内容简介

Chinese paper-cutting boasts a long history. As early as the period of the Emperor Wu Di of the　Han Dynasty over 2,100 years ago, records show that someone made a paper-cut of the image of Li　Furen, the late favourite concubine of Emperor Wu Di, so as to comfort him in his sorrow. During the　Southern Dynasties (420-589) it became a custom to paste well-cut thin silk in the shape of a person　on screens for festivals. In springtime, during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), people would cut coloured　pieces of silk, paper or gold foil into various shapes such as swallows, flowers or butterflies, which　were presented as gifts, pinned on the hair, hung on willow branches or pasted on screens. It added　colour to the early spring.
Today this custom is carried on in most households, particularly during the Spring Festival, by　hanging streamers on the door jambs and sticking paper cuts to the windows for decoration.
Even as a plastic art the paper-cut has its unique charm. It is extremely concise in its artistic form　simply cutting some holes in different places on a piece of paper. The final image on the paper-cut　comes into being from the contrast of the solid part and the empty part. This technique is one of the　particularities of Chinese traditional artistic creation. This style originates from the Chinese tracti-tional concept of the universe which is that "Yin and Yang (the two opposing principles in nature)created the world."