??The cutting by scissors on the paper is a world full of fun. It is hard to believe that those long-ago childhood memories, the lively fishery production scene, the warmth details of a family, the lifelike characters and significant historical themes can all be presented by papercutting.Sound bite of Wang Yanchang, a papercutting artist:"To be honest, I learned papercutting skill under the influence of my mother when I was a child, and it was an initiation. my mother was very good at papercutting, I saw her cutting papers since I was a kid. From this interest, I gradually started to follow the comic strips and sketched some scenes and figures with papercutting."According to historical research, papercutting originated in the Eastern Han Dynasty. With the invention of papermaking, the art of papercutting also came into being.It was not unusual that there were several senior ladies who were skillful at papercutting in every village. During the Chinese New Year and Festivals, they always took folk stories and traditional customs as sources to create papercutting and stuck them on the window. The papercutting art was developed over 2,000 years ago, and it is the most widespread and most popular folk art with the longest history and the most extensive producers. It has been passed down to the present.Wang Yanchang's hometown is in Dayu Island of Shidao District. The spectacular rise and fall of the sea, strong fishermen and beautiful fisherwomen, all these are deeply imprinted in his mind and turn into the inspiration for his papercutting art.The image of fishermen is very good, fishermen are very strong and fisherwomen are very beautiful. I was very familiar with the life of fishing village in old days, as well as the fishing process. I have created a lot of fishermen's life works, with figures in the works mending the nets and setting net undersea.?The unique natural and cultural landscape of Dayu Island has attracted many art students from colleges and universities across the country to sketch there every year since the 1950s and 1960s.The Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing listed Dayu Island as an internship base, so does the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou as well as LuXun Academy of Fine Arts in the northeast of China. Therefore, most of the famous painters in the country have visited Dayu Island. I learned painting from them during that period of time.During that time, Wang Yanchang practiced papercutting skill while learning painting, so that his art works had improved a lot. However, in order to have the ultimate choice of artistic pursuit, many papercutting artists have turned to painting, which was easier to become famous compared with papercutting because of its effortlessness. However, Wang Yanchang was still interested in papercutting.Many people think that papercutting is a petty skill, but I don't think so. Papercutting can fully express big themes. Nowadays more and more painters or literati tend to get involved, we can’t be limited to cutting cats or dogs, nor flowers or plants. We have to do some creation through papercutting.Wang Yanchang's papercutting craft is becoming more and more mature. The composition, color and lines are flexible and varied, which can draw people’s great attention. Each piece of work appears to be well-conceived and well-handled, which can be fully expressed to people’s heart’s content. Some people think that papercutting can only express physical emotions, not facial expressions. Wang Yanchang, on the other hand, believes that the art of papercutting should be developed from multiple perspectives and learned from each other with painting and woodcut painting. The delicate and rich facial expressions in his papercutting works have formed a unique feature in his personal style, making the art form of papercutting richer and more vital.These works of Mr. Wang Yanchang can be told at only a glance, because his style is delicate and represents the cultural customs of the local region. It is very attractive, very worthy of pondering, and has the content of life as well as the breath of life.I have been to France, the UK and Germany to hold exhibitions. Last time when I was in the UK, I gave three lectures. With wide report by British TV program, some people drove from over 200 miles away to attend the lecture. The highlight of their report is that the Chinese papercutting expert can make paint with paper which can be lifted up for a better vision.The love for hometown is the source of inspiration for Wang Yanchang's papercutting art. Wang Yanchang is now the Deputy Director of the Papercutting Art Committee of the Chinese Culture Promotion Society. Under his great efforts, the 2018 National Excellent Papercutting Exhibition was held in Rongcheng, Weihai City. His greatest wish is to promote the ancient art of papercutting to be more famous and popular in his hometown.Li Zhipeng for Shandian news. Here is shan dong 編輯： 李志鵬 宋基金 閱讀量：4005
