Photo: Suzanne and John’s Mom.
I’ve had this Chinese paper cut-out for years. I no longer remember where it came from.
Happy Year of the Dragon! The Wood Dragon to be specific. (In case you’re wondering, the other Chinese zodiac dragons are Water, Metal, Earth, and Fire.)
As China and much of the world celebrate the traditions of Lunar New Year, I want to share an article about a woman in China who is keeping another ancient tradition alive — paper cutting.
Ann Scott Tyson reports at the Christian Science Monitor, “With uncanny precision and attention to form, Yu Zeling snips away at the thin red paper. Her scissors seem to glide magically into place. After several minutes, she unfolds her creation: a bold and smiling Chinese zodiac pig.
“An award-winning master of the ancient Chinese folk art of paper cutting, Ms. Yu fills her studio with cutouts of animals, people, and scenes so vivid that they seem to leap from the walls. Rich with symbolism, her art embodies village life in Ansai, a rural district in Shaanxi province on China’s rugged Loess Plateau. Ansai is a center of paper cutting – recognized in 2009 by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. …
“Ms. Yu and others are working to keep the folk art alive, even as it evolves away from its roots as adornment for farmhouses and local celebrations. Indeed, the Ansai native is serving as a rare bridge between the most skilled paper-cut artists of the 1980s – a golden era in paper cutting – and a new generation of heirs. …
“Growing up in a hamlet deep in an Ansai valley, surrounded by terraced fields, Ms. Yu came to paper cutting in the late 1970s as naturally as she breathed the earthy air. ‘We were very poor, and when it was time to celebrate the [Lunar] New Year, we all put paper-cuts in the windows,’ she says, recalling the holiday at her childhood home – a cave dug from a hillside – where her family of 10 eked out a living growing corn, beans, and sorghum. …
“The art originated in China in the centuries after paper was invented in A.D. 105. … Full of auspicious symbols from peasant life, the decorations heralded good weather, many offspring, long life, wealth, and happiness. …
“Just as Ms. Yu was beginning to learn paper cutting, after she left elementary school in 1978 at the age of 12, China’s shift toward market economics and social opening began allowing for a revival of traditional culture. Using discarded newspaper, Ms. Yu first practiced cutting the image of a Chinese national flag that she saw in a school textbook. She says she ‘cut it 100 times’ before she was satisfied. Then her aunt took over, introducing her to increasingly complicated traditional motifs. …
“Meanwhile, a research scholar named Chen Shanqiao began trekking from Ansai’s county seat into the hills and valleys to rural villages, rediscovering the true meanings embedded in the paper-cuts. Their power astonished him. In the mid-1980s, he recruited a few older village women who were masters in the craft to come teach at Ansai’s Cultural Center.
“Ms. Yu married farmer Jiang Zhicheng, who admired her passion and skill. Inspired, Mr. Jiang took a few of his wife’s works to the local market in 1987, but he couldn’t sell them. So he went farther, riding his bicycle more than 25 miles to Ansai’s Cultural Center. Seeing the fine pieces, Mr. Chen immediately bought the paper-cuts and invited Ms. Yu to come train with the master artists. …
“After years of training, Ms. Yu became a master in her own right, winning one award after another. Her works are on display in museums. But she’s humble about her achievements. ‘I was, and still am, a farmer,’ she says with a smile. … ‘I make paper-cuts based on life,’ she says. ‘Here in northern Shaanxi, we feed the pigs and till the land and care for the children.’
“Hoping to carry on and grow the folk art, Ms. Yu volunteers to teach at free community training sessions. Paper cutting is also taught in Ansai’s public schools. … As Chinese villages empty out and rural rituals fade, Ms. Yu is aware of the need to go beyond perpetuating traditions and embrace new paper-cut experiments. …
“The most elaborate paper-cut in her studio is a large and ornate circular design that weaves together layer upon layer of significance: In the center, a snake (man) encircles a rabbit (woman), symbolizing marriage. Surrounding them is a ring of pomegranates (the seeds of which represent many children), peaches (the Chinese name for ‘peach’ is also the word for ‘longevity’), and Buddha’s hands (a kind of citrus fruit representing bliss). A final outer rim, resembling a woven flower basket, also signifies longevity.”
More at the Monitor, here. Check out photos of the cutting process. No firewall.
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