting firm, spare and classical, especially in opera figures.

Wuju, Yueju and historical-story subjects

Its subjects are wide-ranging but opera figures dominate, drawn from Wuju and Yueju and from historical tales.

Named a hometown of Chinese folk paper-cutting in 1993

In 1993 the Ministry of Culture named Pujiang a hometown of Chinese folk paper-cutting; since the Republic over a dozen leading figures have carried it on.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Pujiang paper cutting has an elegant tone and beautiful patterns; it became all the rage in the Jiangnan region and gradually grew into an important stylistic school and typical representative of southern paper cutting. In Pujiang itself, talented paper cutters have emerged in large numbers, and the surviving body of work is rich, attracting attention from the world.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Pujiang paper cutting has a long history, a unique style, and vivid local color; it is not only a specimen for the study of Chinese paper cutting and Chinese opera, but also a living fossil of the development and evolution of Chinese traditional folk culture. With the changing times, Pujiang paper cutting is gradually dying out; at present, very few artists in the locality are still able to make it, and the transmission of the craft is beset with crisis. Strengthening the protection of Pujiang paper cutting has become a task of the utmost urgency. Wu Shanzeng (associated inheritor, official archival record): Male, of the Han nationality, born in October 1932, from Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province. From childhood he was influenced by his mother and developed a love for the art of paper cutting. While working at the Pujiang County Cultural Center, he conducted in-depth research into the art of paper cutting. After retiring he devoted himself to paper cutting, creating or participating in the creation of a large body of works including Spring Fills the World, Mr. Dongguo, and The Return of Hong Kong, which won gold and silver prizes at exhibitions in Zhejiang Province and nationwide on many occasions. His paper cutting is vigorous and concise, plain and elegant, emphasizing spirit and charm, and he is especially skilled at cuttings of operatic figures, with a distinctive local character. He has published papers such as The Forms of Expression of Pujiang Paper-Cutting Art and the monograph Chinese Pujiang Operatic Paper Cuttings. He has always been committed to transmitting and promoting the art of Pujiang paper cutting, lecturing in succession at primary and secondary schools in Pujiang, Jinhua, and Hangzhou, and at nearly one hundred institutions including Zhejiang University and Zhejiang Normal University, teaching the techniques of Pujiang paper cutting. He is a representative inheritor of the paper cutting (Pujiang paper cutting) 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 ↗