Editor's Note



According to UNESCO's definition, an "intangible cultural heritage" includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts. It has to be traditional, contemporary and living at the same time, inclusive, representative, and community-based. The safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage is an important factor in maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing globalization. An understanding of the intangible cultural heritage of different communities helps with intercultural dialogue, and encourages mutual respect for other ways of life.

The Shanghai municipal government has designated 157 traditions as Shanghai's intangible cultural heritage. The Global Times Metro Shanghai culture page will introduce one intangible culture heritage and interview their current inheritors every month.

In Shanghai dialect, the word huayangjing means ideas or methods. The phrase huayangjing lao tou means someone has many various ideas, which can be used in praise as well as in ridicule or satire.

However, few locals know that huayang originally meant paper cut and huayangjing meant the ballad or folk rhyme sung or read out loud by paper cut folk artists when they were performing paper cutting.

The combination of singing and paper cutting, Shanghai Huayangjing, or paper cut ballad, was listed as folk literature in the first batch of Shanghai intangible cultural heritage to be designated in 2007.

 

Zheng Shulin and his paper cuts Photos: Courtesy of the artist

In old Shanghai, paper cuts were originally used in embroidery for bed and pillow sheets, cheongsam and shoes, as well as in handmade wooden furniture and lanterns. People did embroidery and made carved patterns on the furniture by following the patterns of the paper cuts.

Many paper cut folk artists gathered at places downtown such as Baxianqiao and the City God Temple to sell their paper cuts. The Fuhua Huayang Shop near the City God Temple was one of the earliest paper cut shops in Shanghai. The competition between paper cut artists was fierce. "One of the differences between Shanghai huayang and paper cutting from other provinces is that Shanghai huayang is more market-oriented while paper cutting from other provinces is more like a pastime," said 54-year-old Shanghainese Zheng Shulin, an expert in Shanghai Huayangjing.



More detailed patterns

Shanghai huayang artists can make paper cuts much more quickly and in more detailed patterns. "In the village, a paper cut artist can make a single pattern all his or her life, but Shanghai huayang artists have to create numerous patterns to cater to their customers. In other words, the patterns of Shanghai huayang are tailored," said Zheng.

Merely creating nice paper cuts is not enough, according to Zheng. Shanghai huayang artists are expected to know the folk culture behind the paper cut patterns and tell customers their auspicious connotations. They compiled the stories and connotations into folk rhymes and songs, and which they sing while making paper cuts.

Zheng learned paper cutting from Chen Tingyu, a craftsman from Shanghai Arts and Crafts Research Institute. Zheng's enthusiasm and hard work in paper cutting made him a successful folk artist who was invited to numerous events to present his skills.

One day, a paper cut artist from Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, told Zheng that paper cutting was originally accompanied by singing, which stimulated Zheng's strong interest in the art form. In old Shanghai, most of those paper cut ballad artists were migrants from Jiangsu Province. So Zheng traveled to Jiangsu looking for older paper cut artists, from whom he learned ballads that had been passed on by word of mouth down the generations.

"The purpose of singing while doing paper cutting is firstly to attract customers, secondly for promotion, and thirdly to explain the usage of the huayang," said Zheng.

The contents of huayangjing are tailored to the customers depending on their gender, age and preference.

From birth to death, a person's entire life can be expressed by the paper cut's patterns. For example, customers who wish to get a promotion will have three joints of bamboo included in the pattern of the paper cut, while customers who were recently married will have mandarin duck patterns. "As a paper cut artist, you have to know the folk culture behind the paper cuts, and it is the folk culture that you spread by creating paper cuts," said Zheng.

Guidelines for the creations

The ballads that Zheng learned contain guidelines for the creation of paper cuts. For example, the bird of the huayang pattern has to have an open mouth to appear vivid and lifelike. If the customer was born in the Year of the Dog and was born in February, the dog of the paper cut pattern should not have its tongue sticking out, as dogs do not pant in the cold of February.

According to Zheng, it is not easy to cut the Chinese signs of the zodiac well. Different animals in different situations have different patterns. The diversity and the changeable patterns are also the characteristics of the paper cut of Shanghai Huayangjing.

"But no matter how you change the styles of the patterns, you cannot do it against common sense. So huayang artists have to pay close attention to the laws of nature," said Zheng.