Folk Paper-cuts

Folk Paper-cuts though often used as patterns for embroidery, serve as window decorations. When Spring Festival comes, the windows of the gray houses on the Guanzhong Plain and of the caves on the Northern Shaanxi Plateau are decorated with paper-cuts. With bright red paper-cuts of all kinds on snow-white window paper, the atmosphere appears a lot more festive. At the same time, the paper-cuts contain people's good wishes.

The subjects of Shaanxi paper-cuts are considered to be bold and unconstrained, brief and exaggerated. Different parts of the province have styles of their own.

The Northern Shaanxi paper-cuts look comparatively simple, honest, vigorous and generous, while the Central Shaanxi Plain's paper-cuts are of simplicity, mingled with exquisiteness, and have boldness, mingled with beauty.

Shaanxi paper-cuts have a long history. Originating in the cradle of ancient Chinese culture, they have been handed down from generation to generation among people. They seem to tell us vividly of the ancient stories of the Chinese nation and pull at the heartstrings of the Chinese people.