The world's longest paper-cut, which was entered in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1997, will be put on auction in a few days, the creator of the paper-cut said at an on-going national folk paper-cut exhibition in the capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

At a length of 128 meters and a width of 0.93 meter, The Return of Hong Kong, as the paper-cut is called, will bid at a base price of 500,000 yuan (nearly 57,000 US dollars), according to Xie Zhong, the folk paper-cut artist in Hebei Province.

The grand picture shows scenes of Hong Kong from the Opium War in the 1840s up to the present, with a total of 103 historical pictures. It took Xie 18 months and more than 50 kilograms of red paper to complete his magnum opus.

Now 54, Xie has been making paper-cuts for more than 30 years. During his career, he has often expanded from traditional paper- cut scenes to show more realistic aspects of everyday life in China, as well as significant historic events.

To celebrate the opening of the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, Xie made a paper-cut called "Love to Mothers" which was 6 meters long and 6 meters wide, with a flower in the middle.

Holding many titles bestowed by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) for his special contributions to the world's folk arts, Xie still works hard to create paper-cuts of high artistic value. "There is no end to artistic invention", he says. (Xinhua)