As early as the Han and Tang dynasties, folk women cut gold and silver foil and colored silk into a winning style and pasted flowers and birds on their temples as decorations.

Then it gradually developed. In festivals, colored paper is cut into flowers, animals or story characters, pasted on windows (called "window grilles") and lintels (called "door stickers") for decoration, and also used as gift decoration or embroidery patterns.

Paper-cut art has a long history, which is widely recorded in ancient poetry classics:

1. There is such a sentence in the poems left by Cui Daorong in the Tang Dynasty: "If you want to cut Yichun characters, people in spring and cold will cut scissors." The "Yichun Post" mentioned here is also commonly known as paper-cutting.

2. In the Tang Dynasty, Li Shangyin's poem Manyue said: "Carve gold to win and spread fine customs, and cut the ribbon to prosper the people."

Ribbon-cutting is also paper-cutting.

3. The Tang Dynasty's Youyang Miscellaneous Notes said: "On the day of beginning of spring, the home of literati, paper-cut is a small pan, or hung on the head of a beauty, or on the next flower, and cut into a spring butterfly, which plays with Chunsheng."

4. In the book Miscellaneous Notes on Tang Poems in Zhi Ya written by Zhou Mi in the Southern Song Dynasty, he wrote: "The old capital is Tianjie, with colorful patterns and exquisite designs.

And those who are more ambitious in the Central Plains will be professional every time they cut their calligraphy.

Later, some teenagers were able to cut words and flowers on their sleeves very accurately.

"Kaifeng" is the government, and "paper-cutting" naturally refers to "paper-cutting".

5. Zhiyun, Jiande County, Guangzhou: "Lin Wenhui, the word outline is neat, the paper-cut is the word, and the tail is not bad. The room is decorated into a shaft, and it is easy to pay for self-sufficiency, which is called cutting."

The Origin and Development of Paper-cutting

Paper-cutting originated from the activities of ancestor worship and blessing of the ancients, and was rooted in the profound traditional culture of China.

The history of two thousand years has condensed the traditional ideas of China culture. In its evolution, it is intertwined with painted pottery art, rock painting art and other arts, delaying the humanistic spirit and ideological pulse of the ancient nation.

As an integral part of China's traditional culture, it is the epitome of traditional beliefs and ethics, and it is also a window to observe the inheritance of a national folk culture.

China folk paper-cut handicraft art has its own formation and development process. The invention of Chinese paper-cutting was in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period (3rd century BC). At that time, people used very thin materials to make handicrafts by hollowing out and carving, but it was popular long before paper appeared, that is, patterns were cut on gold foil, leather, silk and even leaves by carving, carving, picking, carving and cutting.

According to Records of the Historian Jiantong Di Feng, in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, a king claimed the title of king, and cut a plane tree leaf into a "reed" and gave it to his younger brother, who was named Hou in the Tang Dynasty.

During the Warring States period, leather carvings (one of the cultural relics unearthed from Chu Tomb No.1 in Jiangling, Hubei Province) and silver foil carvings (one of the cultural relics unearthed from the Warring States site in Guwei Village, Huixian County, Henan Province) were all demolished together with paper-cutting, and their appearance laid a certain foundation for the formation of folk paper-cutting.

China's earliest paper-cut works were discovered in 1967, when China archaeologists found two paper-cuts with flowers in the northern dynasties tombs in Astana near Gaochang site in Turpan basin, Xinjiang. They use hemp paper, all of which are folded sacrificial paper-cuts. Their discovery provides physical evidence for the formation of Chinese paper-cutting.

The history of paper-cutting handicraft art, that is, paper-cutting in the true sense, should begin with the appearance of paper.

The invention of paper in Han Dynasty promoted the appearance, development and popularization of paper-cutting.

Paper is a moldy material. People don't keep it as a treasure, and they can cut it if it is broken.

In the northwest of China, the weather is dry, the climate is dry, and the paper is not easy to get moldy, which may also be one of the important reasons for the discovery of paper-cutting in the Northern Dynasties in Turpan, Xinjiang.

Paper-cutting has been in a period of great development in the Tang Dynasty. In Du Fu's poem, there is a saying that "warm water trapped my feet, and paper-cutting called back my soul", and the custom of paper-cutting called back my soul had spread among the people at that time.

The paper-cut in the Tang Dynasty, which is now in the British Museum, shows that the paper-cut at that time had a high level of manual art and a complete picture composition, expressing an ideal realm between heaven and earth.

Popular in the Tang Dynasty, the carved patterns of flowers and trees have the characteristics of paper-cutting. For example, the pattern of "Duiyang" in Masakura Hospital in Japan is a typical artistic expression of hand cutting.

In the Tang dynasty, there was also block printing made of paper-cutting. People carved it into wax paper with thick paper, and then printed the dye on the cloth to form beautiful patterns.

In Song Dynasty, the paper industry was mature and there were many kinds of paper products, which provided conditions for the popularization of paper-cutting.

For example, it can be used as a "fireworks" as a folk gift, as a "window flower" pasted on a window, and as a decoration for lanterns and teacups.

The application scope of folk paper-cutting in Song Dynasty gradually expanded. Jiangxi Jizhou Kiln uses paper-cut as the pattern of ceramics, and makes the ceramics more exquisite by glazing and firing. Folk also use paper-cutting to carve figures in shadow play with the skins of animals such as donkeys, cows, horses and sheep. The engraved discs made by the blue calico process are carved into patterns with oil cardboard, and the scratched patterns are made of paper-cuts, which are divided into yin and yang, and the long lines should be cut to distinguish between true and false.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the paper-cut handicraft art matured and reached its peak.

Folk paper-cut handicraft art has a wider range of applications, such as floral decorations on folk lanterns, decorative patterns on fans, embroidery patterns and so on. , are decorated with paper-cut and then processed.

More people in China often use paper-cutting as decorations to decorate their homes and beautify their home environment. For example, door battlements, window grilles, cabinet flowers, wedding flowers and ceiling flowers are all used to decorate doors, windows and rooms.

In addition to the paper-binding pattern craftsmen who appeared after the Southern Song Dynasty, the most basic team of folk paper-cutting handicrafts in China is rural women.

Female red is an important symbol of the perfection of traditional women in China. As a compulsory skill of needlework, paper-cutting has become a skill that girls have to learn since childhood.

They should learn paper-cut patterns from their predecessors or sisters, cut, draw and cut new patterns by hand, and describe the natural scenery they are familiar with and love, the scenery of fish, insects, birds, animals, flowers, trees, pavilions and bridges, and finally reach the realm of their own will.