(Foshan Paper Cutting of the North God)

China is the birthplace of paper cutting, while Foshan Paper Cutting has distinctive local features.

Chen Yongcai, born in 1941, was a local master of paper cutting in Foshan. He shares his ideas about Foshan Paper Cutting with us.

Chen mentions that the development of utilizing small carving knives in Foshan Paper Cutting satisfied the demand of large production. The advantage was that practitioners could deal with several cutting patterns at the same time, which also made paper cutting smoother and more exquisite.

(Paper cutting of folk-customs)

Paper craving uses copper foil and colored paper as the main raw materials, with unique regional style. In terms of producing, copper materials are the most distinctive.

Foshan Paper Cutting emerged at Canton Fair in the 1960s. It came back to Canton Fair in 1977 with new designs beyond traditional patterns of festivals and 12 Chinese Zodiac. The innovation was also popular among foreign businessmen and received lots of overseas orders. Many Japanese organizations came particularly for visiting and learning paper cutting in Foshan in the 1990s. Chen talked about the heyday of paper cutting when they had to trained over 200 young people to meet the great exported demand during the Lunar New Year Festival.

(Paper cutting of Foshan Century Lotus Sports Center)

As a matter of fact, Foshan Paper Cutting was introduced into Europe from the Balkans in the 1600s and soon became a trend in many countries. Learning paper cutting became one of the required courses for elegant ladies from middle class.

(Paper cutting of 56 ethnic groups of China)

Foshan Paper Cutting plays an important role in folk and it is used as decorations in many scenarios. With the development of society, Foshan Paper Cutting is mostly themed on modern lifestyle, paving new paths for traditional arts to thrive in a new fashion.