Chen Siqi

vankochensq@163.com

HOW to inherit traditional Chinese culture innovatively? Through modern elements. And, this is all happening at the ongoing 19th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair (ICIF) at the Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center in Bao’an District.

At a booth presenting papercutting artworks at the Crafts and Art Design Hall (Hall 14) on Thursday, exhibitor Chen Shuiyun was attentively creating a butterfly on a piece of red paper using the Zherong papercutting technique, a national intangible cultural heritage.

The technique, named after Zherong County in the city of Ningde in Fujian Province, originated from Central China’s paper-cutting technique dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907) as the province had seen a migration from Central China.

“It takes me about 10 minutes to cut a palm-sized paper butterfly,” Chen said. The 30-year-old woman, who has practiced paper cutting for 15 years, is a representative inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Zherong paper cutting.

Chen fell in love with paper cutting when she first experienced the craft at the age of 5. This passion led her to a professional path, who started as an apprentice at 15. Now, she runs her own studio.

As a young inheritor, Chen did some innovations to the craft, merging the traditional elements with modern ones.

“Traditional paper-cutting designs would use some common elements such as magpies, eagles and flowers. I would like to integrate some modern elements into my works, like cartoon characters, and use new cutting craft as well,” Chen said.

“I hope more people from the younger generation like paper cutting,” Chen said.