A Western Qin woman painting with scissors
——Remember Xu Yindi, the representative inheritor of the Qishan paper-cutting of the intangible cultural heritage of Shaanxi Province
Xu Yindi
Xu Yindi, born in 1963, is a native of Dujia Village, Gujun Town, Qishan County. He is a member of the Communist Party of China, a member of the Qishan County Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and a representative inheritor of the Qishan paper-cutting intangible cultural heritage of Shaanxi Province. Among them, the paper-cut work "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea" won the bronze medal in the Invitational Competition of the Hometown of Chinese Folk Art, the first prize of the "Western Qin Qiao niang" folk handicraft competition, the second prize of the paper-cutting category of the Shaanxi Provincial Women's Handicraft Skills Competition, the third prize of the "Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity - China Paper-cutting Art Exhibition", and the "Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China" in the "Exhibition of Folk Arts and Crafts Celebrating the Centenary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China" Won the Gold Award.
In the county seat of Qishan County, there stands a Taiping Temple Pagoda that was built in the third year of the Northern Song Dynasty (1088), although it has experienced nearly a thousand years of wind, frost, rain and snow, but it has not changed its original appearance. In the Taiping City neighborhood of Qishan County, which is built on the Taiping Temple Pagoda, Xu Yindi, the representative inheritor of the provincial intangible cultural heritage Qishan paper-cutting, is creating in his own training center. In front of the desk, red paper flew like swallows, debris fell like petals, and after a while of kung fu, a paper-cut work "Bronze Mother and Child Tiger" jumped in front of me. This paper-cut painting created according to the Bronze Tiger of the Western Zhou Bronze Ware is rich in the thickness of cultural relics as a whole, and the details are both paper-cutting agility, which makes people have to admire the author's ingenious conception and exquisite skills.
▲ Xu Yindi shows paper-cut works
Scissors are life
The Year of the Tiger Scissors Tiger, different from other paper-cutting artists, Xu Yindi takes the cultural relics tiger as the model, and does not stick to the cultural relics model itself, and has made a second modification when creating, enlarging the ears and tail of the tiger, adjusting the proportion of the tiger's limbs, and at the same time, changing the bronze ornamentation into a paper-cut pattern, making the tiger look more lively and cute. On the eve of the Spring Festival of the Year of the Tiger, Xu Yindi's "Bronze Mother and Child Tiger", as a representative of Baoji folk arts and crafts works, was invited to the Baoji Bronze Ware Museum "Tiger Tiger Shengfu - 2022 Nonyin Tiger Year New Year Zodiac Cultural Relics Picture Group Exhibition".
▲Xu Yindi's paper-cut work "Bronze Mother and Child Tiger"
From the conception to completion of "Bronze Mother and Child Tiger", Xu Yindi only took half an hour, but behind this half hour of kung fu is her decades of love and dedication to paper-cutting art. Since childhood, Xu Yindi has watched her mother cut window flowers, cut tobacco grids, and ordinary pieces of paper, under the hands of her mother's ingenious thoughts, into a scene full of fun life. Later, Xu Yindi learned to cut paper under the guidance of her mother, she is good at observation, loves to think, see kittens and puppies, a few clicks can cut out a vivid picture, various styles of window flowers, smoke grids, happy characters, blessing words are not a word, every New Year's Festival, the villagers have asked her to cut paper for their own family.
▲Xu Yindi shows the paper-cut work "Bronze Mother and Child Tiger"
Xu Yindi not only learned from her mother, but also paid attention to eclecticism. In the 1990s, she often went to the surrounding Zhou Gong Temple, Wuzhangyuan and other attractions to participate in exchange meetings, in addition to selling her own works, she was more likely to ask her peers for advice. When you see a good work, you buy it and take it home. In addition to planting crops and doing housework, he paints and cuts according to the way people look. No matter day or night, as long as she picked up the scissors, she forgot to be tired and tired, and even forgot to eat and sleep, and after a few years, the paper-cut works were stacked up to half a person' height. Even so, Xu Yindi still felt that there was a lack of "artistic nutrition", so she bought paper-cutting periodicals and books, eagerly immersed herself in study, and also participated in paper-cutting training classes and seminars organized by provincial and municipal cultural units, and humbly asked teachers and classmates for advice.
In the years of exploration, she has formed a paper-cutting style of "round as autumn moon, sharp as Mai Mang, square as green bricks, lacking as serrations, and lines as beards", with rich pictures, exaggerated shapes, vivid details, and distinct local characteristics and local atmosphere.
Scissors are art
After embarking on the road of paper-cutting, Xu Yindi was not satisfied with cutting only some festive supplies, and began to try to create works of art with themes and ideas. She cut out "Zhou Gong", "Confucius", "Shaanxi Ten Monsters" according to her hometown culture, cut out "Marriage Chart", "Funeral Diagram", "Return to Mother's Home" according to folk customs, and cut out "Sowing Hope", "Grain Abundance", "Rich and Noble"... Each work expresses her understanding and hope for life.
▲ Xu Yindi was created in the paper-cutting transmission institute
Xu Yindi, who is constantly improving in her skills, no longer limits her eyes to the countryside and temple fairs, but boldly goes out to participate in various exhibitions and competitions to realize her pursuit of art. In 2004, her work "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea" won the bronze medal in the "Invitational Competition for Paper-cutting in the Hometown of Chinese Folk Art", which gave her great encouragement and encouragement, and since then, she has continuously participated in provincial and national exhibition competitions and won many awards. In 2005, a reporter from the famous magazine "Home Gallery" made a special trip to the door for an interview, with the title of "Cutting Continuously, Beautiful Long-cherished Wishes", and introduced it to readers around the world with pictures and texts: "The most plain peasant women, with the most sincere artistic language, cut out the things they are most familiar with and love the most." In 2011, Xu Yindi was awarded the representative inheritor of Qishan paper-cutting at the municipal level, and in 2019, she was awarded the provincial representative inheritor of Qishan paper-cutting.
Xu Yindi's paper-cut works
In Xu Yindi's training center, her various paper-cut works are displayed, the most notable of which is a work with the theme of "Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China". This work is about 1 meter high and about 0.7 meters wide, above which is a radiant party emblem pattern, on both sides is an artistic character that integrates dragons and phoenixes, flowers and grasses, and in the middle are two phoenixes flying in opposite directions, the eyes are shining, the wings are delicate, the tail is fluttering and free, below, three children raise their arms high, and beat a big drum, next to it, large peony flowers are in full bloom. Xu Yindi said that this work was specially created to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the party, implying that under the leadership of the party, the lives of the masses are thriving, and in the Qishan Mountains where "the phoenix is flying", the dolls also celebrate the party's birthday by beating drums. In September 2021, this work won the gold medal in the exhibition of folk arts and crafts celebrating the centenary of the founding of the Party along the Huangjiu Province (District).
Scissors are life
Looking back on decades of artistic career, Xu Yindi said that when she first learned paper-cutting, she only thought it was good to look at and fun, but what supported her along the way was not only interest, but also responsibility. "Baoji is the hometown of Zhou Qin and the hometown of Lile, and as a non-hereditary inheritor, I have the responsibility to promote folk art and tell the story of Baoji well."
▲ Xu Yindi, who is creating
In 2008, the 12th China East-West Cooperation and Investment and Trade Fair was held in Xi'an, and Xu Yindi was invited to represent Baoji folk artists to participate in the Shaanxi Pavilion. One day, Ho Hau-wah, then chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region, visited the Shaanxi Pavilion, walked to the entrance of the Qishan County Exhibition Hall, suddenly stopped and admired Xu Yindi's paper-cut works with great interest. Seeing the vivid figures and animals, He Houhua sincerely admired: "It's really remarkable! At this time, someone proposed: "Live performance!" Xu Yindi immediately picked up the scissors and skillfully cut a picture of "Rich in the Year of the Rat", and the little mouse with big eyes and round ears was clever and cute, which made He Houhua and other guests praise.
After Xu Yindi became famous, people kept learning from her, and she always came to teach her. As the saying goes, the disciples of the church starved to death of the master, but Xu Yindi knew in her heart that today's achievements were inseparable from the encouragement and help of the villagers, and there was no reason why she should not pass on what she had learned all her life. In recent years, she has actively taught paper-cutting classes held in the county, volunteered to teach paper-cutting skills, and trained hundreds of paper-cutting enthusiasts. Art teachers from some colleges and universities in the province also came to visit and included her paper-cut works in textbooks as a model for guiding students' creation.
In 2021, Xu Yindi's Qishan Paper-cutting Institute in the Taiping City neighborhood was established, and almost every day, she would walk here, humming a small song while creating a song. From time to time, people walk into this 20-square-meter room, whether it is nearby residents or passing tourists, they will be attracted by this full house of works, and Xu Yindi will also improvise and cut the works according to the audience's propositions.
"I like to perform for everyone." Xu Yindi said that she has always had a dream, that is, to go abroad and perform paper-cutting for foreigners on the spot, "Let them see how good our traditional Chinese culture is!" ”
Baoji Daily all-media reporter Zhu Jia
Edit: Du Yamin
Review: Hai Xin
Final Judge: Han Zhengqiang