The annual national folk paper- cut exhibition opened in Chengdu, the capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province on November 13.

On display were 33,000 paper-cuts created by both professional and amateur artists from China's 31 provinces and autonomous regions, ranging in age from four to 100.

One eye-catching paper-cut is a 110-meter-long work celebrating the return of Macao to China. This paper-cut took Tian Xiaoming, a rural woman from east China's Shandong Province, more than two years to complete.

The upper part has 1,999 rabbits, symbolizing the ardent wish of the people of Macao to be embraced by the motherland. The lower part has 2,000 dragons and 50 bouquets of flowers, each bouquet in the design of four small dragons.

"The 2,000 dragons indicate that the year 2000 is the Year of the Dragon in Chinese lunar calendar, while the smaller dragons represent the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao. It suggests that the reunification of the motherland is an irreversible historical trend," Tian said.

One artist, Xie Chaowu, a rural teacher in southwest China's Sichuan Province, provided 140 paper-cut works by his pupils.

Creating paper-cuts is a popular folk art in China, and in the hands of a true artist a piece of paper can be turned into a wide variety of patterns -- landscapes, flowers, birds, animals and human figures.

Using the scissors to make a story-telling picture or an amusing figure from paper has long been a popular pastime for women in north China, and their creations add color to the celebrations of festivals, weddings, and birthdays.