Chinese paper cutting is a traditional folk art that originated hundreds of years ago in Pingyang County, Zhejiang Province. The art form became possible after the invention of paper in China around the 1st century CE. Rural women and girls would create paper cut designs depicting everyday subjects like flowers, animals, and landscapes, which were sometimes used as models for needlework. A skilled artist performs the cuts with smooth, powerful scissor strokes to carefully shape the design without errors.

1. Chinese Paper Cutting

2. History
 Paper-cuts represent a common folk art form that
has a long cultural tradition throughout China.
Folk artists of Pingyang County, Zhejiang
Province, have been making paper-cuts for
hundreds of years; it is still popular today as a
pastime for rural women and girls.

3. History
 The important Chinese invention that makes this
art form possible is paper, which the Chinese
invented around the first century CE. Some of the
earliest paper-cuts that have been found were
traced back to the Northern and Southern
Kingdoms (420-589 CE).

5. Needlework
 Paper-cuts, also called scissor cuts, were used
for decorations. Often a paper-cut design would
be created as a model for folk needlework, to test
the design.

6.  Chinese paper-cuts usually represent everyday
life. Common subjects for the folk art form include
the dragon, phoenix, signs of the zodiac, birds,
trees, flowering branches, bamboo, peonies and
other flowers, horses, fish, cats and kittens,
landscapes, insects, pagodas, characters from
traditional folktales, and traditional Chinese
masks. The designs might be serious, stylized, or
even whimsical, and appear in a variety of sizes
and shapes, including rectangular, diamond, and
oval.

12.  The cutting must be done carefully. A skilled
Chinese artisan uses powerful and smooth
scissor strokes and completes each piece quickly
without mistake.

13. Let’s try it!