Yin-yang Structure
3 min readOn Chinese New Year of the year of rat, a woman farmer named Li Aiping sent me a paper-cut of “rat coming out of a Buckled bowl,” named “Rat biting open the sky.
According to the folklore, rat and fish are proliferation saints. The buckled bowl symbolizes the undivided universe. On the year of rat, the rat came out to bite open the sky and started life on earth. Polyspermic plants like gourd, pumpkin, grape, are also symbols of propagation. In art works their function of producing seeds is what it matters. Therefore, in spite that the seeds can not be seen from the outside, they are still being drawn. Once I mentioned to the women that the pumpkin seeds were not visible, they said, “But pumpkin has seeds. Then I realized that it was not the gourd, the pumpkin or the grape that they wanted to draw, it was the seeds inside. The seeds were metaphorical of the children that were conceived by the uterus (In the form of a gourd, a pumpkin and grape) of mother’s body. Original Chinese philosophy defines the basic characteristics of Chinese folk art. Likewise, “Rat eating pumpkin” and “Rat eating grape”are of the same implication.
Folk paper-cut ‘Rat biting open the sky'(Luliang, Shanxi)
Folk paper-cut displaying the scene when the sky and earth open up, fish, the creator of the universe, comes out to produce human and all living things on earth (Huangling, Shaanxi).
Folk paper-cut “Rat eating grape’ (Luochuan, Shaanxi).
Fish with lotus is another cultural symbol indicating the unity of earth and the sky, male and female. “Fish playing around lotusand “Fish biting lotus”are favorite paper-cuts for Chinese New Year and wedding ceremonies. It is known to all in China that fish stands for male and the polyspermic lotus for female, but few knew the difference between”Fish playing around lotusand”Fish biting lotus. One Chinese New Year when I was in Wuli town, Yijun of northern Shaanxi, some young girls were there making paper-cut- for window decorations. asked girl what she was making.
“Fish playing around lotus, “she replied. I asked another girl, the answer was”Fish biting lotus. When asked what “fish playing lotus”meant, they smiled and said, “They are dating. “”How about ‘Fish biting lotus’ Nobody responded and everybody flushed. A stand-by woman holding a baby in her arm spoke for them, “Well, they slept together.” The group burst into laughter.”Fish playing around lotus” is fish playing above the water, meaning”dating;”but”Fish biting lotushas the fish under the water to bite the lotus stem, which is”getting married.” Different combinations of two images actually have a strict boundary line in implications. One girl even added a baby to her feature paper-cut”Fish biting lotus, “which was named “lotus bearing seed.” However, this addition couldn’t be in “Fish playing around lotus. “It would be having kids without getting married,” the woman holding baby. Obviously at each stage from dating, getting married to having kids, there is a corresponding art arrangement to convey it.
Paper-cut “Fish playing around lotus” With the fish being above the lotus, it implies dating Paper-cut “Fish biting lotus. When the fish bites the lotus stem, it implies getting married and having children.
Paper-cut for window decoration “Rats stealing oil’ (Yichuan, Shaanxi).
Folk paper-cut from northern Shaanxi: “Rural family life.
In paper-cut “Rooster holding a fish in the mouth” and “Fish with a rooster head, the rooster is a metaphor for the sky and of male nature; while the fish is for earth and female. That is their way of displaying the unity of heaven and earth, yin and yang, male and female in the language of art.
Paper-cut “Loving tiger”, with 3 or 4 adorable baby tigers inside mother tiger’s abdomen; or “Monkey eating cigarettes” showing cute baby monkeys inside mother monkey’s abdomen; and pair of birds with fledglings; etc., are also art forms expressing the theme of propagation through images of legendary animals.
