China has a long history of paper cut art, but the tradition
needs help to survive in modern times.
"I still remember how as a child I watched my mother making
paper cuts and sewing under the light of an oil lamp beside my bed.
She looked mysterious when she held a paper cut in front of her
face to amuse me," said Liu Jieqiong, a rural woman from Yanchuan
County, in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
The Chinese folk art of paper cutting, which uses scissors and
knives to cut out patterns on paper, has been a major source of
decoration in Chinese farm households for more than a thousand
years, and has become an important form of artistic expression for
farmers, especially women.
"I started to learn paper cutting all by myself when I was a
little girl. I kept practicing and focusing on the skills. When I
reached my teens, I was no stranger to this art form," said Gao
Fenglian, Liu's mother, who at 73 is lauded as a model among the
paper cutting artists of north China.
Gao's works reach across a wide range of subject matter. They
recall ancient myth and speak to the reality of modern life. All
are rich in artistic value and aesthetic sensibility, yet they
remain earthy and bold and are crafted in a style all her own.
The paper cut master
Gifted with the flair for paper cutting, Gao is hailed as the
master in her village. During the local festivals Gao is invited to
show off her polished scissors-cutting skills. Images created under
her scissors seem to exude vitality. She holds a deep reverence for
the tradition but refuses to be confined by stereotypes. Her
designs remain firmly rooted in the old ways yet they reveal a
touch of contemporary individuality.
Jin Zhilin, a professor of the Central Academy of Fine Arts,
said, "Taking this work from her as an example: She wants to
express the vitality and flourish of the Chinese nation. The clock
on the archway is accompanied by a lion and a dragon from primitive
times. The horseback rider below serves as the door-god. All these
patterns, the archway, the ornamental columns, lions, dragons, and
phoenixes symbolize the perfect union of sky and earth. It speaks
to the vitality of the nation that is the essence of Chinese
philosophy."
Gao is a born artist in the eyes of many. She never went to
school, not for one day. She's a typical rural woman who is kept
busy doing everyday chores like laundry and cooking. She takes up
her paper cutting implements for a little relaxation.
Gao's works made their first public appearance at a paper
cutting exhibition in the mid-1980s. Soon critics nationwide were
intrigued. In 1995, Gao competed with over 80 paper cutting
artisans at a local competition. She won top prize for her entry
"The Fairy Lady." That February, she was awarded the prize for
"Special Contribution" at an invitational competition in east
China's Zhejiang Province. Two months later, Gao was given another
honor and won international acclaim when the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) awarded
her the distinction of "Master of Folk Art and Crafts."
Artist to preserver
What makes the folk artist even more extraordinary was that in
2005 she alone invested 300,000 yuan to establish the first
individual art gallery in her home town, under her name. "I made
paper cuttings and hire workers to carve them onto the walls. That
took a lot of work," said Gao.
"You know Ku Shulan [another famous Chinese paper cut master] is
dead and has nothing left behind her. I'm not going to be like
that," Gao noted, adding, "I will not put down the scissors in my
hand until the day I am too weak to hold them."
To pass down her skills, Gao also motivates her daughter Liu and
two granddaughters to learn the folk handicraft. Liu's works have
already gained a reputation and been collected by many museums and
art galleries.
"Liu's works are something different from her mother's as Liu
has added more modern life elements into her works," said Feng
Shanyun, a local cadre in charge of cultural affairs in Yanchuan
County.
Preservation efforts
In the Yanchuan County whose population is under 200,000, there
are more than 10,000 who know how to make paper cuts. This is an
astonishing figure but some experts do not think the large number
of folk artists makes a difference.
"Paper cutting as a folk art form is closely associated with the
farm lifestyle. It is more fragile than the art that is somehow
independent from social soils. Folk arts, though popular, tend to
pass out of existence unconsciously," said Jin Zhilin, a researcher
on folk arts in northwestern Shaanxi Province. "It is even harder
to rescue and protect intangible heritage than tangible cultural
heritage," he added.
"Intangible culture runs in our blood, and it is this culture
that distinguishes us from other peoples in the world. We can never
afford to let the construction of modern society ruin our unique
treasures," said Tian Qing, Director of the Beijing-based
Intangible Culture Heritage Research Center.
But it is a cheering fact that not only the artists themselves
are trying to preserve the traditional treasures but also the many
experts, cultural officials and more ordinary people who are
interested in and enthusiastic about folk arts.
In the meantime, the country has also given more attention to
its slowly draining traditions.
The government in 2006 announced a list of 518 items of
state-level intangible cultural heritage and 1,080 newly named key
cultural relic sites under state protection.
"The number of such sites named this time is very close to the
total number of those named the previous five times since 1961,"
said Shan Jixiang, head of the State Administration of Cultural
Heritage.
Various means should be used to permanently preserve intangible
heritage and to transfer it to a tangible one. On the other hand,
efforts should be made to maintain a tradition's vitality by
creating all conditions within the community to encourage passing
it down from generation to generation, some culture heritage
researchers have suggested.
China has established over 30 regulations based on the law of
cultural relics protection. A law on intangible cultural relics
protection is also on the drafting schedule of China's top
legislature.
China has joined four international conventions concerning
cultural heritage protection and investment in cultural heritage
protection has also increased, said Sun Jiazheng, the Culture
Minister of China.
According to Feng, funds and preferential policies are needed
for the survival of folk arts and to encourage juveniles to be
engaged in the arts. He listed a few ways to boost the juvenile
participation in folk arts, such as through government payments to
folk artists for guiding the youth, or the teaching of folk arts in
schools as part of there curriculum. What counts most is to create
an atmosphere, he added.
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(Beijing Review October 11, 2007)
