中国民间剪纸之乡的庆阳剪纸表现手法

Chinese Paper Cutting
Since the invention of paper by the Chinese in 105 A.D., paper has been put to good use by mankind in so many ways. In the office, in school, in shopping malls, in planes and even in the comfort rooms, we find paper in many forms and uses. It's actually quite amazing to know that one of the first uses the Chinese used paper for was as a media for cutting out shapes and forms.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasty (386 - 581 A.D.), cutting out intricate patterns out of paper has become a tradition. This was the beginning of the art of Chinese Paper Cutting called Jian Zhi. The early practitioners of this art depicted in their paper cut creations their simple life, their aspirations and their beliefs. A favorite subject are objects that are symbols for good fortune and happiness. These paper cutouts where used by the people to decorate their houses during festivals and even used by women as hair ornaments during the Tang Dynasty.

The Song Dynasty greatly improved the paper making process and introduced different colors of paper. The paper cut craftsmen of the time put the colored paper to good use in their paper cut outs. In the Ming and Qing Dynasty, paper cutting art reached its peak to the point that it became a required skill for women before they can get married. Subject covered in the Chinese Paper Cut creations also expanded to cover flora and fauna, scenes from their traditional tales and folklore and even rendering images of their famous heroes and mythical Gods.

Today, China has many paper cut artists specializing in paper cut outs. The knowledge usually was passed on by generations of paper artists in their family or home town. There are different styles of rendering paper cuttings in each region of China. There used to be only traditional Chinese themes but today western images and modern art touches are found in certain paper cut outs.

Paper Cutting also surfaced in other countries like in Germany and Switzerland they have what is called scherenschnitte, in Denmark they have papirklip, in Mexico its papel picado, the Polish have wycinanki , the Netherlands have papierknipkunst, the Japanese have kirigami and katagami and even a country like Lithuania have their own paper cut art style.

The Chinese Art of Paper Cutting is called Zhong guo Jian zhi (Chinese Paper Cut) is made either by cutting using scissors or by sculpting the patterns and shapes by using a scalpel like knife. The paper commonly used for Jian Zhi is called Xuan Paper. This paper comes from Anhui province where it is made from the fibers of a pine tree.

Scissor cutting involves folding and cutting the paper and the resulting patterns are usually symmetrical due to the folds. Non-symmetrical cutouts can also be made using scissors. Chinese Paper Cut masters just wielding scissors for a tool can produce the most ornate patterns on paper. Scissor cut paper art are usually bigger in size and scale than the knife sculpted paper cuts.

Knife sculpting of paper is currently widely practiced in China. The highly skilled paper cut artists can sculpt even the thinnest and delicate lines on paper. There is a paper cut art style in China called Xi Wen style or roughly translated in English it means "thin line" style. Thin line paper cut artists can carve 50 lines on a square inch of paper. Once, a thin line paper cut master carved out 100 flowers on a one square centimeter paper.

Various regions in China have nurtured their own styles of Jian Zhi. Some counties like Yu County in Hebei province have specialized in colored hand painted paper cut art. Each regional style has its own distinct characteristic. The Zhan Pu style of paper cutting from Fujian province even deviates in the kind of paper they use. They use a glossy paper called la guang (wax paper) instead of Xuan Paper. They also have a special cutting tool called pai jian which is like a fork which can carve out hair like patterns on paper.

Paper Cutting is a tradition in China and is part of Chinese life. During festivals and holidays like the Chinese New Year, every home has to have some jian zhi adorning their walls, windows or doors. This is akin to having a Christmas tree and mistletoe at home for the Christmas holidays in the western world.

民间剪纸是中国古老的传统民间艺术。它历史悠久，风格独特，深受国内外人士所喜爱。
剪纸的主要材料是纸。纸是中国的四大发明之一，过去一直公认造纸术是蔡伦于公元105年前后发明的。后来陕西省扶风县出土了西汉时期的纸，专家们认为纸在我国出现的时间要提前到汉平帝之前，可能在宣帝时期（公元前73一前49年）。不管结论最后怎么定，在纸发明之前，不会有真正的剪纸。但用其它薄片材料用于剪刻镂花，却在有纸之前。让我们查看一下有关文物和史料记载：

战国（公元前476一前221年）
① 1950一1952年在河南辉县固围村战国遗址的发掘中，发现了用银箔镂空刻花的弧形装饰物。
② 湖南长沙黄泥圹出土的晋代金片装饰物。 这些用银箔镂空而成的装饰物，虽然不能说就是剪纸，但在刻制技术和艺术风格上，可以说是已经形成了剪纸艺术的前身。


北朝（公元386一534年）
用纸剪成美丽的图案花纹，目前最早发现而且有据可查的是新疆吐鲁番火焰山附近，先后出土了五幅团花剪纸。


在中国广大的农村，许多年来，流传着种种老百姓自己创作自己欣赏的艺术，剪纸就是其中的一种。剪纸，顾名思义，就是用剪刀把纸剪出成图形。作者大都是农村妇女，她们可能从十几岁一直剪到成为白发苍苍的婆婆，在她们的剪刀下，产生了一幅幅或稚拙，或精细但无不充满情趣的剪纸作品。

剪纸包括窗花、门笺、墙花、顶棚花、灯花、花样、喜花、春花、丧花等等。剪纸也是一种民俗艺术，它的产生和流传同农村的节令风俗有着密切的关系。例如窗花、门笺、灯花，便是在春节或元宵节时贴挂的。在北方的农村，过年时，窗上新糊了雪白的窗纸，上面贴上红红绿绿的窗花，门顶、窗前，贴上门笺，元宵节夜晚的灯笼上贴上灯花，把新年的气氛造得浓浓的。喜花是结婚时作为对新房的布置，张贴在室内，家具和器物上。同样，寿花和丧花也是在过生日和办丧事时张贴的。墙花和顶棚花是布置房间时分别贴在墙上和屋顶上的。总之，它们大都是用作布置环境，增强节庆气氛，贴在庭院、居室或器具上的。

花样的功用与上述的几类不同。它是用作承传临摹的范本、纸样。花样包括衣服、鞋、帽、兜肚、枕、床帐、门帘等上面绣制图样时所依据的范样。每剪成一个图形，把它用线粗粗地缝在另一张纸上，拿到灯烛上用烟薰烤，烤黑，把剪纸图形取下，然后就留下一个以烟黑为地的空白图形，原来的剪纸图样则可以拿去作为服饰刺绣之用了。农村妇女就是靠了这样的方法，一代代传承着上辈珍存下来的图样。

剪纸的内容是很有讲究的。吉祥图案寓意吉祥辟邪，娃娃、葫芦、莲花等象征多子多福，家禽家畜，瓜果鱼虫是农民熟悉的对象，也是他们表现的主要内容。剪纸作为一种民间艺术，具有很强的地域风格。陕西窗花风格粗朴豪放，单纯简练，河北蔚县和山西广灵剪纸加染色彩，浓厚中透着秀美艳丽。其戏曲人物尤具特色。江苏南京剪纸淳厚，粗中有巧，宜兴剪纸华丽工整，南通剪纸秀丽玲珑。广东佛山剪纸色彩富丽、手法多变、装饰性强。山东高密剪纸细腻精巧，一丝不苟。

从一些考古遗存发现，剪纸至迟在北朝(386—581)时候就已经出现了，至今已经有一千五百年的历史了。它虽然制作简便，造形单纯，但它包容 着丰富的民俗和生活内涵，它是对许多种民间美术表现形式的浓缩和夸张，因而比较集中地体现了民间艺术的造型规律、创作构思及作品的形式特征。对民间剪纸的了解和研究，是通向欣赏和认识繁杂多样的民间美术的捷径。

庆阳剪纸，表现手法灵活，剪纸技艺娴熟。颜色以红、绿为主，有单色、套色、染色等；剪法上有阳剪，即留下勾画形象的线条，阴剪，即剪去线条留下平面，有二者结合的阴阳剪、折迭纸而剪的对称剪、阴影剪、图案剪等。为了线条丰富多变、多姿多态，艺人们还创造运用了梅花纹、云勾纹、锯齿纹、田禾纹、月牙纹、点纹、水纹、花纹等剪法，她们凭着一双灵巧的手，把生活剪裁得千姿百态、生动活泼、有情有趣而富有诗意。