Papercutting

Papercutting is the art of cutting paper designs. The art has evolved uniquely all over the world to adopt to different cultural styles.

The oldest surviving paper cut out is a symmetrical circle from the 6th century found in Xinjiang China[1]. By the eighth or ninth century papercutting appeared in West Asia and in Turkey in the 16th century. Within a century, papercutting was being done in most of middle Europe.

Chinese Paper Cutting 剪紙 was the first style developed in China, since Cai Lun invented paper in the region. There are a number of distinct uses for the paper cut outs in Chinese culture, almost all of which are for health, prosperity or decorative purposes. Where it is different compared to other cultural style is the extensive use of red. Also it has a heavy emphasis on single or a few Chinese characters often symbolizing with the Chinese Zodiac animals.