Artisan brings traditional paper cutting art new lease of life

Zhang Xuehua works on a piece of paper cutting work. (People's Daily Online/Wang Rui)

Zhang Xuehua is an inheritor of the art of paper cutting, who works attentively in her workshop in Ma'anshan city, east China’s Anhui Province. As she turns the paper her scissors fly and a paper-cut work is “born.”

Normally, paper cutting artisans first draw patterns on paper and then cut them into silhouettes, but Zhang has a special talent and is able to cut without sketching patterns ahead of time. She can turn a piece of paper the size of a handkerchief into a lifelike paper cut work in less than one minute. Her works show a fusion of paper cutting styles in northern and southern China.

Zhang learned the craft from her grandmother. “In the beginning, I was not able to cut well, but in time I could create little frogs, butterflies, flowers and other works.” Zhang said that paper cutting created beautiful childhood memories for her.

With more than 40 years of experience, Zhang is now bolder in her use of materials. In addition to the traditional red paper, she has innovatively used other materials, such as gold and silver foil and wallpaper, to bring diverse artistic effects to her work.

The walls of Zhang's studio are covered with work large and small, with subjects ranging from the “Twelve Zodiac Signs” to daily life. The work Zhang remains most proud of is the “Folk Girl” series, which now sits in the National Art Museum of China’s permanent collection. To carry forward the traditional craft of paper cutting, Zhang often offers paper cutting classes for free at residential communities, schools and museums. In this way, young people can come to understand the craft, and paper cutting remains a living heritage.