The Fantastic and Incomparable Shandong Paper Cuts

This Chinese New Year, I know lots of you have varying plans for your lives, like getting a modern house, buying a new car, enrolling in a dance class, or engaging in a new relationship. But no matter what your aspiration is, you need a good luck charm that will encourage you all throughout the year. This is why you need to realize more about the celebrated Shandong folk paper-cuts.

Aside from what we ordinarily know as origami, the Chinese boasts of its other paper artworks, such as the paper-cuts from the removed Shandong province. Originally referred to as Yantai paper-cuts, the artwork has a rich history, which traces back to the decades of the celebrated Qing Dynasty. The Yantai paper-cuts were celebrated, firstly because of its rich and compact contents, smooth lines, and intricate structures -- all rooted from the Chinese daily life.

Ordinary to all Chinese crafts, the Yantai paper-cuts may symbolize numerous things depending on the design. For instance, the lotus, the child, and the bottle gourd symbolize a family that has numerous children while the livestock, the fruits, and the domestic birds symbolize an abundant harvest.

At present, the Yantai paper-cuts have two purposes: as embellishments or as good luck charms. So if you see this incomparable Chinese object of art hanging on doors during New Year, it's meant for good luck. But if you see the Yantai paper-cuts during non-special days in any part of the house, it's apparently meant as embellishments.