A QINGDAO folk artist, Li Cuimin, has claimed the top prize for her paper-cut works at a handicraft art competition in Shandong Province.

    Li spent 27 years completing her 35-meter-long paper-cut which featured 108 figures from “Water Margin,” a classic ancient Chinese novel.

    Li visited second-hand book fairs in Qingdao, Beijing and Changsha over the past 20 years searching for different editions of the novel for inspiration.

    She completed the works in 2000 and it was first shown at an exhibition in Bejing in May.

    (Martin Li, Wang Ping)