多彩的剪纸

Paper-cutting（剪纸） is one of the traditional folk arts（民间传统艺术） in China. It has a long history of about 1，500 years. Artists use paper， scissors and knives to make paper-cuttings.

People find happiness and luck in paper-cuttings. In the Spring Festival， people paste（粘上） “Fu（福）”（which means Happiness） on windows. In a wedding， people paste “Xi（喜）”（which means Celebration）. Many of the paper-cuttings are red. But some of them are different.

In old times， people worked on the farm and respected（尊敬） the sun. Red is the color of the sun.

They see red color as the symbol（象征） of hope and life. Now， you can see red everywhere in China， such as the walls of old palaces， lanterns， weddings.

Shanzhou（陜州） is in Henan province（省）. The paper-cuttings there are black. Black is the best color there. Shanzhou is a dry place. People make black paper-cuttings and wish for rain.

Paper-cuttings are colorful in Yuxian（蔚县）， Hebei province. Artists put five pieces of paper-cuttings together. They just paint（给……上色） the first piece with brushes. And the color goes through.