The Traditional Development of Chinese Paper-cut
3 min readFolk paper-cut as a style of ancient art, is known as the “living fossil”of Chinese traditional culture.
As a kind of ornamental engraving art expression which uses paper or”alternative”of paper as the medium, it has a long history and a wide range of popular applications. The vitality presented by Chinese paper cutting’s inheritance and innovation of evolution, is inseparable with its ability to adapt. Ultimately, the emergence and development of paper-cut art is rooted in the folk, and rooted in the life of the masses.
①”Ornamental engraving art”
“Ornamental engraving art”is the earliest forms of modeling which has the Chinese paper-cut art characteristics, and it can be dated back to Neolithic pottery pattern and”Ornamental engraving art”of bronze in Shang and Zhou Dynasties. You can see the latter trace of inheritance and basic art form features of the Chinese paper-cut from these chase carved original crafts.
②”Alternative paper-cut”
Paper-cut forms were ever expressed on “alternative”of paper material such as leather, leaf, silk, tinsel and so on. Historical Records records the “jian tong feng di(a king conferrednobility with a Chinese Parasol leaf)”;silver foil hollow-out hand-cut arc decoration was unearthed at the site of the Warring States Period in Guwei villiage, Hui county, Henan province.
This indicates that cutting and carving process has been well applied in the royal palace during the Spring and Autumn Period, and it can be said that all this is the prototype of the Chinese paper-cut art.
③The traditional Chinese paper-cut
The invention of paper leads to the development of art on paper, so the beginning of the real paper-cut art is the Western Han Dynasty. The “Symmetrical horses”,”Symmetrical monkeys”,”daisy”and other floral paper-cut of the Northern and Southern Dynasties(AD386-581). These paper-cut were excavated from the tombs of Northern Dynasty in Astana(near the Turpan Flaming mountains) nearing Gaochang Ruins at Turpan Basin in 1967 indicatesthe beginning of Chinese paper cutting.
Tang and Song Dynasties is the developed period of paper industry and decorative crafts, as well as the prosperous period of the Chinese paper-cut art. The folk paper-cut was in vogue at that time. In addition to the folk festival paper-cut products, paper cutting for decorative and funeral supplies, etc. also appeared. Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu wrote:”Warm water wash my feet, paper cutting strokes my soul”in his poem; inaddition, the Tang Dynasty has produceda”gold and silver inlaid process”, that is, to decorate the implements using the way of carving the gold and silver foil to paste in order to produce a resplendent and magnificent visual effects. In the Song Dynasty, thanks to the prosperous economy and market, rodeo and commercial shops of paper-cut also appeared in the marketplace; by using the paper-cut shape as the pattern of the ceramic, and getting a good performance by glazing and firing, Jizhou kilns in Jiangxi Province made the ceramic more exquisite; the ornamental engraving plate making of blue calico is to use the oil cardboard to carve into pattern, andthe flower version patterns of squeegee printing is to use the techniques of paper-cut craft，which has the distinction of being incised and beingcarved.The long-line should be cut off and mark the false or true is marked with point.
Ming and Qing Dynasties，is the period that universal practicality，art style，and artistic thoughts tend to be mature，and diversified in Chinese folk paper-cut.Needlework is an important symbol of a perfection of Chinese traditional female，but the paper-cut becomes compulsory skll in this period.The”“trotting horse lamp”of Ming Dynasty is to put the paper-cut between yarns，and to glow a decorative pattern with the light ofthe candles in order to express good intentions.A lot of paper-cuts of Qing Dynasty are rich in content and wide in themes and they have been preserved；in addition，the paper-cut of“black dragon and phoenix with double happiness spends”in Kunning Palace of Beijing Forbidden City has became a representative of the court paper-cut.
④Chinese modern paper-cut
The Chinese modern paper-cut afterthe Republic of China was appeared from the intervention of literati and later professional artists, and its emergence builds a good fundamental conditions for the further development of rendering individuation, artistic features and fashion.
