In rural China, many people are skilled in local traditional arts and among them is the art of paper cutting. As the name implies, paper cutting is the art of cutting paper designs for decoration purposes. This form of art is also known as "窗花" (chuānɡ huā) or window flowers; it is called window flowers because it is often used to decorate windows. Most of the "window flowers" are colored red because, traditionally, red is considered lucky in China. Paper cutting patterns include Chinese opera figures, animals, flowers, festival activity and many more. Paper cutting are traditionally done by women who acquired this skill at a very young age.
The popularity of paper cutting owes much to Chinese traditional holidays and customs. Whenever a holiday or a special event, such as a wedding occurs, people will prepare some paper cuttings to decorate the surroundings as well as to express their pleasant feelings.
The spring festival is one of the holidays where paper cutting is more prevalent. Designs of fish usually occur to indicate the wish for abundance in the new year; this is because the pronunciation of fish (鱼, yú) is the same as surplus (余, yú). Besides the fish, the lotus plant (莲 lián, pronounced the same as the word for continuous) is another popular cutting design and it often cut along with the fish to represent: "连年有余 (lián nián yǒu yú)," which means having surpluses for years running.
During the Lantern Festival (January 15 on the lunar calendar,) people would incorporate paper cutting to the lanterns, which make it brilliant in color.
On wedding ceremonies, paper cuttings are posted all around, mostly in the form of "囍, xǐ" meaning double happiness.
To celebrate the birthday of an elderly, papers are cut into patterns of peaches, cranes or some other auspicious animals to wish for longevity.
2 years, 3 months ago
I always find it is fascinating when ever I see the paper cutting art. I hope I have the opportunity to learn one day. Wu Bao Zhu