Chinese paper cut, one of the arts done by ancient Chinese people looks generally simple, perhaps due to the affordability of materials used: paper, glue, and a couple of cutting instruments, most likely a pair of scissors.

The process too doesn’t seem to be a very complex one. Decide a pattern you want, draw it on a red piece of paper, fold it and systematically cut it to remove what you want to remove, before you stick it to a larger white paper.

It’s an art I ever tried before; making a panda and another special paper cut pattern I love – a cross, since I am a Christian. I did this under instruction of a Chinese art teacher. At the time, I perhaps didn’t realize that paper cutting art would be such a serious art. I realized how complex it is when I went to the Baigongfang museum recently.

The museum showcases multiple Chinese arts, paper cutting being one of them.

Inside the museum, in a room dedicated to paper cutting art, a plethora of art pieces hang on the walls, and some others lay on the tables. These range from figures of animals, to human faces, all made by paper cutting art!

When I first enter, I first ask if this is paper work, since it is not so easy to notice. The things seem a little complex.

At one corner, just near the door, a few black and white pictures are piled. I look at one, and I get hooked. It looks like someone I know. Yes! It is someone I know! It is Mess in his shirt ten jersey! I didn’t quite know that paper cutting could make such!

As I get more interested, a friend comes and joins me, and we start to look at the pictures one by one, and we could identify the names of some of the soccer players displayed here.

If you are new to paper cutting, you could think that it is only an art for making flowers and pandas. However, it is more than just that. I actually got to know that the panda pattern I made is one of the easiest paper cut patterns in paper cutting art.

Hudson Kuteesa contributes to the article. The ideas expressed are the author's alone, and do not represent the position of our website.