Between puppets and paper cutting, a visitor to Xi’an might think the art here isn’t all that sophisticated – and that’s where you’d be misled. In fact, paper cutting – much like the traditional art of shadow puppetry – requires creativity, skill-based on years of training, and most importantly, vast imagination. After all, a paper cutter must envisage something where there is nothing in much the same way that a sculptor does with a piece of stone. Incredibly, paper cutting originated in the 7th century, and the style of pieces found in the northern Shaanxi region where Xi’an is located, are some of the best representations of the art.
Update: August 02, 2021
