Formal Beauty of Paper-cut in Northern Shaanxi

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Ansai has three most famous artistic styles, besides waist drum, there are paper-cutting and folk songs.

Paper-cutting and folk songs are folk arts handed down from generation to generation. Their history is not recorded in the literature, but they are handed down from generation to generation. Locals call paper-cutting "ancient flowers". Paper-cutting is a traditional craft of local women, and its patterns, copying, skills and techniques are only passed down from mother to daughter.

In farming civilization, female workers are a compulsory course for women. In northern Shaanxi, paper-cutting and embroidery have almost become girls' facades. "Cleverness" is an important criterion for men to measure women. The older generation in northern Shaanxi still remember a saying that it is good for Mo Wen people to be blind, as long as they are capable. Ansai's folk song "Wedding Song" is even more direct: "A clever girl makes a pomegranate peony hinge." Whether a woman is smart or not depends on whether the flowers she cuts are good or not.

According to some data, as a folk art in China, paper-cutting originated in the Han and Tang Dynasties. For thousands of years, it has been widely circulated among the people with its unique charm. Every wedding, paper-cutting will shine brilliantly. In retrospect, in this barren and monotonous loess plateau, without these colorful pieces of paper, what did people rely on to pass the monotonous days?

Hinge paper-cutting and stick grilles are customs handed down from Ansai since ancient times. Especially during the Chinese New Year, anyone who doesn't live in the stick window grilles will be laughed at by the villagers as a "blind window". Under the pressure of this kind of public opinion, even the lonely old people have to ask the clever daughter-in-law in the village for some paper-cuts to stick on the windows. As for the stubborn old man who is unwilling to ask for help, he will also think of surprising ways to deal with it.

1979 Ansai Cultural Center Chenshanqiao saw an old bachelor in Tanjiaying Bath Village, cut some triangles with red paper and pasted them on the window at random. According to the old man, this is mainly to ward off evil spirits-seeing red. What is even more unique is a couplet on his door, which is made of paper or red paper, and the words are paved with an old bowl stained with pot ash. Couplets consist of five black circles. The old man is illiterate and unwilling to speak to others, so he has to cope. Later, Chenshanqiao saw a couplet posted by a farmer in Xihekou (once the cultural center of northern Shaanxi): the first couplet was "It doesn't matter if you behead"; The bottom line is "Hatoyama gave a banquet to make friends with me". "How to post such couplets in the New Year?" Mr. Chen is puzzled. Mother-in-law replied: "The child copied it from the book, who knows what to write."

There will be no such jokes now, not only because there are more people who can read and hyphenate today, but also because even if they don't hang couplets on decals today, they will no longer face the pressure of public opinion. Without pressure, there is no motivation. In Chen's view, this is really embarrassing.

Nowadays, Ansai, the so-called "hometown of paper-cutting", has long been famous, but the villagers themselves don't like paper-cutting. 200 1 During the Spring Festival, Ansai girl Fan Xiaomei (a rising star of Ansai paper-cutting, who has been to Japan, Canada, Taiwan and other places in recent years and performed paper-cutting for the Clintons on the wall of Xi 'an Annan Gate) went back to her hometown to visit her relatives. Paper-cuts are rarely seen on the windows and walls of the village. Now there are many more celebrity photos, various advertising posters, VCD, radio and television, billiards and mahjong in caves in northern Shaanxi. People don't have to use colorful pieces of paper to adjust their lives. In the eyes of girls now, it is a backward way, which is both laborious and troublesome. It's hard for them to enjoy it, but if someone gives money, it's another matter. Of course, today's Ansai boys still hope that the woman is ingenious, but now this "ingenuity" does not need to be proved with a pair of scissors.

Accompanied by Han, director of Ansai County Cultural Bureau, we visited the paper-cut exhibition hall of Ansai County Cultural Center, which is really a world of flowers and flowers. The variety of its categories and the richness of its content are amazing. Roughly speaking, there are window flowers, door paintings, kang flowers, hanging curtain flowers, kiln top flowers, table skirt flowers, pillow flowers, shoe flowers, brand flowers, belly flowers and so on. There are several contents. First, it is used to beautify the environment during the Spring Festival, symbolizing good luck, such as birds, flowers, cows, sheep, pigs, dogs, lions and tigers. Second, it is used to decorate new houses, mostly pomegranate peony, two birds and so on. Third, the patterns used to make embroidery and cloth toys are mostly double pomegranate, double peach and tiger doll. Fourth, it is used for superstitious etiquette, such as the kitchen god, the god of wealth, and the paper man used for evocation. Of course, there are also some paper-cut works about modern rural life.

According to Han, Ansai paper-cutting is a model for working women in northern Shaanxi to create beauty. Paper-cutting in caves, which was originally used to decorate and beautify life, has been passed down from generation to generation by working women, forming a simple, vivid and strong free style, reflecting the simple thoughts and feelings of working women in northern Shaanxi and their love for life. Ansai paper-cut has various forms and rich contents, including flowers, birds, fish and insects, fruits and vegetables, livestock and animals, some people have trees and all the beauty of nature.

Chen, the former director of Ansai County Cultural Center, conducted extensive investigation and in-depth research on local paper-cutting. He wrote in the article Ansai People and the Art of Paper-cutting:

"Ansai paper-cutting history, there are not many words for textual research, but ask the living old woman: Who did you learn to cut flowers with when you were young? They will all answer the same question: mom taught them. Ansai people still call traditional patterns "ancient flowers". From the paper-cut works sorted out now, we can find traces of Ansai's history and culture. The Dragon and Phoenix, edited by the 64-year-old Chang, reminds people of the time when people experienced the dragon and phoenix dance five thousand years ago, and the chaotic world just created by Fuxi Nuwa when it first opened. The shape of the dragon and phoenix is particularly simple, similar to the dragon placed in Yangshao's tomb in Xishuipo, Puyang. The 67-year-old Fenglan cut down trees, trunks and branches in the annual plough and monkeys eating cigarettes, forming the deformation of the deer head pattern. Experts believe that it is the relic of deer totem worship in Ansai as a "phenological calendar" and a symbol of ancient life in China. Gao Rulan's "Bun-catching Doll", in the opinion of some experts, is a Shang folk culture that has long been lost elsewhere. It cut the two steamed buns on its head into two chickens, exactly like the jade girl of the Shang Dynasty in the Palace Museum. " "Catch the Bun Doll" with one hand holding the bird (Yang); Holding the rabbit (Yin) in one hand and combining Yin and Yang are the image remains of reproductive worship. Ansai's ancient patterns can be said to be cultural relics on the ground and important historical materials for studying the national culture and folk customs in northern China. From the perspective of artistic style, it is simple, solemn, concise, generalized, and has inner strength, retaining the artistic characteristics of Han Dynasty art. "

Fang Lili, a researcher at the Institute of Chinese Studies, made a thorough investigation and analysis on this. She attached great importance to the historical origin and cultural inheritance of this kind of flower called "ancient flower". In an article entitled "The Memory of the Yellow Land", her brush strokes trace back to ancient times:

"... some paper-cuts that show ancient legends, such as" Chasing the Sun in Erlang Mountain "cut by Bai Fengxian. According to folklore, in the past, nine suns suddenly appeared in the sky, which made it impossible for people to work in the fields. Birds died in the sun and trees withered. Jiro chased the sun on the mountain, killing eight suns and saving mankind and everything. This is in line with the Central Plains story of "Houyi shooting at the sun", and the story of "Wang Xiang lying on the ice" cut by Bai Fenglan is one of the twenty-four filial piety stories. Show the story of Wang Xiang's filial piety to his mother and lying on the ice fishing.

"The same is true of the eagle stepping on the rabbit carved in the collection of the late old Cao Man. Eagle is a hero among birds, and birds have a deep meaning in this respect. In Ansai, many Neolithic Miaodigou painted pottery were found. One of the characteristics of Miaodigou painted pottery is that there are many bird patterns, just like the half-slope painted pottery is dominated by fish patterns. Because the bird pattern is widely used, the bird above should be the totem of a primitive tribe at that time, and the sun is called' three-legged black' in primitive mythology, so the primitive tribe that worships birds actually worships the sun, so the bird is a symbol of the sun and is also called' crow' in local folks. Therefore, birds symbolize masculinity among the people, and eagles are heroes among birds, so naturally they are masculine. Rabbits represent the moon, the moon is negative, and rabbits naturally represent negative. Eagle stepping on a rabbit is a flower, which was cut when I got married. Its moral is the love between men and women, which reflects the theme of reproductive worship.

"Bai Fenglan's father is an expert in paper-cutting. Although he can't read, he can vividly tell many stories of ancient times, such as Nu Wa making people, Jiro shouldering mountains, Mao Yeren and so on. Every rainy day or winter months, her house is always crowded with plowmen at night, listening to Chao Gu with relish. Bai Fenglan always sits in her father's arms and listens carefully. Mother's good flower arrangement was admired by the whole village, which also influenced Bai Fenglan. She often imitates her mother, peeling a peony pomegranate and a lotus fish. Her family was poor and couldn't afford paper, so she picked many pear leaves at home and cut them with leaves instead of paper. Under the guidance of my mother, I learned how to cut many traditional patterns. Under the influence of her father, she cut many paper-cuts according to ancient legends and folk stories. Besides the aforementioned Chasing the Sun in Erlang Mountain and Wang Xiang Sleeping on the Ice, there are Mao Yeren, Whiplash, Cowherd and Weaver Girl. The flowers she cut are simple, mellow, rough and powerful. The pictures she cut of the monkey eating Xiantao and cattle are very close to the stone carving art of Han Dynasty portraits unearthed in northern Shaanxi. In particular, the shape of the tree in the picture of the monkey eating Xiantao is considered as a totem pattern in Longshan culture period, which provides a basis for studying the traditional culture of China and the inheritance of northern Shaanxi culture. In fact, the images of these trees are similar to those of mulberry trees on bronze cans during the Warring States period. It shows that these decorative patterns have certain inheritance.

"The inheritance of folk culture and folk art style here was the strongest in primitive, ancient and Qin and Han dynasties. The reason is that this area was once one of the centers of Yangshao culture and Longshan culture. Followed by the Song Dynasty. After the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the culture here was in a relatively closed and independent state, and was less influenced by the Central Plains culture and other foreign cultures. Deep cultural traditions and folk customs have a long history from ancient times to the present. Reproductive worship, ancestor worship and totem worship in primitive culture can be found in folk culture and folk art here. "