Hello, all! When I look back on our trip to China (which is happening quite frequently, as we’re all finally posting our pictures!), one experience in particular stood out to me. Do you all remember when we went to an art museum to learn some basic calligraphy? Before we went in to the ‘classroom’ for our lesson, we got the opportunity to look around and learn a bit about more traditional styles of Chinese art. Among my favorites of these art styles was Chinese paper-cutting – which I’d never actually heard of before, or even seen pictures of online.

With this art form, scissors or an engraving knife are used to cut delicate, detailed shapes into paper, often depicting elegant motifs or scenes from everyday life (such as portrayals of flowers and plants or weddings). Nowadays, modern technologies are also used to create paper-cuttings, although the more traditional methods still hold precedence.

Paper-cuttings serve as decorations for many different events or areas of life, ranging from interior décor in the home to festivities such as birthday celebrations, and are also occasionally utilized in prayer.

Here are a few of my favorites of the paper-cuttings we got a chance to see!

Chinese Paper-Cut. (2017). Retrieved from The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO): https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/chinese-paper-cut-00219