Vacation Rates

As early as 2,000 years ago, right after paper was invented, ancient Chinese began the art of cutting paper designs. Throughout China’s history, this art has been developed by people living in different regions of the country. Beijing alone has a number of fantastic local shops with beautiful paper cutouts made by some of the best Chinese artisans.

Paper cutouts are generally used to decorate windows, doors, and walls with auspicious pictures, thus earning the name “chuang hua,” or “window flower” in Chinese. Most pieces show a symmetrical design with images of landscapes, houses, people, animals, or flowers. Cutouts designed for festivals usually have an auspicious Chinese character, like “Fu” or “Shou,” which mean Fortune and Longevity, in the middle of the picture. Paper cutting is traditionally a woman’s activity.

It is believed paper art started to take off during the Tang dynasty. The British Museum in London has works made in this period that show a high level of craftsmanship. In the Song dynasty, as the paper-making industry flourished, more varieties of paper were invented, and paper cutting became a very popular pastime for many Chinese. They became so popular, even patterns for porcelain were designed based on paper cutouts. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, this art reached its peak.  Read more...