Paper-cutting · Chinese Craft Stories

01 · Historical Records

Zherong, which in former times belonged to Funing Prefecture, lies in the Taimu mountain region on the border between Fujian and Zhejiang. Paper cutting of the Central Plains was brought to eastern Fujian by southward migrants in successive dynasties; at first it was used mostly for sacrificial paper effigies, lantern decoration, and embroidery patterns, and only later was it widely turned to interior decoration such as window flowers and ceremonial flowers. In Zherong, paper cuttings are pasted up at weddings, birthdays, and a baby's one-month celebration; the patterns for embroidered shoe uppers, bed valances, and pillow ends also use paper cuttings as their base patterns. Paper cutting has thus become a fundamental skill in the needlework of local women and has built up a broad and solid popular base in both town and country. Zherong paper cutting belongs to the eastern Fujian paper-cutting group; it shares a common origin but different development with the folk flower cutting of the Fuding, Xiapu, and Fu'an area. Auspicious images such as dragons and phoenixes, pomegranates, peonies, flowers, and birds are still in use today on the doors, windows, and bed curtains of mountain village houses. Yuan Xiuying was born in Zherong County in July 1929. Influenced by her mother from childhood, she loved paper cutting; her works mostly use a flat compositional method of even, full-sheet spreading with images linked one to another, with little empty space in the picture and a strongly decorative character, giving them a rich regional flavor.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The art of paper cutting transmitted in Zherong County, Fujian Province, has a long history and a broad, solid popular base. Zherong paper cutting is primarily done with scissors; its tools are very simple — a pair of scissors, a sheet of red paper, and a woven basket are enough to create a work.

The full-field planar composition

Inheritor Yuan Xiuying's signature method: images strung together and spread evenly over the whole sheet, leaving little blank space and a strongly decorative effect.

One pair of scissors, one red sheet, one woven basket

Zherong cutting is done chiefly with scissors; no knife or wax pad is needed, the paper being folded and cut directly from a mental design.

Dragon and Phoenix, Four Joys, Hundred Harmonious Birds

Yuan Xiuying's representative works, exhibited and awarded, including a lifetime achievement award at the third International Paper-cutting Festival in 2007.

Zherong Cultural Centre's transmission work

The Zherong County Cultural Centre is the safeguarding unit for the project, and the inheritor Yuan Xiuying has long trained younger cutters.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

It preserves both the plain, artless, vigorous, and robust qualities of primitive art and an artistic style that is fine, archaic, beautiful, and gentle; at the same time it displays strong local characteristics and a distinctly folk national character, and is an important reference for the study of the history and art of southern Chinese paper cutting. Zherong paper cutting is widely transmitted in the towns and countryside of the locality; it is both a common decoration in folk activities such as weddings, birthdays, and a baby's one-month celebration, and a fine article for home decoration, tourism souvenirs, and collection or gift-giving, and has long been cherished by people from all walks of life at home and abroad.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The traditional folk activities of the Zherong region have been transmitted without decline over a long period, accumulating many ancient aesthetic concepts and modes of thinking. Zherong paper-cutting works clearly reveal these ancient cultural messages and possess extremely high aesthetic value and value for historical research. At present, as the cultural content of traditional folk customs fades day by day, the function of Zherong paper cutting is gradually weakening; coupled with the advanced age of its inheritors and the lack of successors, its survival and development face numerous difficulties. It urgently needs the attention of the relevant authorities and the formulation of measures for its excavation and protection. Yuan Xiuying (associated inheritor, official archival record): Female, of the Han nationality, born in July 1929, from Zherong County, Fujian Province. Influenced by her mother from childhood, she loved paper cutting. Her works mostly use a flat compositional method of even, full-sheet spreading with images linked one to another; the picture has little empty space and a strongly decorative character, giving it a rich regional flavor. She is a representative inheritor of the paper cutting (Zherong paper cutting) project of national-level intangible cultural heritage, third batch. Her representative works, including Dragon and Phoenix Bringing Auspiciousness, The Four Happinesses, and Hundred Birds in Harmony, have been exhibited at various exhibitions and won prizes; in 2007 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Third International Paper-Cutting Art Festival hosted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and other organizations. She has long been committed to training successors in Zherong paper cutting.

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 ↗