剪纸 The Chinese art of paper cutting

You've probably heard about the Chinese art of paper cutting, also known as paper designs, and seen the intricate artworks on the windows.

But have you ever tried making your own paper cuts?

In today's article, let's look at some key Chinese vocabulary that will help you not only to make your own masterpieces, but also to discuss them in Chinese.

剪纸 Paper Cutting

To begin, let's look at the Chinese name of the art itself:

剪纸
jiǎn zhǐ
paper cutting

The name will make more sense if you break it down:

剪
jiǎn
to cut

纸
zhǐ
paper

工具 Tools

What tools do you need to create paper cuts?

In fact, just 3 tools. One of them we already know — paper, 纸 (zhǐ). The other two are:

剪刀 / 剪子
jiǎn dāo / jiǎn zi
scissors

NOTE

剪刀 (jiǎn dāo) is the more official word for "scissors' while 剪子 (jiǎn zi) is more colloquial.

铅笔
qiān bǐ
pencil

步骤 Steps

Now that our tools are ready, let's start making our paper cuts!

STEP 01. FOLD

折
zhé
to fold

The first step is to fold the paper. The more times you fold it, the harder it will be to cut through, but your paper cuts will look more intricate.

STEP 02. DRAW

画
huà
to draw

Once your paper, 纸 (zhǐ) is folded, you can start drawing the pattern with a pencil, 铅笔 (qiān bǐ). You can use your imagination and simple lines for a start — thanks to the folded paper, the result will look nice and symmetrical anyways.

For more advanced patterns, you can search on Baidu for paper cutting templates, 剪纸模版 (jiǎn zhǐ mú bǎn).

STEP 03. CUT

剪
jiǎn
to cut

The final step is cutting the paper following your pattern. Note that the more parts you cut out, the more intricate your artwork will be!

Your Turn

Are you good at paper cutting?

你会剪纸吗？
Nǐ huì jiǎn zhǐ ma?
Literal translation: "You-can-cut-paper-[ma]"?

来源：That's Mandarin
编辑：万月英