Paper carving is an ancient folk art. Jintan city of Jiangsu province is one of the earliest areas where paper carving is popular in China. In February 2008, Jintan paper carving was listed as the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage.
The paper cutting process mainly consists of two parts: manual painting and hollow engraving. Its engraving technique takes in different elements and absorbs all the benefits. No matter what the paper size it is, manual painting and hollow engraving act up to the law of the paper-cut and requirements, which both keep clear and complete composition and modelling, and ensure the overall lines connected to each other. A little carelessness in carving will ruin the whole painting (stack).For example, the characters’ cloaks in A Moonlit Night on the Spring River are meticulously engraved with more than 20,000 times. The artistic effect is extremely lifelike and vividly shows the silk texture beauty and fluttering dynamic beauty of the character’s cloak.
The art of Jintan paper carving is divided into two major schools. One is the traditional paper carving with simple and elegant style and various special patterns. The other is the modern paper carving with fresh and memorable style and emitting strong flavor of the times. Compared with traditional paper carving, Jintan paper carving has many artistic features such as flexible sized products, diversified carving techniques, exquisite and rich expressions, fine and luxuriant composition.
The Jintan paper carving works are full of rich local flavor and time color and they are the local miracle and folk craft treasure with unique characteristic of the south China. At the same time, it also serves as a medium for foreign tourists to understand and get close to the south China so as to be known as “a flower in the south China”.
