Spring Festival couplets, the origin of paper cutting

First of all, Spring Festival couplets originated in Fu Tao (rectangular red boards were hung on both sides of the gate in the Zhou Dynasty). According to the Book of Rites, the peach symbol is six inches long and three inches wide, and the names of ghosts and gods Shen Tu and Lei Yu are written on the mahogany board. "On the first day of the first month, peaches are made into households, and immortals are famous, and ghosts are afraid of them." Therefore, the Qing Dynasty's "Yanjing Year" records: "Spring Festival couplets, that is, Fu Tao." During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, in the court, someone inscribed couplets on peach symbols. The History of the Song Dynasty and the Family History of Shu said: Meng Chang, the master of the later Shu Dynasty, asked the bachelor Xin to write a poem on the red board. "Because he is not working, he pretended to say,' Spring Festival is coming, and Changchun is celebrated in the first place'". This is China's second Spring Festival couplets. Until the Song Dynasty, Spring Festival couplets were still called "Fu Tao". There is a saying in Wang Anshi's poem that "thousands of households always exchange new peaches for old ones." In the Song Dynasty, the peach symbols were changed from red boards to paper, which were called "spring stickers" and "Spring Festival couplets". This custom originated in the Song Dynasty and was popular in the Ming Dynasty. By the Qing Dynasty, the ideological and artistic quality of Spring Festival couplets had been greatly improved.

Second, paper cutting.

(A) the history of paper-cutting

Paper-cutting originated from the activities of ancestor worship and blessing of the ancients, and was rooted in the profound traditional culture of China. The history of two thousand years has condensed the traditional ideas of China culture. In its evolution, it is intertwined with painted pottery art, rock painting art and other arts, delaying the humanistic spirit and ideological pulse of the ancient nation. As an integral part of China's traditional culture, it is the epitome of traditional beliefs and ethics, and it is also a window to observe the inheritance of a national folk culture.

China folk paper-cut handicraft art has its own formation and development process. The invention of Chinese paper-cutting was in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period (3rd century BC). At that time, people used very thin materials to make handicrafts by hollowing out and carving, but it was popular long before paper appeared, that is, patterns were cut on gold foil, leather, silk and even leaves by carving, carving, picking, carving and cutting. According to Records of the Historian Jiantong Di Feng, in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, a king was king, and he cut a plane tree leaf into a "reed" and gave it to his younger brother, who named it Tang Hou. During the Warring States Period, leather carvings (one of the cultural relics unearthed from Chu Tomb No.1 in Jiangling, Hubei Province) and silver foil carvings (one of the cultural relics unearthed from Guwei Village in Huixian County, Henan Province) were all demolished together with paper-cutting, and their appearance laid a certain foundation for the formation of folk paper-cutting. The earliest paper-cutting works in China were found in 1967, when China archaeologists discovered two paper-cuts with flowers in the northern tombs of Astana near Gaochang Site in Turpan Basin, Xinjiang. They use hemp paper, all of which are folded sacrificial paper-cuts. Their discovery provides physical evidence for the formation of Chinese paper-cutting.

The history of paper-cutting handicraft art, that is, paper-cutting in the true sense, should begin with the appearance of paper. The invention of paper in Han Dynasty promoted the appearance, development and popularization of paper-cutting. Paper is a moldy material. People don't keep it as a treasure, and they can cut it if it is broken. In the northwest of China, the weather is dry, the climate is dry, and the paper is not easy to get moldy, which may also be one of the important reasons for the discovery of paper-cutting in the Northern Dynasties in Turpan, Xinjiang.

Paper-cutting has been in a period of great development in the Tang Dynasty. In Du Fu's poem, there is a saying that "warm water trapped my feet, and paper-cutting called back my soul", and the custom of paper-cutting called back my soul had spread among the people at that time. The paper-cut in the Tang Dynasty, which is now in the British Museum, shows that the paper-cut at that time had a high level of manual art and a complete picture composition, expressing an ideal realm between heaven and earth. Popular in the Tang Dynasty, the carved patterns of flowers and trees have the characteristics of paper-cutting. For example, the pattern of "Duiyang" in Masakura Hospital in Japan is a typical artistic expression of hand cutting. In the Tang dynasty, there was also block printing made of paper-cutting. People carved it into wax paper with thick paper, and then printed the dye on the cloth to form beautiful patterns.

In Song Dynasty, the paper industry was mature and there were many kinds of paper products, which provided conditions for the popularization of paper-cutting. For example, it can be used as "fireworks" for folk gifts, "window grilles" pasted on windows, or as decorations for lanterns and teacups. The application scope of folk paper-cutting in Song Dynasty gradually expanded. Jiangxi Jizhou Kiln uses paper-cut as the pattern of ceramics, and makes the ceramics more exquisite by glazing and firing. Folk also use paper-cutting to carve figures in shadow play with the skins of animals such as donkeys, cows, horses and sheep. Carved version made of blue printed cloth, carved into patterns with oilpaper board, and scratched patterns made by paper-cutting technology, divided into yin and yang engraving. Long lines should be cut off to distinguish facts from truth.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the paper-cut handicraft art matured and reached its peak. Folk paper-cut handicraft art has a wider range of applications, such as flower decorations on folk lanterns, decorative patterns on fans and embroidery patterns, all of which are reprocessed with paper-cut as decoration. More people in China often use paper-cutting as decorations to decorate their homes and beautify their home environment. For example, door battlements, window grilles, cabinet flowers, wedding flowers and ceiling flowers are all used to decorate doors, windows and rooms. In addition to the paper-binding pattern craftsmen who appeared after the Southern Song Dynasty, the most basic team of folk paper-cutting handicrafts in China is rural women. Female red is an important symbol of the perfection of traditional women in China. As a compulsory skill of needlework, paper-cutting has become a skill that girls have to learn since childhood. They should learn paper-cut patterns from their predecessors or sisters, cut, draw and cut new patterns by hand, and describe the natural scenery they are familiar with and love, the scenery of fish, insects, birds, animals, flowers, trees, pavilions and bridges, and finally reach the realm of their own will.

(B) the genre of paper-cutting

1, Southern School

(1) Paper-cutting in Mianyang, Hubei Province

(2) Paper-cutting in Foshan, Guangdong

(3) Fujian folk paper-cutting

(4) Paper-cutting in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province

(5) Zhejiang folk paper-cutting

2. North School

(1) Helen Paper-cut

(2) Qingyang paper-cutting

(3) Shanxi paper cutting

(4) Youyu paper-cutting

(5) Paper-cutting in Yuxian County, Hebei Province

(6) Shaanxi folk paper-cutting

(7) Shandong folk paper-cutting

(C) the creation of paper-cutting

1. Printing and dyeing paper-traditional paper-cutting artists in China will dye the paper with traditional China red with a brush.

2. Hot stamping-After the dyed rice paper is dried, wrinkles usually appear. Use a hot iron to iron wrinkled paper.

3. Make a template-the image of the butterfly below is very simple. Draw the outline of a butterfly with a pencil.

4. Smoked template-Take a piece of paper dyed and prepared by Zhang Gang, wet it, and then press the template on it. Such that one side of the template faces the kerosene lamp. The template and the place where the template is not covered will be blackened by kerosene lamps. When the paper is completely dry, take off the template, and then leave the place where the kerosene lamp is smoked and the blank covered by the template. This is a paper-cut model.

5. Stacking-put the paper-cut samples on a small pile of paper dyed with lewd colors, about 20 pieces, and then seal them together.

6. Paper-cutting-Paper-cutting artists in China usually choose sharp scissors with long handles and short toughness. Use it to cut the one with visible graphics, so that other papers can be cut at the same time. The first is to cut the pattern inside, and the second is to cut the edge outside.

Among all kinds of scissors in China, Yuxian paper-cutting is unique. It is a stippling paper-cut with negative engraving as the main part and positive engraving as the auxiliary part. Its technological process can be divided into the following six processes.

(1) Painting: Designers draw patterns according to their own ideas or customers' requirements, which is generally called painting.

(2) Booking: Booking the painted appearance on the rice paper (generally 50 pieces of rice paper at a time is appropriate), and dividing it into small pieces with scissors according to the size of the appearance.

(3) Soaking: put the ordered goods into water, take them out after soaking, then squeeze out the water contained in them and dry them in the sun.

(4) Carving: Put the soaked goods on the wax board and carve them according to the requirements of the pattern.

(5) Dyeing: coloring the carved product. Raw material coloring and dust removal; Tools are a writing brush and a clean newspaper.

(6) Packaging: The products produced by the above five processes are packaged in the form of paper plastic or books, picture frames, gold and platinum.

Paper-cut mounting

1, preparation before installation

Paper-cut works must be flattened before mounting. Then, choose the color matching of lace, reserve some lace paper, and prepare supporting paper with the same size as the negative paper. It is best to use the same paper as paper cutting, and the paper should be smooth and colorless. Check them one by one before use, scrape off impurities with a knife and clean them with a cleaning tool.

Paper-cut mounting generally adopts the following forms:

2. Frame installation

Generally, it is ok to sell photos and pictures in the market. When installing paper-cut, it is necessary to stick a small amount of white latex around the paper-cut on the supporting paper, otherwise the paper-cut will often fall or move after the hanger, which is uneven. The color choice of paper holder mainly depends on the color of paper-cutting, which plays a role in foil paper-cutting. For example, when paper-cutting is heavy color, the backing paper should be light color, and when paper-cutting is light color or white, the backing paper should be heavy color.

3. Paperboard installation

Cardboard installation can be divided into plane installation and vertical installation. When plane mounting, all the transparent latex used for paper-cutting is stuck on the pre-designed cardboard. Three-dimensional mounting is to divide the paper tray into two layers, the middle of paper-cut is fixed with transparent sheet, and the outside is pasted with transparent sheet or cellophane. This mounting gives people a feeling of three-dimensional space.

4, reel installation

Scroll is the mounting form of Chinese painting. It is solemn and generous, hanging in the room with great verve and oriental artistic characteristics, which is naturally a superior choice for mounting paper-cuts. If you ask the calligrapher to inscribe and seal the mounted scroll, it can be compared with the central axis painting of China. Mounting scrolls are more expensive than picture frames, and mounting technology is difficult, but the artistic effect is quite good.

5. Glue pressing and installation

With the development of modern industry, there are more and more transparent chemical materials, such as transparent resin glue, adding a little coagulant, laying paper-cut on glass, pouring the prepared glue on paper-cut, then laying it on the glue with cellophane stretched on a wooden frame, flattening it with a rubber roller, and drying it under 400-degree light. This method is very beautiful and can be preserved permanently, but the technology is complicated. If the temperature is not well controlled during prayer, cellophane will be easily burnt and invalid. This mounting effect is similar to photo pasting.

(E) Symbolic significance of paper-cutting

Folk paper-cutting is good at combining all kinds of objects and images to produce ideal and beautiful effects. No matter whether one or more image combinations are used, they are modeled by "image implication" and "meaning conformation", rather than by objective natural forms. At the same time, they are also good at using metaphor and combining the agreed images to create various mascots to express their psychology. Pursuing auspicious metaphor has become one of the ultimate goals of image combination.

The main reason why folk paper-cutting can be widely spread for a long time is the performance function of accepting blessings and welcoming auspicious events. The geographical closure and cultural limitations, as well as the intrusion of adversity such as natural disasters, aroused people's desire for a happy life. People pray for ample food and clothing, prosperity, health and longevity, and all the best. This simple wish is conveyed through paper-cutting. Folk paper-cut "deer and crane in the same spring" is a traditional folk theme pattern. Folk deer and Lu are homophonic, and cranes are regarded as longevity birds, so the combination of deer and cranes means longevity. In the case of relatively low productivity of civil society, human labor has become the guarantee of survival, and it is an eternal ideal for people to get rid of the pain of birth, illness and death. Folk paper-cutting expresses the desire for life in various forms, protects life, praises life, shows the joy of life, and the worship of life becomes people's sincere belief. "Eagle stepping on a rabbit" is one of the favorite flowers in the folk bridal chamber, and it is also a traditional pattern, which is widely circulated among the people. Eagle means "Yang", just like chickens, birds and crows. In folk mythology, the sun is called a "three-legged bird" and people call it a "crow". Rabbit means "Yin". People call the moon a rabbit. The eagle stepping on the rabbit is a metaphor for the love between men and women, which embodies the theme of reproductive worship. Sitting and enjoying flowers, which are common in folk paper-cutting, express the worship and pursuit of life in a metaphorical way. Paper-cut works with the theme of "buckle bowl", "catch bun doll" and "fish with lotus flowers" abound, and the list is endless.

The expression language of folk paper-cutting is not a simple and straightforward description, but a kind of token information, which borrows the conventional concept image to pin people's longing for a better life and expectation for good luck and happiness. All kinds of simple and grotesque paper-cut shapes contain frankness and beauty, which come from the original visual thinking mode and folk aesthetic concept; It comes from a unique modeling system, which consists of program system and image statue; The original philosophy and worldview from China are even more touching.