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E-mail Xinhua, February 14, 2025
As dawn breaks over a village in suburban Beijing, 75-year-old Hao Lanying sits at her desk, scissors in hand, cutting red paper into the shape of a snake winding around a bird. The design is part of a series she has created to celebrate the Year of the Snake.
"I designed the 'auspicious snake' series as gifts for elderly locals," said Hao, who is from Jishanying Village in Beijing's Shunyi District and is a practitioner of the art of paper cutting, which is recognized as a form of intangible cultural heritage.
The distinct water-ripple paper cutting technique that Hao has mastered originated in a Shunyi household in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). What makes Hao's work unique is her use of scissors instead of knives. With skilled hands, she creates intricate patterns of rippling water and falling raindrops on single-layer red paper, bringing her designs to life.
This humble folk artist has spent over half a century promoting what has been called a dying art form, bringing it to the global stage.
In 2004, UNESCO acquired a piece of her work for its collections. And over the past 20 years, her works have been presented as national gifts to leaders of many European countries.
A map of the world in Hao's studio documents her cultural journey: a total of 193 red pins show the countries and regions where her works have traveled, while 28 marked flight paths weave together her stories of cultural exchange.
Below the map, a handwritten note reads, "I hope the roots of Chinese paper cutting will grow in every continent."
Hao's personal mission to take paper cutting beyond China began in 2005, when she traveled to Brazil with an All-China Women's Federation delegation.
In a Rio de Janeiro art center, she collaborated with local women to create a work blending Brazilian carnival feathers with vibrant Chinese Yangge dance ribbons. The piece was later incorporated into a commemorative stamp for the 40th anniversary of China-Brazil diplomatic ties.
"She cuts not just patterns, but the flowing story of China," a media report remarked at the time, referring to the work.
From a small courtyard in Shunyi to Rio de Janeiro, and from Alpine craft markets to African cooperatives, travel and cross-cultural collaboration have become commonplace for Hao.
On a wall in her studio, two photographs present a striking contrast. One shows Hao in 1984, cutting paper in her courtyard and surrounded by drying works. The other is a recent image of Hao in the same courtyard, surrounded this time by students from the United States, France, Italy and other countries as she teaches them her craft.
Now facing the digital age, Hao has taken an open-minded approach to continuing her work. She has led the development of an augmented reality (AR) teaching system for paper cutting, which allows users to scan her works to experience the entire process of its creation in holographic form.
Her water-ripple style of paper cutting has been explained in educational materials for children, simplifying techniques for younger generations. She has also launched a paper-cutting cultural and creative brand, breathing new life into traditional culture.
At the opening of a United Nations exhibition, she said, "Each paper-cutting is a window into Chinese culture, and when millions of windows open, we see the starry sky of human civilizations."
