Zhuanghe Paper-Cutting

Zhuanghe paper-cutting is a traditional folk art of Zhuanghe city in Liaoning, inheriting the paper-cutting tradition brought by Jiaodong migrants and fused with southern Liaoning folk custom; it entered the second national ICH list in June 2008 under traditional arts, and as part of Chinese paper-cutting it figures in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity inscribed in 2009.

Zhuanghe paper-cutting is antique in flavour and vivid in exaggeration, careful in the balance of black and white and of dense and simple, its cutting skill and knife-feel reaching a high level; representative works include Qilin Bringing a Son, Mice Marrying, the Topknot Child and Carp Sporting with Lotus, used mostly for festivals, weddings and window decorations.

Zhuanghe paper-cutting carries the folk art of southern Liaoning and the culture of Jiaodong migrants, an important local branch of Chinese paper-cutting, valuable for the study of folk belief, festival custom and women's handcraft tradition.

Zhuanghe city has several folk paper-cutting activity bases, with inheritors such as Han Yueqin leading transmission.