Chinese Papercut Spiral Notebooks

This month’s Artifact of the Month is eleven spiral-bound notebooks filled with Chinese paper cuts (#2014.002.001-011). These notebooks are covered in decorative paper and hold over twenty paper cuts per notebook, each with a backing of index card. The subjects range from multi-color dragons to highly detailed horses. Chinese paper cuts are called jiǎnzhǐ and serve many different traditional purposes, including decoration for homes or festivals in addition to tools for religious rites. While jiǎnzhǐ are often monochrome red for luck or green for prosperity, these paper cuts are multi-colored using with dyed paper. They include traditional images like peonies or roosters, which are symbols of prestige or prosperity, as well as more modern subjects like kittens in baskets.  

Jiǎnzhǐ is a traditional folk art with regional and ethnic distinctions within China. Depending on the region, the paper color varies, the use of symmetry and folding while cutting, the cutting technique, and the style of the image. If a single solid color is used, it is red, regardless of region, to symbolize luck and prosperity along with the characters 福 (fú) and 囍 (xǐ), which mean “lucky” and “double happiness,” respectively. Jiǎnzhǐ has been passed down from mother to daughter for generations and was nearly eliminated during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Nonetheless, it survived and was added to the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009. Now, Chinese paper cuts are undergoing a revival along with other artisanal traditions and have become common touristic souvenirs.