Paper-cut, also called as Flower-cut, Paper-cut for window decoration and Paper is a folk with a long history for the Chinese people, and it has been recorded in Historical Records by Sima Qian in the Han Dynasty. Paper-cut is also one of the most popular folk decoration arts in China. The paper art has directly affected a plenty of Chinese plastic arts, such as the pasted building paper used in funerals, props of shadow play, collages, wheat straw pictures, farmer pictures.
The early Paper-cut might be related to worshipping gods, evocation and sacrificing to the dead. At present, the Miao people still keeps the magic convention of pasting papers with ghosts and gods images on the bullpens or doors on the New Year Festival. Paper-cut has gradually become a decoration for the festivals and ceremonies nowadays. For example, on the first day of the new lunar year, every household will hang spring festival and paste Window Flowers, which shows a atmosphere; on the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, the lanterns will be pasted with Paper-cut, which is even more flowery and attractive; and on a wedding day, the door and windows will be pasted with a large red Chinese letter of "ϲ(Xi)" to show people's happiness. In the Shenning Palace, the bridal chamber for the wedding of each emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the wall was papered according to the Manchu tradition; the four corners were pasted with black Paper-cut corner flower of double Chinese letter "Xi"; and the top center was plated with black Paper-cut of Dragon and Phoenix.
With a wild scope of subjects, the folk Paper-cut forms allegorical pictures through techniques such as partial tone and symbolization. For example, peaches symbolize a long life and pomegranate symbolizes a plenty of children; "Dragon and Phoenix is a good omen" indicating a happy and holy marriage; and "a magpie standing on a twig" means a good thing will happen. In the world of Paper-cut art, the skillful folk craftsmen make full use of their imagination to create various works with beauty and originality.
