Paper-cutting · Chinese Craft Stories

01 · Historical Records

Gaomi papercutting is transmitted in the area of Gaomi in Shandong Province and took shape during the Hongwu era of the Ming dynasty.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

In the early Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered a forced migration, and people from Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, Jiangxi and elsewhere moved into Gaomi. Folk artists among the migrants brought the different regional styles of papercutting to Gaomi; through a process of exchange and fusion, Gaomi papercutting gradually took shape — plain yet bold, with a strong epigraphic flavour — standing in a class of its own in China's papercutting art. Gaomi papercutting is used mainly to make window flowers, wall flowers, ceiling flowers, lantern flowers, door-way papercuts, wedding flowers, clothing patterns, shoe patterns and grave-offering flowers, among others. Its range of subjects is very broad: myths and legends, historical tales, opera figures, flowers, birds, grass and insects are all among its frequent subjects. Gaomi papercutting enjoys a high reputation at home and abroad, and its representative works have been collected by the National Art Museum of China and the Shandong Art Museum.

Copying by pinning and smoking

Gao Mi's chief means of transmission: a pattern pinned beneath several sheets to be cut in copy, or smoked onto paper to make a black master copy for further copying.

Window, wall, ceiling and costume flowers

Its main uses: window, wall, ceiling, lantern, doorway, wedding, costume, shoe and funerary flowers, with themes from myth, history, opera and nature.

Fan Zuoxin's freehand cutting

Gao Mi cutting is plain, bold and seal-like; Fan Zuoxin's work carries the flavour of Chinese freehand painting, and his Fu Shou Lu won first prize in the retrospective exhibition of the century of Chinese paper-cutting.

Publications and museum collections

Representative works entered the National Art Museum of China and the Shandong Art Museum, and several albums of Gao Mi patterns were published.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Gaomi papercutting is transmitted in the towns and countryside of Gaomi City, Shandong Province. Together with the local "puhui" ash-paint New Year prints and the clay sculpture of Niejiazhuang, it is known as one of the "Three Wonders of Gaomi"; the three share subjects and often appear within the same New Year market and system of home decoration. Gaomi papercutting is transmitted chiefly through the "ba yang" (holding the pattern) and "xun yang" (smoking the pattern) methods: the artist presses a cut pattern onto paper and smokes it black, or pins the pattern beneath the paper with thread and cuts following it, passing the art down from generation to generation through oral teaching and mental imprinting. Among the local papercutting families, the lineage of Fan Zuoxin is the most influential. Born in Gaomi City in February 1944, Fan came from a papercutting family and learned the craft from his mother in childhood. He has practised for more than fifty years, producing tens of thousands of works. His papercuts possess the flavour of the "xieyi" (freehand brushwork) of Chinese painting, revealing rhythm through contrast, and he is the author of Chinese Folk Papercuts of the Twelve Zodiac Animals.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Gaomi papercutting is transmitted chiefly through the "ba yang" and "xun yang" methods, passing down from generation to generation through oral teaching and mental imprinting. A number of collections devoted to Gaomi papercutting — including Treasures of the Local Land, Treasures of Folk Custom, Selected Masterpieces of Gaomi Folk Art, Chinese Folk Papercuts of the Twelve Zodiac Animals and The Papercuts of Qi Xiuhua — have been published and warmly received in all quarters. Fan Zuoxin (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in February 1944, native of Gaomi City, Shandong Province. Specially appointed researcher in folk-art creation at the Chinese National Academy of Arts. He came from a papercutting family and learned the craft from his mother from childhood. He has practised for more than fifty years, producing tens of thousands of works. His papercuts possess the flavour of the "xieyi" (freehand brushwork) of Chinese painting, revealing rhythm through contrast. He has taught and passed on the art in China on many occasions and has demonstrated it abroad, allowing more people to appreciate the enchanting charm of Gaomi papercutting. He is a representative inheritor of Papercutting (Gaomi Papercutting), an intangible cultural heritage project of the third national-level batch. He is the author of Chinese Folk Papercuts of the Twelve Zodiac Animals, and his work "Fortune, Longevity and Emolument" (Fushoulu) won first prize at the Chinese Papercutting Century Retrospective Exhibition organised by the China Folk Papercutting Research Association.

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 ↗