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Manage No, Sortation, Country, Writer ,Date, Copyright Manage No EE00000222 Country China ICH Domain Social practices, rituals, festive events Traditional craft skills Address People’s Republic of China: Ansai County (East longitude 108°5′-109°26′, north latitude 36°30′-37°19′), Shaanxi Province; Yuxian County (East longitude 114°13′-115°04′, north latitude 39°34′-40°10′), Hebei Province; Fengning Manchu Autonomous County (East longitude 115°55′-117°23′, north latitude 40°54′-42°01′), Hebei Province; Zhongyang County (East longitude 111°10′，north latitude 27°20′), Shanxi Province; Yangzhou City (East longitude 119°01′-119°54′, north latitude 32°15′-33°25′), Jiangsu Province; Yueqing City (East longitude 120°47′-121°15′, north latitude 27°57′-28°32′), Zhejiang Province; Jinzhou City (East longitude 120°42′-122°36′, north latitude 40°49′-42°08′), Liaoning Province; Luxi City (East longitude 98°01′-98°44′, north latitude 24°05′-24°39′), Yunnan Province. Shaanxi Folk Paper-cut Institute (Shaanxi Province, east longitude 105°29′-111°15′, north latitude 31°42′-39°35′), Shanxi Paper-cut Artist Association (Shanxi Province, east longitude 110°15′-114°32′, north latitude 34°35′-40°45′), Inner Mongolia Paper-cut Association (Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, east longitude 97°10′-126°02′, north latitude 37°30′-53°20′), Ningxia Paper-cut Association (Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, east longitude 104°17′-107°39′, north latitude 35°14′-39°23′ ), Shanghai Paper-cut Institute (Shanghai, east longitude 120°51′-122°12′，north latitude 29°58′-31°22′), Shandong Paper-cut Institute (Shandong Province, east longitude 114°19′-122°43′, north latitude 34°22′-38°23′), Xinjiang Folk Paper-cut Institute (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, east longitude 73°40′-96°23′, north latitude 34°25′-49°10′ ), Heilongjiang Paper-cut Institute (Heilongjiang Province, east longitude 121°11′-135°05′, north latitude 43°25′-53°33′), Henan Paper-cut Association (Henan Province, east longitude 110°21′-116°39′, north latitude 31°23′-36°22′), Changbaishan Manchu Paper-cut Institute (Changbaishan Prefecture of Jilin Province, east longitude 100°10′-100°20′, north latitude 40°10′-100°20′), Hubei Paper-cut Association (Hubei Province, east longitude 108°21′-116°07′, north latitude 29°05′-33°20′), Guangzhou Paper-cut Association (Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, east longitude 112°57′-114°35′, north latitude 22°36′-24°04′) and Fuzhou Paper-cut Institute (Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, east longitude 118°08′-120°37′, north latitude 25°15′-26°39′); Gao Jin’ai and Li Xiufang (Ansai County, Shaanxi Province), Zhang Dongge (Yuxian County, Hebei Province), Zhou Zhaoming (Fengning Manchu Autonomous County, Hebei Province), Wang Xiuxia and Zhao Zhiguo (Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province), Wang Jiru (Zhongyang County, Shanxi Province), Zhang Xiufang (Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province), Lin Bangdong and Chen Jinhua (Yueqing City, Zhejiang Province) and Si Huazhang (Luxi City, Yunnan Province).
| Description | Chinese paper-cut, a traditional handiwork created by cutting patterns on paper via scissors or graver, has been a time-honoured folk art piece for decorating purpose on festivals or coordinating with various folk custom activities. As a folk art form adored and practiced by Chinese folks, Chinese paper-cut has been developed for more than 1,500 years with its fabrication skills and sculpts being preserved to these days. Chinese paper-cut comprises two classifications including “paper-cutting” and “paper-engraving”. The former relies on manual cutting and often produces one art piece in one process; the latter relies on engraving with graver and often produces multiple art pieces in one process. The Chinese paper-cut art pieces have unified color or multiple colors. Besides, mosaic or setting-off skills are adopted to enrich the color effect of Chinese paper-cut art pieces. For many centuries, Chinese paper-cut art pieces have been extensively applied to people’s daily life and on various folk custom activities such as fete, festivals and etiquettes. They have diverse patterns including: the paper-cut art pieces on window, lintel, bed and ceiling for the purpose of interior decoration; the paper-cut art pieces on occasions of wedding ceremony, birthday party, lantern festival and dragon boat festival; the paper-cut art pieces that are taken as the sample for embroidering pillow, shoe and bellyband; the paper-cut art pieces for the purpose of praying for rain, dispelling the evil and ushering in the auspice. Among numerous patterns of Chinese paper-cut, each one symbolizes certain conventionalized meanings, i.e. pomegranate symbolizes multiplied offspring while dragon and phoenix signifies love. Usually, Chinese paper-cut artists create paper-cut works off the cuff and the themes of paper-cut art pieces relate to a wide range of scope including folk belief, myths, historical stories, daily labor activities, universe and nature. The bold and vivid sculpt in Chinese paper-cut sufficiently signifies the romantic thinking and wild imagination of Chinese people. Due to the vast territory and great difference of folk customs in the northern and southern regions of China, there are diversified styles in Chinese paper-cut. Comparatively speaking, the paper-cut art pieces in North China are characterized with bold and crude artistic styles while those in South China are fine and delicate. |
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| Social and cultural significance | Intertwining with the social life of Chinese people of all ethic groups, Chinese paper-cut has become a significant component of Chinese folk activities and a popular folk art form in China. The Chinese folks often express their social understandings, moral principles, life ideals and aesthetic pursuit in paper-cut. They have always identified with and invested great endeavor to maintain the social functions and values of paper-cut such as cognition, civilization, expression, amusement and communication. The most ancient and primitive philosophical thinking, belief in life and styles of sculpt are all kept in Chinese paper-cut. The representative sculpts such as “snake and hare”, “baby with twisted bun” and “deer head flower” have marveled a great number of people by their cultural continuity and preservation of cultural information that has been carried on for thousand of years. |
| Transmission method | Chinese paper-cut is mainly inherited by women in rural area. Since their childhood, the women in rural area begin to learn the traditional skills of paper-cut. The paper-cut skills are mainly inebriated from mothers to daughters, mothers-in-law to daughters-in-law as well as among neighbours and villages. Under the guidance of mothers or the elder women, young girls gradually master the paper-cutting skills and sculpt procedures by imitating the conventional patterns. Later, when they get married, they would pass the conventional patterns and the new ones created by themselves down to the younger generations. In the countryside of China, the paper-cutting skills and art pieces have been regarded as important means for evaluating the skills and virtues of women. The outstanding female paper-cut artists would often win respect and admiration from their folks and the women in rural area have always been proud of paper-cutting skills. From 20th century onwards, a number of male paper-cut artists, such as Wang Laoshang, Zhang Yongshou and Chen Chaofen, also came on stage. They, together with the outstanding female paper-cut artists, make invaluable contribution to the creation of paper-cut art pieces that both inherit the conventional skills and adapt to the new social need in contemporary time. Currently, Chinese paper-cut witnesses unprecedented thrive. The representative paper-cut inheritors from various regions of China have established a number of associations, societies and institutes. What is more, under the support from local governments and cultural administrations, the representative paper-cut inheritors have actively held paper-cut training classes and exhibitions and, at the same time, published books related to paper-cut, thus carrying forward the heritage of Chinese paper-cut. |
| Community | People’s Republic of China: Ansai County, Shaanxi Province; Yuxian County, Hebei Province; Fengning Manchu Autonomous County, Hebei Province; Zhongyang County, Shanxi Province; Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province; Yueqing City, Zhejiang Province; Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province; Luxi City, Yunnan Province. Shaanxi Folk Paper-cut Institute, Shanxi Paper-cut Artist Association, Inner Mongolia Paper-cut Association, Ningxia Paper-cut Association, Shanghai Paper-cut Institute, Shandong Paper-cut Institute, Xinjiang Folk Paper-cut Institute, Heilongjiang Paper-cut Institute, Henan Paper-cut Association, Changbaishan Manchu Paper-cut Institute, Hubei Paper-cut Association, Guangzhou Paper-cut Association and Fuzhou Paper-cut Institute; Gao Jin’ai and Li Xiufang (Ansai County, Shaanxi Province), Zhang Dongge (Yuxian County, Hebei Province), Zhou Zhaoming (Fengning Manchu Autonomous County, Hebei Province), Wang Xiuxia and Zhao Zhiguo (Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province), Wang Jiru (Zhongyang County, Shanxi Province), Zhang Xiufang (Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province), Lin Bangdong and Chen Jinhua (Yueqing City, Zhejiang Province) and Si Huazhang (Luxi City, Yunnan Province). |
| Type of UNESCO List | Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity |
| Incribed year in UNESCO List | 2009 |
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PI00000451
Chinese paper--cut(1)
(1)Paper cut in Tuorong
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PI00000470
The artwork of paper cutting with letter 'Fu' representing happiness and wealth
Paper-cut artwork created by Chen Qiuri (陈秋日), a master of arts from Zhangpu County. The Chinese character in the middle is read 'Fu (福)' which represents happiness or wealth.
China