Red Net Moment, February 14 (Correspondent Tan Hongting) There is a paper-cutting master in Zhuzhou, he is obsessed with paper-cutting, using a knife and a piece of paper to record the times; he is enthusiastic about public welfare, the 82-year-old still insists on teaching paper-cutting enthusiasts free of charge, teaching students 12,000 times; he has not changed his original intention, held large-scale paper-cutting art exhibitions many times, donated tens of thousands of paper-cutting art works, and is committed to inheriting intangible cultural heritage, he is Li Yingming.
In 1958, 18-year-old Li Yingming witnessed the celebration of the successful development of the country's first electric locomotive, and he was deeply affected, so he used the paper-cutting skills learned from his mother to create the first paper-cutting work "Electric Locomotive Leaving the Factory" with great enthusiasm, which was well received. Since then, Li Yingming has devoted himself more to the creation of paper-cutting art, perfectly integrating traditional and modern elements, and recording the development and changes of Zhuzhou with a knife and a piece of paper. On the occasion of the successful national olympic bid, he created "Fuwa Hexi", which was collected by the China Agricultural Museum; at the time when the five gods flew in the sky and the whole country rejoiced, he created "Universal Celebration" and exhibited it in the Great Hall of the People.
In the Tianxin area, Li Yingming's name can be described as a household name. He is a warm-hearted, in the last century, whenever neighbors and colleagues had a marriage daughter and a son-in-law, they were looking for Li Yingming to cut the happy flowers for them to get married, and the name Li Yingming was closely related to the happy events of this small town of 100,000 people in tianxin, which brought a lot of joy to that poor era. Until now, there are many elderly people in the Tianxin area who say with relish, "When I got married at that time, I was a happy flower that Old Li helped me cut and helped me decorate the new house."
After retirement, Li Yingming has done his best on the road of inheriting intangible cultural heritage and enthusiastic public welfare. He has held a number of personal paper-cutting art exhibitions, and donated tens of thousands of paper-cut art works to people from all walks of life, so that more people can feel the charm of intangible cultural heritage. At the same time, Li Yingming traveled in many directions, and under his promotion, the Zhuzhou Citizens' Association Paper-cutting Committee was established, and paper-cutting enthusiasts were able to gather.
Since 2017, he has held more than 70 paper-cutting public welfare lectures, teaching paper-cutting skills to enthusiasts, residents and students for free every month in communities, schools, enterprises, welfare homes and other places, teaching 12,000 students. At the same time, he let the art of paper-cutting go abroad, during his residence in Canada, Li Yingming published books with apprentices, and successively accepted more than 10 students from Spain, the Philippines and the local area, some students had to drive for more than half an hour each time, and Li Yingming was also awarded the local immigrant artist.
Under the subtle influence of Li Yingming, his daughter Li Weijing has been studying paper-cutting for 30 years and has founded her own studio. In May 2018, "Li Yingming's Paper-cutting Art" was selected into the Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage Project, and Li Yingming and Li Weijing's father and daughter were both selected as the inheritors of the Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage. "We want to teach more people the art of paper-cutting." Li Weijing said that this is also my father's greatest wish.