Guest Author - Caroline Baker

Chinese papercutting is a distinctive folkart that give unique life to the simple paper.

Throughout Chinese culture, the use of paper is very important. It can be seen all over during New Years in the forms of signs, laterns, wrappings. Writing in and of itself is an artform in Chinese culture.

Stories have papercutting dating back to the 6th century where it was used to decorate girls hairs or used in ceremonies. It was part of many rituals, from celebrating birth to honoring the dead. For some parts of China, papercutting was a required skill for girls. Their marriagability were judged based on their skill at papercutting and embrodery by the groom’s mother.

Therefore, with such a long history and integration into the culture, it should come as no surprise that papercutting has become a highly skilled art form. Even though it is mostly used for decorations today, good papercutting is still sought after as an art form.

Generally done with bright red paper, the artist takes a knife or scissors to carve out images. The images can be the image themselves or formed from the void or cutout spaces. The artist must make precision cuts in a single sheet of paper, holding their knife vertically. Beneath the paper is often a soft foundation allowing the artist to press firmly and make clean edges on their cuts without dulling the knife. Cuts from scissors are made through continuous lines and then by creating small incisions for interior areas to be cut (much like a starter hole in carving). The intricate cuts and slices can literally make the two-dimensional design look three-dimensional.

Today, the art of papercutting is no longer just a woman’s art. Some of the best and professional papercutters of the world are men. Papercutting is still a manual work, thus every piece of art done this way is handmade. These works of art are seen still adorning walls, in books, and even in museums and art shows.