Early this morning (February 4), Gao Youliang, a native of Wei County, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, dressed in festive costumes, pasted his freshly cut large "Fu" character on his window glass, and was in full swing to welcome the opening of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics at his doorstep.
"Some people call me a paper cutter, but I actually prefer people to call me an Olympic person." A small paper cut can present the world, can show Chinese understanding of the Olympic spirit and the desire for success in the Olympic bid. It is my wish to be able to use paper cuts to help the Winter Olympics and to use paper cuts to tell the Olympic complex of Chinese. Gao Youliang said that when I was a child, every New Year's Festival, every household was busy cutting paper and sticking window flowers, I began to learn to dye window flowers and carve window flowers with my mother from the age of 6, and I was fascinated by the paper-cutting with a strong New Year's flavor. On February 4th, the Winter Olympics will open, just in time for the Spring of the Year of the Tiger, which is really a double happiness! I use paper cuts to welcome world guests to compete in my hometown and celebrate the Chinese New Year.
As a representative of China's excellent traditional culture, Weixian paper-cutting is the only point color paper-cutting in China with yin carving as the main and yang carving as the supplement, which has been passed down for more than 200 years. The essence of this paper-cutting is not "cutting", but "carving". Among the four steps of smoking and dyeing, "carving" is the most difficult and the most critical link. Small and sharp carving knives, rice paper as thin as cicada wings, dot dyeing of local colors and cutting of clouds and flowing water constitute the unique "New Year's taste" beauty of Weixian paper-cutting. In 2006, Weixian paper-cut paper was included in the national intangible cultural heritage list, and in 2009, it was included in the list of the protection of the intangible cultural heritage of world humanity.
In 2001, Gao Youliang created a huge paper-cut work "Ode to the Olympics" to celebrate Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games. On the map of China, the magnificent atmosphere of 56 ethnic groups in China around the capital Beijing singing and dancing eagerly awaiting the success of the Olympic bid, this paper-cut work called "Ode to the Olympic Games", which played an important role in the success of Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games, was permanently collected by the National Sports Museum, and also allowed Gao Tongliang to officially associate with the Olympic Games.
As early as 2012, when Beijing and Zhang cooperated to bid for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Gao Tongliang "cut" out the 9 competition items of the Winter Olympic Games, using the world intangible cultural heritage technology to spread Chinese culture and help bid for the Winter Olympics. On July 31, 2015, as the only representative of China's paper-cutting industry, Gao Youliang was invited to participate in the Winter Olympic Bid in Malaysia with 9 paper-cut works, witnessing the historical moment of the successful bid of Beijing and Zhang for the Winter Olympics. That evening, when Mr. Bach announced that the host city of the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games would be Beijing, Gao Tongliang, who was at the scene, waved the paper-cut works in his hands and burst into tears. "I have the privilege of experiencing the country getting rich and strong, as a Zhangjiakou person, with the WeiXian paper-cutting out of the country, to show the world the cultural self-confidence of the Chinese nation, I am very proud!" At this moment, I witnessed the success of the Beijing-Zhang cooperation in applying for the Winter Olympics, a day that I will never forget. Gao Tongliang recalled.
"After returning to China, I have been thinking about how to 'say' to the world through paper-cutting works Chinese longing for the Winter Olympics. One day, when I saw the post office next door to my house, I thought of using stamps to express my expectations for the Olympic bid. Gao Tongliang said. So he spent three months designing, styling, knife engraving, coloring, and completing the stamp version of the paper-cut work "The Covenant of the Century". Looking at it is an inconspicuous small stamp, which is cut out of the winter Olympic games, when the modern Olympic sports and the Paper-cutting art of Weixian County, China, shine with the light of the exchange and exchange of Olympic civilization and Chinese civilization, people can't let go. As one viewer put it: "They are not prints, they are not paintings, but unique folk paper-cut works of art, these amazing little stamps, the great diplomats of the Chinese nation." ”
In 2015, Gao Youliang's large-scale paper-cut work "Frozen" showed the world the confidence and strength of Beijing and Zhangjiakou's ability to jointly organize a successful Winter Olympics; in 2017, invited by the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, before the release of the emblems of the 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympic Games, he produced a paper-cut version of the emblem of Weixian County; in 2019, he was invited to design and produce a commemorative paper-cut window flower for the opening of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway, as a representative of the cultural circles of Zhangjiakou, Gao Youliang boarded the first Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway to promote Chinese culture...
In the three international test competitions held in zhangjiakou of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games held from November to December 2021, when the winning athletes stepped on the podium, they each received a paper-cut work "Cow Baby Skiing" created by Gao Tongliang. "2021 is the Year of the Ox in traditional Chinese culture, and the cow represents the hard work of the bull. These ski dolls on rice paper 'live' in the hands of the paper-cutting masters, one by one, they are as strong as flying, bravely moving forward, embodying the Olympic spirit of higher, faster, stronger - more united. Gao Tongliang introduced that on the podium, the athletes participating in the test match especially liked this souvenir with the "taste" of Zhangjiakou and took a group photo.
"The Spring Festival in the Year of the Tiger is one of the themes of Chinese cultural propaganda at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and paper-cutting is an iconic symbol in the Spring Festival culture. I want to cut the 'New Year's taste' into the Winter Olympics, so that the paper-cutting, a world intangible cultural heritage rich in 'Nian', will be passed on through the Winter Olympics in the world. Gao Tongliang said.
As a result, a series of winter Olympic-themed works with strong Spring Festival "New Year flavor" such as the red characters "Together to the Future" in Cangsong Cypress, the concise and bright 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the Winter Paralympic Games emblem, and the "Ice and Snow Doll" with tiger head hat skiing came into being. Up to now, he has created more than 200 paper-cut works on the theme of the Winter Olympics, and the "New Year's Flavor" Of the Winter Olympics he cut out has spread Chinese culture to the world.