【Editor's Note】 In recent years, a large number of outstanding leading talents and local talents have emerged from all walks of life in Qin'an County, who are both intelligent and intelligent, and have the entrepreneurial spirit of entrepreneurship, and who have been deeply recognized by the party committee government and the broad masses. They were born in Si, grew up in Si, with the attitude of being the master rooted in the countryside and loving the villagers, inheriting the feelings of the family and the country, showing the style of the times, and playing an active role, these "Tian Xiucai" and "soil experts" are active in the front line of production all year round, and have not only realized their own value in different posts and different fields, but also injected new vitality and vitality into the economic and social development of the county, contributing wisdom and strength to the comprehensive revitalization of the countryside. In order to further create a good atmosphere of valuing talents, loving talents and respecting talents, increasing the publicity of top-notch talents, encouraging the vast number of skilled talents in the county to actively make contributions and write a new chapter in the development of Qin'an, since June 24, the platforms of the Qin'an County Rong Media Center have set up a column entitled "Welcoming the Twenty Talents Exhibition Style", which will focus on the advanced deeds of the county's leading talents and local talents, so please pay attention to it.
Born in 1977, An Meixia began to contact and like paper-cutting under the influence of the elders in her family as a child. Since childhood, he has often fiddled with small scissors, cutting out all kinds of simple flowers, insects, fish, calligraphy and paintings, etc. After learning the traditional folk paper-cutting patterns, birds and animals, and auspicious patterns, An Meixia cut flowers for the villagers every time there is a happy event and a New Year's festival, and Fang Yuanbaili calls her "Qiao Woman".
An Meixia has a special affection for folk paper-cutting, and after continuous study and diligent creation, she has now become a famous paper-cutting artist. In July 2015, Qin'an Meixia Paper-cutting Art Co., Ltd. was established to cultivate some paper-cutting enthusiasts to inherit and carry forward the craft of paper-cutting.
"My first teacher was my wife, that is, my great-grandmother, when I was a child, every New Year's Holiday or when there was a celebration at home, my wife would take out the red paper at the bottom of the pressure box and cut out various patterns, and the animals, flowers and birds she cut out were like the real thing, and my wife loved me very much, so she called me to her side at that time and taught me to learn to cut paper by hand." An Meixia said so.
An Meixia's mother's family is in Hechuan Village, Xingguo Town, and she remembers that every Spring Festival, men write couplets, women cut window flowers, and the village will play with social fires, Uncle An Meixia is a master of dry boats, he makes lotus flowers, hydrangeas, and of course, it is indispensable to paste paper cuts representing the traditional culture of the village. At that time, An Meixia dreamed of turning herself into a boat girl, dancing against the exquisite dry boat made by Uncle Da.
After going to school, An Meixia became more interested in learning to cut paper. After doing her homework, she would always take out the small scissors she carried with her, show the familiar scenery around her in a pattern, and then take it home to let her great-grandmother guide her. In this way, it is inevitable to be criticized by parents, because in the hearts of parents, learning is the most important. Due to the opposition of her parents, she could only secretly exchange opinions with her great-grandmother in future paper-cut works.
The dream of paper-cutting has always accompanied her. After graduating from high school, she gave up her studies and began her dream journey. In order to save money for learning art from teachers, she rented classrooms, desks and chairs, and set up her own kindergarten to teach children the art of paper-cutting.
Later, she was hired as a teacher in the county first kindergarten, and the school specially opened a paper-cutting class, during which time, her paper-cutting creation level has been greatly improved. But she also more soberly realized that copying other people's works, without inheritance and innovation, this road is not far away. In 2012, she saw a message on the Internet that surprised her - Yan'an Paper-cutting Masters recruited and taught for free. So she did not hesitate, handed over her still young child to her parents, picked up her simple luggage, and rushed to Yan'an to learn art. There, she learned a lot of professional knowledge, broadened her horizons, and greatly improved both her tailoring techniques and creative ideas.
"Plum blossom fragrance comes from the bitter cold", on the road of art, An Meixia has never stopped her exploration and practice. In 2019, she was named "Inheritor of Qin'an Paper-cutting Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage", and her works have participated in national, provincial and municipal exhibitions for many times, and have won awards many times. In 2020, An Meixia was hired by the Organization Department of the Tianshui Municipal Party Committee as a local talent in Tianshui City.
Since the outbreak of new crown pneumonia in 2020, An Meixia has used traditional art to express the theme of "anti-epidemic", paper-cutting works are rigorous in knife and scissors, ingenious in conception, simple and atmospheric in lines, unique charm, during the epidemic prevention period at home, she has created paper-cut art works such as "Protecting Cangsheng", "Undertaking the Mission to Fight The Virus", "Driving Away Evil Dolls" and so on. It expressed good wishes to medical staff and conveyed the confidence and strength of victory in the fight against the epidemic.
Since 2016, An Meixia has been hired as a paper-cutting teacher at Qin'an County No. 1 Primary School, No. 4 Primary School, and Qiaonan Middle School, teaching paper-cutting children.
An Meixia said: "I have insisted on paper-cutting for more than 30 years, now it is not only my profession, but also worthy of my lifelong career, I will continue to work hard to learn, excavate traditional culture, combine the characteristics of the times, take paper-cutting as a traditional skill, take contemporary elements as the connotation, extract a variety of paper-cutting elements, make paper-cutting vibrant, and let our Qin'an paper-cutting get better development and inheritance." ”
(News source: Qin'an County Rong Media Center Reprint: Li Junfeng)