According to some archaeological remains, paper-cutting appeared at the latest in the Northern Dynasty (386-58 1), with a history of 1500 years. At that time, paper-cutting skills were quite skillful. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the art of paper-cutting became increasingly prosperous. There were also poems describing paper-cutting in the Tang Dynasty. The poem "Caisheng" wrote: "Cut and choose to give a blind date, and the silver hairpin is decorated with a phoenix." Leaves chase the golden knife, flowers follow the jade to refer to the new. It depicts the beautiful movements of beautiful women's paper-cutting in the Tang Dynasty and the beautiful effects of flowers, birds, insects and fish cut out. In the Song Dynasty, the paper-cutting industry and famous paper-cutting artists began to appear. In the Song Dynasty, paper-cutting became popular. The Ming and Qing Dynasties were the peak of paper cutting.
Paper-cut art is one of the oldest Han folk arts. As a hollow art, it can give people a sense of visual emptiness and artistic enjoyment. Paper-cutting uses scissors to cut paper into various patterns, such as window grilles, doormats, wall hangings, ceilings and snuff. Every holiday or wedding celebration, people will stick beautiful and bright paper-cuts on windows, walls, doors and lanterns at home, and the festive atmosphere will be more enthusiastic. In rural areas, paper-cutting is usually done by women and girls. In the past, paper-cutting was a handicraft art that almost every girl had to master, and it was also a standard for people to judge brides. The paper-cutting art in the north and south of China can express all kinds of joys and sorrows in life through a pair of scissors and a piece of paper.
Technically speaking, paper-cutting is actually cutting and carving on paper to present the image to be expressed. The working people of the Han nationality have honed this art form with their own intelligence and wisdom in the long-term artistic practice and life practice. Formed a variety of techniques such as tearing paper, ironing paper, color matching, color matching, dyeing, sketching, etc., so that the expressive force of paper-cutting extends infinitely in depth and breadth. As thin as a silkworm spinning silk and as thick as a big brush. Its different forms can be attached to the pendulum lining or hung in the air. Because the tools and materials of paper-cutting are simple and popular, and the techniques are easy to master, it has irreplaceable characteristics of other art categories. Therefore, this art form has spread almost all over the towns and villages in China since ancient times, and has won people's love and praise.
Development: In human childhood, art has no distinction between "folk" and "non-folk".
With the continuous development of society, the emergence of classes and the division of functions, compared with "palace art" and "literati art", the historical concept of "folk art" has been formed. Different kinds of works reflect the aesthetic standards of different classes and should be the basis of their boundaries. As far as paper-cutting is concerned, not all works cut and carved with paper can be described as "folk paper-cutting". In the history, there are many artists who cut paper specifically for the holiday customs of aristocratic citizens, and there are also many examples of literati painters painting for artists or professional artists using paper-cutting techniques to create. This kind of work is qualitatively different from the works created by working people for themselves, and most of them have been divorced from the aesthetic nature of workers, so it is impossible to be generally accepted by the public. Although some works are also circulated in some areas, they will eventually be unrecognizable in the variation because they are not created by the people themselves. Even today, the paper-cut works appearing in mass artistic creation activities in many areas cannot be confused with folk paper-cuts. Mass creative activities can also take the form of folk paper-cutting, creating good works that the masses love and enjoy, and then spreading them among the people, but its creative purpose is often divorced from the needs of their own lives, and even expresses the intention of counselors. Although closely related, it is not a concept.