Teochew paper-cutting is a form of Teochew traditional folk art.Its images of flowers, fruits, birds and animals, people, landscapes and Chinese written character outlines exhibit deep Teochew cultural characteristics.Ng Ziou-iang 黃朝陽, an inheritor of the Teochew paper-cutting art from Teo’an 潮安(Chao’an), China, was invited to this year’s annual Mid-Autumn Festival celebration organised by the Teo Ann Huay Kuan 潮安會館in Singapore. He demonstrated his exquisite paper-cutting expertise and wowed the audience with his "speed cutting" and "blind cutting" skills.Ng Ziou-iang also held a paper-cutting experience class at the Teo Ann Huay Kuan, where he warmly shared the history, culture and techniques of Teochew paper-cutting with the attendees.
How did Ng Ziou-iang begin his involvement with Teochew paper-cutting? What are the unique features of Teochew paper-cutting compared to the art from other areas of China? The Teochew Store recently contacted Ng Ziou-iang, and he told us the story behind his love for Teochew paper-cutting.
Watch this fascinating silent film Town, Country & Seaside Life Round about Swatow, Chaochowfu* and Swabue, and gaze into how people back in 1935 loaded salt on the beach, set up stage for a Teochew opera, built boats, made ropes, bring in their catch from the sea, chopped wood, sold prawns and fish, carry pigs, made bricks, plaster wall, forge metal, clean oyster and spin fishing net.
There are also rare glimpses into the old Teo-Swa railway, and not to forget images of how our grandparents were dressed back then!
Some wooden barrels were piled up in the front, and the sound of wood-planing came out from an old shop on Zhen ping road. If passers-by looked inside it, carpenter Ye Hongjin would raise his head, but then bury it again to continue planing the wood on his hands.
59-year-old Ye is the owner of the shop and the only remaining carpenter in Shantou that could make nice wooden barrels by hand. He followed his father to learn how to make wooden furniture when he was 12.
Fairy figurines, marinated geese, frolic goldfish were placed on a table in Huang Jinqi’s workshop. They were all made of rice. Huang, the only rice statue craftsman in Shantou, gave life to the statues and carried on a unique folk craft in China.
The history of making rice statue dated back to more than a thousand years ago, the Song Dynasty, originated in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province. Huang’s grandfather learned the craft by himself a century ago and turned it into a prosperous business.
Fairy figurines, marinated geese, frolic goldfish were placed on a table in Huang Jinqi’s workshop. They were all made of rice. Huang, the only rice statue craftsman in Shantou, gave life to the statues and carried on a unique folk craft in China.