Paper-cutting · Chinese Craft Stories

01 · Historical Records

Meishan lies in the central-northern part of Hunan Province and was an important relay station in the southwesterly migration of ethnic minorities before the Song dynasty, giving rise to a Meishan culture that is predominantly Han in character while incorporating elements of minority ethnic cultures. Meishan paper cutting has a long history and was already widespread among the people in the Qing dynasty.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Meishan paper cutting is a traditional paper-cutting art that circulates mainly in the Meishan region of Hunan Province. Meishan paper cutting has two types: jianhua (cut-flower cutting) and cuohua (filed-flower cutting). Jianhua has a naive, simple, and unadorned style; it is made with scissors and locally produced red paper, and 4 to 6 layers can be cut at once. The works are mostly everyday items, including egg flowers, door-pendant paper, double-goose wedding window flowers, covered-bowl (gaiwan) flowers, and birthday flowers. Because their uses differ, the sizes of Meishan paper-cutting works vary considerably: the egg flowers that celebrate childbirth, for example, are less than five centimeters square, exquisite and delicate, while the door-pendant paper used at the New Year can be 138 centimeters long and 34 centimeters wide, grand and exuberant. Cuohua patterns are intricate and exquisite, and come in various forms — flat, three-dimensional, single-color, multi-color overprinted, and color-added. The tools and materials include camphor-wood pads, filing knives, and colored paper of various kinds, and as many as twenty-odd layers can be filed at once. Cuohua works mainly include Nuo dance masks, paper shadow-puppet bodies, and items used in folk rituals such as ceremonial robes, "flower houses," soul-guiding banners, fluttering papers for the mourning hall, and altar-door flags. In the Meishan region paper-cutting artists are called "flower craftsmen" (huajiang), and jianhua and cuohua each have their own groups of practitioners. Meishan paper cutting is rooted in Meishan culture and is widely applied in the various rites of life — birth, aging, illness, and death, weddings and funerals, and sacrifices. It reflects the ways of thinking, modes of behavior, spiritual pursuits, and thoughts and feelings of the people of the Meishan region, and is an important resource for the study of Meishan history and culture.

The two branches: cut and carved paper

Meishan paper-cutting has two branches: scissors-cut work on local red paper, four to six layers at a time, and knife-carved work on camphor pads and coloured paper, up to twenty layers.

Sizes of egg flowers and door strips

Sizes vary with use: a birth-egg flower is under five centimetres square, while the New Year door strip measures 138 by 34 centimetres.

Nuo masks and shadow-puppet figures

Carved work supplies Nuo dance masks and shadow-play figures, as well as ritual items such as soul garments, paper houses, guiding banners and altar flags.

The 'flower artisans' and family transmission

Paper-cutters are called 'flower artisans'; scissors work passed through the Xiang clan of Jiulong township, knife work through the Jiang clan of Yaotou village.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Today Meishan paper cutting is concentrated in Anhua County, Yiyang City, Hunan Province, and radiates out to the neighboring counties and cities. Anhua County lies in the northern section of the Xuefeng Mountains and the middle reaches of the Zi River, and formerly belonged to the old Meishan dong (cave-land) territory. The villages of Dongping, Xianxi, Jiulong, Lengshi, and other townships in the county still preserve the customs of cutting door-pendant paper at the New Year, cutting double-goose window flowers at weddings, and cutting egg flowers to celebrate births. Jianhua flourished in the Xiang family of Xiangjiaduan in Jiulong Township, and cuohua in the Jiang family of Yaotou Village in Xianxi Town; the craftsmen of the two families each guarded their own skill and did not pass it on to outsiders.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The traditional jianhua technique is transmitted mostly within families, chiefly by the Xiang family of Xiangjiaduan in Jiulong Township, Anhua County. The cuohua technique is transmitted through family inheritance or by apprenticing oneself to a master, chiefly by the Jiang family of Yaotou Village in Xianxi Town, Anhua County. Its forms are diverse and its style plain and simple, giving it high artistic and appreciative value. It contributes to local economic development, helps promote social harmony and stability and common prosperity, and has important socioeconomic value.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Paper-cutting (Yiyangshianhua, Hunan) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗