Chapter 10 Section 2 Paper-cutting

Paper-cutting is the art of cutting paper with scissors into flowers, birds, animals, characters or other patterns, and it also includes engraved paper carved with a knife.Paper-cutting is very popular in the vast rural areas of our country.It is the pattern of embroidery, and it is also an artistic decoration representing festivals and festivals. Therefore, rural women generally start learning paper-cutting at the age of six or seven.It can be said that paper-cutting is the most common and purest artistic creation in rural my country. The origin of Chinese paper-cut is very early.It is said that when Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty died, his favorite concubine Mrs. Li died. In order for Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to see Mrs. Li again, Li Shaoweng asked Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to sit in the curtain and watch him perform "alchemy".Sure enough, after a while, Mrs. Li's beautiful figure appeared in the curtain hung by Li Shaoweng's bright lamp, sitting and walking, and Emperor Wu was very sad.In fact, Li Shaoweng's "alchemy" is likely to use leather or other flat materials to carve a portrait of Mrs. Li, which is similar to performing shadow puppetry today.The Warring States Tombs in Guwei Village, Huixian County, Henan Province unearthed silver foil with flower arcs and shallow swirls similar to the art of paper-cutting. A group of tigers, elephants, monsters, birds and clouds were also unearthed in the Han Tomb on the south side of the Maoling Mausoleum of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in Xingping, Shaanxi Patterned paper-cut gold foil.Therefore, it is very possible that shadow puppet-like "paper-cutting" appeared in the Qin and Han Dynasties.

During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the development of religious activities and folk activities promoted the rise of paper-cutting.According to records, during the Eastern Jin Dynasty, on the day of Buddha's Nirvana (niepan Nie Pan), folks cut grass and flowers to offer Buddha; on the 15th day of the Yulan Basin on July 15, Buddhists also often cut ribbons (silk fabrics) for flowers and leaves as a gift to the Buddha. Decorate to attract good men and women, this is the harbinger of our country's folk paper-cutting craft.According to records in "Jingchu Sui Shi Ji" written by Liang Zongmo of the Southern Dynasty, a custom of "carving gold and cutting ribbons" was popular in the Jingchu area in southern my country (now Hubei and Hunan).Every man's day (the seventh day of the first lunar month), every family "cuts the ribbon for a person, or engraves (carves) gold foil for a person, sticks a screen, and also wears it on the temples; Legacy (gift)". "On the first day of spring, I learned to cut ribbons for swallows to wear, and paste the word Yichun." These folk customs prompted paper-cuts to come to the people, because ordinary people can't afford "color" and "foil", so they can only use paper instead.The earliest Chinese paper-cut works we have discovered so far are from the Southern and Northern Dynasties. From 1959 to 1966, Chinese archaeologists discovered five paper-cuts of tuanhua in the tombs of the Southern and Northern Dynasties in Turpan, Xinjiang.These paper-cuts are made by folding paper several times and cutting it with scissors.Three of them are geometric-shaped clusters of flowers (octagonal, honeysuckle, and chrysanthemum) that are even on all sides, with complex changes and a sense of rhythm.The other two are the horse (or deer) group flowers and the monkey group flowers. Outside the inner circle of the geometric shape of the group flowers, 12 opposing horses and 16 opposing monkeys are cut out respectively. The shapes are very complicated and vivid (Fig. 25).Such exquisite paper-cuts did not appear all at once, and there may have been a long development process before that, but paper-based things are not easy to preserve, and paper-cuts earlier than it are difficult to find.

After the Tang Dynasty, the custom of "carving gold and cutting ribbons" was still prevalent.Every spring, people cut out all kinds of "fans" (small streamers cut from silk fabrics, also called spring banners), "sheng" (a kind of jewelry for women. The ones in human shape are called "rensheng", and the ones in geometric shape It is called "Fang Sheng"), some are like swallows, some are like butterflies, as festival gifts, or hairpin [zan 糌] on the head, or tied to the screen to celebrate.Li Shangyin, a famous poet, reflected this custom of "carving gold and cutting ribbons" with a poem "Carving out gold to spread the customs of Jing, and cutting the ribbon to inspire the people of Jin Dynasty".Now Japan's Shosoin still retains the "Huasheng" objects of the Tang Dynasty.This is a small flag-like ornament made of Luo and gold foil, with auspicious words on it: "Good morning for festivals, blessings are new, Xie and Wanzai, longevity and spring" (meaning celebrating the festival, wishing people a better New Year more happiness and festivities, long life forever), in the center is a pattern of a child playing with a dog in the forest, with complex decorations of gold leaf and red and green flowers and leaves underneath.Naturally, this kind of luxurious Huasheng ribbon-cutting is undoubtedly used by noble scholars and bureaucrats.Working people can't afford expensive color and gold leaf, so they can only replace it with paper-cut flowers.In the 1960s, a piece of paper-cut was unearthed from the Tomb of Tang Dynasty in Astana, Turpan, Xinjiang.Therefore, it is conceivable that while the aristocratic scholar-officials "carved gold and ribbon-cutting", the majority of working people developed paper-cut flowers, or in other words, paper-cutting is the popularization and popularization of "carving gold and ribbon-cutting".According to literature records, in the Five Dynasties, paper-cutting in some scenes in Qiantang has replaced silk. "Wulin Fanzhi": "On the auspicious day of King Qian of Wuyue..., hundreds of households outside the city did not hang brocades, and they all used colored paper to cut people and horses instead." This is the earliest record of paper-cutting in ancient my country.

During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, with the prosperity of the handicraft industry and commerce, the art of paper-cutting entered a period of vigorous development.In the paper-cutting activities at that time, in addition to Lichun, Man's Day, New Year's Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Qixi Festival, and Chongyang Festival, "Chunfan Chunsheng" and "Chai Tou Caisheng" were also cut to make mugwort leaves, flowers, fairy Buddha, happy characters, shadows, insects and fish. The shapes of animals, birds, and beasts are hung on hairpins for safety, or displayed to "struggle with skill and wonder".At that time, "small brokerages" (small handicrafts) specializing in paper-cut business had appeared in some cities. In addition to paper-cutting as festival banners, urban residents also used paper-cutting as gift embellishment. Jizhou kiln ceramic decals) are also mostly made of paper-cut.Even the folks suffer from long rains and not clear, and they also cut paper as the image of a woman holding a broom to pray for sunshine, which is called "Sweeping Lady".These facts show that with the popularization and popularization of paper-cutting art, paper-cutting craft is more and more widely used among folks, which is the basis for the development of paper-cutting art later.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the art of paper-cutting was highly developed among the people.During this period, the custom of "carved gold and ribbon-cutting" handed down from the Southern and Northern Dynasties was abolished, and replaced by the popularization of extensive mass folk craft paper-cutting.According to statistics, there were at least the following varieties of folk paper-cuts in the Qing Dynasty: Window grilles are paper-cuts pasted on windows.It is mostly used during the Spring Festival and auspicious days.The style is generally group flowers in the middle, corner flowers at the four corners or matching stickers, and the themes are mostly flowers, birds and animals, auspicious words or opera stories (Figure 26).

Wall flowers are paper-cuts pasted on the wall of the kang or the stove, also known as "wall flowers" and "stove flowers".Generally large in size, the themes are mainly opera stories, folk tales, and auspicious words. Ceiling flowers are flowers attached to the roof shed.This kind of paper-cut is generally large-scale flowers or geometric patterns, with folded and cut group flowers in the middle and triangular corner flowers at the four corners. It is mostly used for decorating wedding and new houses.The Kunning Palace of the Forbidden City in Beijing is the new house where the emperors of the Qing Dynasty got married. There are black dragon and phoenix paper-cuts on the ceiling, which are still preserved.

Door paper, also known as hanging paper, or door color in ancient times, is a paper-cut evolved from banners.The door paper is mostly like a hollow pennant, with a row of tassels on the bottom and hanging on the lintel on the top.The door paper patterns are mostly geometric patterns with auspicious words (such as "Peace in Four Seasons", "More than Every Year", "Deer and Crane in the same Spring", "Double Happiness", "Hongxi", "Zengfu"). It is used together with Spring Festival couplets during the Spring Festival. Festive flowers include "happy flowers", "firework flowers", "offering flowers", "candlestick flowers" ("hanging money in front of Buddha"), etc. "Happy flowers", also known as "dowry flowers", are used to decorate dowry, box kitchens, bedding, etc. during weddings. "Flower offerings" are the decorations on the offerings during sacrifices. "Candlestick flowers" were originally lottery money used to ward off evil spirits, and later developed into long strips of paper-cuts hung in front of the Buddha with auspicious words or characters of the Eight Immortals.Festive flowers are mostly in the shape of geometric or fruit utensils (such as peaches, pomegranates, vases, silver ingots, ruyi, etc.), and generally have the meaning of auspiciousness or blessing. "Fireworks" are often shaped with gifts.Paper-cuts belonging to this category also include funeral banners, spirit plaque flowers, coffin cover flowers, etc., and the contents are mostly patterns symbolizing wealth and auspiciousness.

Lantern flowers, which existed in the Song Dynasty, are paper-cuts pasted on lantern paper or decorated on gauze lanterns and revolving horse lanterns.Themes are varied and symmetrical.Most of the revolving lantern flowers are historical and opera figures, the main part is a plot pattern, and the other parts are decorated with riddles or flower patterns.Most of the depictions of lantern flowers are themes of praying for safety and wishing for a harmonious life.The paper-cuts of farmhouse lanterns mostly have the content of good weather and good harvest. Shoe flower, pillow flower, sleeve flower, suspender flower, apron flower, beanie flower, pouch flower are mostly paper-cut patterns for decorative embroidery on shoe uppers, shoe soles, pillow tops, sleeves, straps, bellybands, beanie hats, purses, etc. .The allegorical and symbolic patterns of these clothing decoration patterns are very strong.Husband and wife embroidered pillows are mostly represented by couplet trees, cross-necked birds, Pisces, and mandarin ducks; children's clothing is mostly intended to be safe and lively, and to avoid disasters and diseases.Decorations such as sleeves and straps are mostly rectangular or square; uppers and soles vary from person to person according to age and occupation.

The cutting and engraving methods of paper-cutting in the Qing Dynasty include folding cutting, cutting and stabbing, single-color cutting, color-separating cutting, and color-matching cutting.Craft styles vary from region to region. The famous areas of ancient paper-cut in China are: Quanzhou paper-cutting in Quanzhou, Fujian Province was popular in the Tang Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, it was famous for its "red paper", with "Fufu" engraved with the combination of unicorns, carp jumping over the dragon's gate and the characters "Fu" and "Shou", as well as magpies climbing plums and grain harvests. "Long gold" and so on are the most distinctive.

The Foshan paper-cut in Foshan, Guangdong has been handed down since the Song Dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.It is mostly used as a draft for architectural and furniture carvings, and is famous for its vigor, simplicity, majesty and boldness. Paper-cutting in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province has been handed down since the Ming Dynasty.It mainly cuts happy flowers, shoe flowers, and door papers. It is characterized by "flowers in flowers", exquisite production and rich meanings. Shanxi Fushan is well-known for its abundance of window grilles, fireworks, and funeral and sacrificial flowers. The composition is simple and the lines are smooth.

Yuxian County, Hebei Province is famous for its "Tianpiliang" cut flowers, which are painted and colored on mica sheets, which is unique. Shaanxi is characterized by window grilles, whose dynamic shapes are similar to those of shadow puppets, with various styles. The paper-cuts in Gaomi, Shandong Province are various and full of life flavor, which has the characteristics of Weixian New Year paintings.