Zigong paper-cutting has a history of more than 400 years. Together with Gong fan and tie-dye, it is known as Zigong’s “Three Little Wonders” and has been included in the second batch of Sichuan Province’s intangible cultural heritage list just announced. In this field of traditional folk art, there is an old man who works tirelessly and hard - 64-year-old Shen Chenglin.
Shen Chenglin was particularly fond of drawing classes when he was a boy. The school's blackboard newspaper required drawings of mastheads, illustrations, lace, etc., and the teacher would recommend him. After graduating from junior high school in 1959, he entered the Zigong Arts and Crafts Factory as an apprentice, which mainly produced handicrafts such as paper-cutting, Gong fans, tie-dying, lacquerware, and bamboo curtains. Yu Manbai, who won the paper-cutting award at the World Expo in Leipzig, Germany, was the director of the design office of the factory at the time. He saw that Shen Chenglin was attentive, had a good foundation in painting, and had high understanding, so he took the initiative to accept him as his apprentice and teach him how to make paper-cutting.
There are two commonly used paper-cutting techniques. One is "scissor cutting", which means borrowing scissors to cut paper. After cutting, paste several pieces (usually no more than 8 pieces) together, and finally use a sharp Scissors are used to process the pattern; the other is "carving knife scissors" (also known as "soft carving"), which first mixes yellow wax, flour, and clear oil to make a soft wax disk, and then polishes it with the clockwork of an alarm clock. Make a carving knife, fold the paper into several stacks and place it on the wax plate, and then slowly carve it with a knife. When carving, you need to hold the knife vertically and process the paper into the required pattern according to a certain model. The advantage of carving and scissors is that they can be processed into multiple paper-cut patterns at one time. Zigong paper-cutting mainly involves cutting with a carving knife, while Shen Chenglin is better at cutting with scissors.
Shen Chenglin actively devotes himself to the creation of paper-cutting with enthusiasm. His scissor-cut works such as "Burning Salt" and "Transporting Salt" reflect the full enthusiasm of salt workers. He also devoted himself to studying the innovation and development of paper-cutting art. He not only organically combined the delicacy and delicacy of Jiangsu and Zhejiang paper-cutting with the vigorous and roughness of northern paper-cutting, but also absorbed nutrients from epigraphy, calligraphy, stone carvings, Han bricks, shadow puppets and other arts to form his own simple and rich style. It has a unique style that is clumsy but clever, rich in decoration and strong in modernity. In 1989, his work "The Yi Family Kills the New Year Pig" participated in the "China's First Paper-cutting Grand Prix" held at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, and won the second prize in one fell swoop. After that, many works frequently won awards in various paper-cutting competitions across the country. He has been invited to Japan, the Netherlands and other places for exhibitions and performances many times.