Shaping a future for ancient craft
Within a dozen seconds and using only a pair of scissors and a piece of paper, Liu Jinglan cuts out the shape of a rabbit. A few minutes later, she has finished, the rabbit's ears and body crisscrossed with ornate patterns. When the rabbit is pasted on the window, sun shines through the thin cuts, lighting it up.
To master paper-cutting, 68-year-old Liu has been practicing for six decades. She is an inheritor of Baotou-style paper-cutting, named after the city in Inner Mongolia autonomous region where it originated.
The style incorporates themes of nomadic grassland life, traditionally followed by the area's inhabitants, and has been designated a national-level intangible cultural heritage by the government, earmarking it for protection and development.
