A brush or a pencil, a few pieces of paper, a pair of scissors, and a bottle of paste in an old lady's skillful hands are reviving and improving the ancient Chinese art of paper-cutting. Her example and influence are inspiring the folk art with the new and imaginative ideas.
At the age of 73 and a grandmother, Mrs. Teng Kung Yun-chang, who is from Shansi province in North China, is still devoting skill and great energy to the preservation and promotion of the cutting of decorative papers.
Paper-cutting originated in North China and has been practiced by Chinese women for centuries. Usually illiterate and unable to wield the subtle brush of Chinese writing, women of olden times used scissors to make cutouts of flowers, domestic animals, and other things they came across in everyday life. This was a principal means of feminine artistic expression in past centuries.
Cutouts of old China were gaily decorative. They were widely displayed at festival times, especially during the Chinese New Year period. Pasted on windows, they gave the house a holiday air and extended promise of a happy and bountiful year.
How and when the custom of decorating Chinese homes with cutouts originated is not known. It is thought that the art itself came into existence not long after the Han dynasty (207 B.C.-220 A.D.) when paper was invented. History tells that in the Tang dynasty (618-906 A.D.), the Chinese began posting "spring scrolls", strips of red paper bearing verses of good omen, on their doors during the Chinese New Year season. It is possible the decorative use of paper cuttings became popular about the same time.
Old chuanghuas were cut out as unbroken pieces (File photo)
Because the paper cutouts are used to adorn windows, they are called chuanghua (window flowers). In the old days, houses in North China had windows of thin paper made half transparent with a coating of tung oil. Red paper cutouts were pasted on these windows the year round to give otherwise bleak rooms a touch of lightness and color. Some families used cutouts to decorate presents, candy containers, tea sets, and table services, especially on holidays.
Daily life and the folklore of northern China provided the main springs of inspiration for the housewife-artists. With a piece of red paper and a pair of scissors, they cut out camels, oxen, horses—all common beasts of burden in that part of the country.
New Imagery
The subject matter was not limited to animals. It ranged through flowers, grotesque gods, and anything else fancy might dictate. But all had to be symbolic of good fortune, as was the predominantly red paper. Chinese still consider red as both attractive and lucky.
Cutout of court beauty of the Ching dynasty (File photo)
The shapes of gods were favored at New Year's. For birthdays, pine trees and cranes promised longevity. Harvest festivals high-lighted such moon fantasies as Chang-o pen-yueh (A Fairy Flying to the Moon), Rabbit and the Three Immortals, and the Icy Palace in the Moon.
Through wars and changes of dynasties, paper cutting moved southward along with the waves of migrants. Paper-cutting then began to take on a different imagery. The picturesque scenery of South China and the twittering birds of spring often provided the main theme of paper cutouts in rich Kiangsu province. Other gifted women evoked scenes from legands and operas.
Farther south in Fukien and Kwangtung, paper cuttings have been influenced by modern color and design, though still retaining the original Chinese motif.
To snip out simple shapes of flowers and animals is not difficult. But to bring into being a minor work of art with only scissors and paper requires talent, imagination, and experience.
There are two approaches to cutting. One is to cut with the paper folded as many as several times. This imposes a limitation of simple shapes or geometric designs. The other way is go at it without folding. It is usual to draw a rough sketch of the figure on the back of the paper. The scissors will do the rest quickly and interestingly, adding their own unique touches.
Something New
Left-handed Mrs. Teng first makes sketch, then cuts out the objects and pastes them on paper (File photo)
No matter how complicated, every design must be cut out as an unbroken, continuous piece. To create a ferocious dragon, for example, the artist makes his sketch, clips out eyes, horns, and whiskers, then gives birth to the zigzag body of the monster, its countless scales, and its sharp claws.
Like other things of ancient vintage, paper-cutting had almost sunk into oblivion early in this century, relinquishing its place in the Chinese family to bright colored prints. Even in northern China, paper-cutting has been seen less and less in the last decade or two. But on Taiwan, Mrs. Teng and others have begun a revival.
When Mrs. Teng was a child, she learned Chinese painting from her mother. She practiced landscapes, figures, animals, flowers, and birds. The longer she painted, the more dissatisfied she became. Chinese painting is primarily imitative, and she wanted to create something new.
During a county fair, Mrs. Teng was asked to draw for a parade. She made her first try at paper-cutting, snipping dragons out of painted papers. The dragon cutouts pasted on lacquered posts looked so lively that Mrs. Teng gained the confidence needed to make cutouts from her other paintings.
Mrs. Teng has a new approach to paper-cutting. First, she designs the cutout in her mind. Then she sketches each object on colored paper. The next step is the actual cutting. Finally, cutouts are pasted on another piece of paper to form the picture she has in mind. Because she puts together the picture piece by piece, her paper-cuttings are not unbroken and continuous like the old chuang-huas. Her kind of paper-cutting is closely akin to the collages that have gained popularity in the West during recent years.
Birds and dragons are among the most difficult subjects for the paper-cutting artist (File photo)
Mrs. Teng finds that despite the need for a delicate touch, paper-cutting requires strength in fingers and wrists. She compares paper-cutting with painting and observes that the former provides more harmony and the latter more contrast of colors.
In 60 years of scissors magic, Mrs. Teng has made thousands of cuttings. With a good memory and rich knowledge of folklore, she has made paper representation of ancient village scenes, and legendary events. Her work was publicly exhibited in 1962 and again this year. Now she is planning picture stories on the Boxer Incident and North China during the 1911 Revolution.
Chinese paper-cutting uniquely combines simplicity with true artistry and leaves ample room for originality and imagination. Now Mrs. Teng is adding historical revelation and instruction to the colorful folk art. For her, it's a new dimension in living at 73—and a rewarding experience to show the younger generation that the old ways can still provide enjoyment and self-satisfaction.