Art and Galleries, Beijing

Papercut is an art form originally created in China. Around the first century A.D., the Chinese invented that most flexible, versatile and adaptable of materials -- paper. The first papercut can be traced date back to the period known as the Northern and Southern Dynasties (A.D. 386-581). In the T'ang Dynasty (A.D. 618-906) papercuts are the subject of a poem by the poet Ts'ui Tao-yung and from other sources of this period they are described as being used to decorate plants and worn by ladies in their hair in form of butterflies and flowers. Here are some sample of Chinese Papercuts.

Today, many Chinese people still do it . It become to an art what is more and more attentive. In northern of Shanxi, Shanxi and Hebei, women who are unschooled can cut paper by superb. They have labor all life and all theme of paper-cut are labor and life. Without any designing or roughdrawing, what they thought is what they cut. This cut skill is going to extinct that society is enhancing protection.

I hope after hundreds years, thousands years, our posterity would see so pretty paper-cut and know how to do it.

Calligraphy is a special art and seems to be highly appreciated! It has a long history and has been performed for more than 1500 years!

We saw this man at the Summer Palace - doing calligraphy with water!!