Paper-cut for window decoration

Spring Festival is the largest traditional festival in China. In the province of Shanxi, it is a great

pleasure to decorate one’s home for the Spring Festival. People like cleaning, washing, pasting

window papercuts, attaching Spring Couplets, putting up New Year Paintings, and hanging up

colorful pictures over the wall.

In the vast Chinese countryside, papercuts are used as decorations on walls, doors, roofs,

and lanterns. Generally speaking, papercuts are pasted in courtyards, rooms and on everyday

goods to decorate the domestic environment and to add a cheerful atmosphere.

Chinese papercuts are rich in content. The designs symbolize good luck and the avoidance of

evil. Chinese farmers depicte objects such as domestic birds, livestock, fruits, fish, flowers and

worms. In different areas, papercuts have different characteristics.

The Shanxi window papercuts are simple, bucolically and delicate. Also, the papercuts are

applied with colors and portray many opera figures. In Shanxi, the original design is saved to

provide the pattern for embroidery. In this way traditional patterns have been handed on from

generation to generation.

Papercut works have been found in many Chinese relics, and the art form's history can be traced

back about 1,500 years to the Northern Dynasties (386-581). Though they require very simple

making skills, their contents are rich and reveal many local Chinese customs. Papercuts typically

demonstrate the preferred aesthetics of shape and the artistic concepts behind Chinese folk

handicrafts. An understanding and scrutiny of papercuts is a good beginning to get to know and

appreciate the complexity of Chinese folk arts.