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64-year-old Chinese folk artist devoted to 3D paper-cutting

(People's Daily Online)    17:04, February 20, 2019

The three-dimensional paper-cutting

With the scissors moving deftly in the hand of Jiao Cunxi, an inheritor of China’s intangible cultural heritage – paper-cutting, a paper-cut of the Chinese character “chun” (meaning spring) slowly “rose” from the table, Chinanews.com reported on Feb.19.

As a master of paper-cutting who has been the inheritor of this intangible cultural heritage tradition for over 10 years, Jiao, 64, was invited to showcase the charm of paper-cutting at a folk celebration event during the Spring Festival in Shijiazhuang City in north China’s Hebei Province.

She demonstrated the artistry of the three-dimensional (3D) paper-cutting of “chun” at the event on Feb.19, the day marking the traditional Chinese festival – Lantern Festival, hoping to bring joy to people at this special occasion.

Besides traditional Chinese techniques of paper-cutting like single color and colorized paper-cuts, Jiao also developed the skills of over 20 kinds of 3D paper-cuts featuring Chinese characters such as “fu” (meaning happiness and blessing) and “xi” (meaning happiness and delight) as well as various plants and animals like bat, swan, and butterfly.

“paper-cutting originated from a tradition where paper-cuts were pasted on windows during Spring Festival, but it shouldn’t be limited to the traditional forms,” said Jiao, expressing that she hopes that Chinese paper-cutting can develop into a three dimensional and fashionable attraction for more people.

“Colorized and 3D paper-cuts are of childlike fun and modern charm to many people,” noted Jiao.

The period near the Spring Festival is often the busiest time of the year for Jiao. Since this January, she has taken part in more than 10 exhibitions and performances featuring intangible cultural heritage at schools, plazas, and various exhibition halls.

“It was not an easy job for me, but it was worthy of the efforts,” expressed Jiao, adding that intangible cultural heritage can only come to life when they are truly brought into the lives of the people, and furthermore, she made clear that facilitating this is her ongoing duty as an inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage tradition. 

(For the latest China news, Please follow People's Daily on Twitter and Facebook)(Web editor: Hongyu, Bianji)

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