Paper cut, commonly known as window cut, is China's artistic flower with the smell of soil. It has a long history and is highly artistic and appreciative. Its 2000 year history of development has condensed the traditional concept of Chinese culture and deferred the humanistic spirit and ideological pulse of the Chinese nation. Paper cutting is both folk and artistic. As a folk art, paper cutting originated from the ancient working people to meet their own material and spiritual needs. Its popularity is long and its geographical scope is wide, which can be comparable to any traditional art. Paper cutting, as the plastic arts of workers, reposes the ideals and beliefs of the working people and expresses the happiness, forgiveness, sadness and happiness of the producers. It is accompanied by festivals, rituals and ceremonies, or decorated between the door and window walls or pasted in colored kite paper binding. Paper cutting is closely related to folk life, beautifying and embellishing all aspects of life. Delicate paper cutting works express people's festive and happy feelings incisively and vividly.
Tongwei paper-cut Tongwei paper-cut [1] , also called flower cutting and window cutting, is part of Gansu paper cutting and belongs to the Central Plains cultural system. However, due to the influence of geography and local customs, paper cutting in different parts of Gansu is also different. Paper cutting in eastern Gansu is simple and unsophisticated, and comes down in one continuous line with paper cutting in northern Shaanxi. However, some works are more primitive and unsophisticated than folk paper cutting in northern Shaanxi. When arriving in Tianshui area in southern Gansu, the mountains and waters are beautiful, Paper cutting also shows its ingenuity and delicacy in its simplicity. When it comes to the arid areas in central Gansu, the natural conditions are difficult, but the window paper cutting in Dingxi Tongwei is known for its delicacy. The chessboard, cloud, and round flower decorations are very similar to the art of the ancient Silk Road in China and the Dunhuang caisson pattern. According to the Dunhuang Pattern, the time can be traced back to the Five Dynasties.
It is said that Tongwei paper-cut has appeared since the Han Dynasty, and traces of its legacy can still be seen in the Tongwei window grilles. For example, many of the "full grid" patterns in the "window grilles" clearly have the style of Han seals and Han bricks. By the Ming and Qing dynasties, many Wubian officers and men migrated from the south to here, and also brought part of the culture of Jiangnan to here Strong nomadic cultures blend with each other. Therefore, the unique artistic style and regional features of Tongwei paper-cut have been formed. In the way of expression, there are not only the fine and delicate paper-cut in the south of the Yangtze River, but also the rough and unrestrained window cut in the northwest, which looks natural, beautiful and harmonious.
Tongwei paper-cut There is also a beautiful and moving legend about Tongwei window paper cutting. In the distant past, there was a loving couple living here. One day, her husband Qin Jia was sent by the government to work in the south of the Yangtze River, and her wife Xu Shu wrote a poem about missing her husband. However, when the clouds broke Hengyang, who could pass on this endless yearning for her? Wise Xu Shu cut out a paper crane. However, when the paper crane flew to the south of the Yangtze River with a poem note, Qin Jia had died in a foreign country. The sad news came that Xu Shu cut thousands of white flowers and scattered them into the mountains. Thousands of mountains and valleys were dressed in mourning. From then on, when the snow was dancing in the season, Tongwei's children used paper cuts to commemorate the loving couple who lived and died together, It also expresses people's yearning for pure love.
Tongwei paper-cut The windows of Tongwei farmhouses are mainly wooden lattice windows. The most common ones are five to twenty-five lattice windows, and the large ones are seven to forty-nine lattice windows, also known as hundred lattice windows and Chinese windows. The wooden lattice windows of forty-nine lattice windows are divided into upper and lower parts, and the lower part is slightly shorter, which can be opened and closed. In summer, open the upper part, and use a small wooden stick to support it to attract fresh air into the house. They are well designed and ventilated. During the Spring Festival, Every family put white rice paper on the window sashes of the wooden mullions, and then pasted colorful window friezes in the window panes to express happiness, which is both beautiful and bright.
Tongwei window grilles are rich in colors and diverse in forms. They are mainly carved in the sun, with single cutting, yin-yang composite cutting, and symmetrical cutting. They pay attention to the overall layout. The window grilles span the window mullions and are not limited by the window panes. They pay attention to the color matching and the virtual and real changes of dots and lines. They organically absorb the structure of ancient architectural flower and wood lattices. They are neat, beautiful, highly decorative, and have a magnificent effect. The most common forms of Tongwei window grilles are "Tuanhua Cloud", "Chessboard", "Window Inlay" and other decorations, which are the most classic forms of window grilles in Longzhong, Gansu.
Tongwei paper-cut Spring leaf and face covering are ancient and unique art varieties in Tongwei paper-cut, which are evolved from the ancient "flag victory". During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there was a saying in the miscellaneous music of Xu Ling in the State of Chen that "the beginning of the spring calendar should be a new day, and the end of the spring banner in the first month should be old". Spring leaf, also known as spring tassel, comes from folk craftsmen and is used by thousands of families. It is ingenious in design, unique in composition, profound in meaning, exquisite in craftsmanship, and colorful. The pattern composition of spring tassels is made of exaggerated and deformed ancient coins and is usually pasted on the eaves rafters or door frames, symbolizing that "winter goes to spring to look forward to a bumper year, and spring welcomes good fortune and rich flowers". The whole picture is bright and eye-catching, which caters to people's psychology during the festival, and skillfully uses the combination of natural flowers and geometric patterns, such as rich peonies, five blessings for longevity, three immortals, three friends Four gentlemen, etc., fully reflect people's desire to live and work in peace and contentment, and permeate people's spiritual sustenance for a better life. Some are fresh and elegant at the same time, some are light and vigorous at the same time, some are clumsy and beautiful at the same time, some are rough and exquisite at the same time. This unique style combines the 'garden style' decorative scenery, fully reflecting the artistic charm of simplicity with richness and simplicity. Together with the window decorations, spring couplets, firecrackers and lanterns, it presents a beautiful view of "changing thousands of old spring pages, and illuminating everything new with colored lights", which sets off the festive atmosphere of "sticking Yichun pictures on thousands of doors, and celebrating the new festival together" during the New Year.
Tongwei paper-cut
Tongwei paper-cut Tongwei window grilles, the quintessence of Chinese culture deeply hidden in the countryside, after experiencing the precipitation and accumulation of history, are still displayed in front of the vast number of artists and viewers with his simple and unique charm, showing its vigorous vitality and constantly appearing on the stage of art. A small window paper-cut not only reflects the long history of China five thousand years ago, but also reflects the endless hopes and aspirations of a nation for thousands of years. It is a perfect combination of history and reality, as well as a wonderful communication between reality and the future, As Guo Moruo wrote in his poem, "I once saw the window grilles in the Northern Kingdom, which are naive and rich in flavor. The ingenious cutting of them can capture the magic skills, and the beauty is immortal in the world.".
