Chinese paper cutting

What is Chinese paper cutting called?

剪纸 (jiǎnzhǐ), cut paper. The paper cuts pasted on windows at New Year are 窗花 (chuānghuā), window flowers. It is a folk art, 民间艺术 (mínjiān yìshù), mostly of red paper, 红纸 (hóngzhǐ), and in 2009 UNESCO listed Chinese paper cutting as Intangible Cultural Heritage, 非物质文化遗产 (fēi wùzhì wénhuà yíchǎn).

When was Chinese paper cutting invented?

Soon after paper itself, which was made in China under the Han dynasty. The oldest paper cut found is a round, symmetrical one from the 500s, dug up in Xinjiang; by the Tang and Song dynasties people pasted paper cuts on windows and doors and gave them at festivals, and village women passed the patterns down, mother to daughter.

What do Chinese paper cutting patterns mean?

Most are a wish told through a pun or a symbol, the same as on New Year pictures. A fish, 鱼 (yú), sounds like surplus, 余; a bat, 蝙蝠 (biānfú), sounds like good fortune, 福 (fú); a magpie, 喜鹊 (xǐquè), brings joy; mandarin ducks, 鸳鸯 (yuānyāng), are a faithful couple; a pomegranate, 石榴 (shíliu), full of seeds, is many children. The chart above has ten of them.

How do you cut a double happiness 囍?

Take a rectangle of red paper about twice as tall as it is wide and fold it in half from left to right. Against the fold, draw one 喜 (xǐ), joy, so that its strokes touch the fold, and keep every stroke thick so the paper holds together. Cut away the spaces between the strokes, then unfold: the two halves open into two 喜 side by side, 囍, double happiness, the sign hung at every Chinese wedding.

What tools are used for Chinese paper cutting?

Scissors, 剪刀 (jiǎndāo), for one sheet at a time, folded for a symmetrical, 对称 (duìchèn), pattern; or a carving knife, 刻刀 (kèdāo), on a board of soft wax, which cuts through a stack of sheets at once, so a workshop can make dozens of the same pattern. The cut-away, see-through look is called 镂空 (lòukōng).

What are Chinese paper cuts used for?

At New Year, 窗花 on the windows, the character 福 (fú), good fortune, on the door, and the coming year’s zodiac animal; at weddings, the double happiness 囍 on doors, walls and gifts; at an elder’s birthday, the character 寿 (shòu), long life. They were also patterns for embroidery, and today they are a favourite gift for visitors to China.

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