by Benjamin L. Grimley

Sun Erlin has been making paper-cuts since she was eight. Her mother would labor all day, making paper flowers -- called jian chuang hua ("cut window flowers") because they are often displayed on the window sills of Inner Mongolia -- and embroidery all night. Life in the countryside was hard, but Sun loved being with her mother.

"Most kids go out to play. I used to love to watch how things were made," Sun recalled, smiling shyly as she removed selected works from the vast store of paper-cuts underneath her mattress. Whenever Chinese have a festival, birthday, anniversary or other special occasion, they like to decorate with paper-cuts. Animal figures, double happiness characters and rural scenes are all popular subjects. Many of Sun's pieces tell stories about her past, such as her mother threshing wheat while breastfeeding Sun as an infant, teaching her how to make paper-cuts and riding a donkey home with little Sun strapped to her back. Agricultural life and day-to-day human activity are inseparable from her artistry.

He breathed flames on the water, and Wang Xiang soon got his fish.

Wang's neighbor watched the scene with great interest. She turned to her husband, Li Xiang, and prodded him to get her a fish, too. Li went to lay on the ice, but the heavenly dragon was not moved. "After all, it's just for his wife," the dragon thought. Having no success, Li tried to get up but found his belly was frozen fast. The locals claim it is a true story and that Li Xiang's stomach is still stuck to the ice! Another cut depicts mischievous mice climbing a candlestick. Sun created a vivid and humorous portrayal of the mice, with spilt drops forming on their tails, lapping up the edible lamp oil. She would like to publish a collection of her best works but cannot afford the publishing fee of ?0,000-40,000. She has already started saving and is full of hope. People said it would be impossible to get to Beijing; Sun had no money and no family or friends to help her. "But I couldn't go on making paper flowers all day and all night for 15 more years," she explained. It can take an entire day to finish a single work. Sun's sole tool is a pair of red scissors with oversized handles and tiny blades for delicate cutting. Fortunately, the paper is thin enough to do four sheets at a time. "Any more and the scissors get stuck," Sun said with a smile. Sun wanted to find top experts from whom she could learn the secrets of her trade. Her first opportunity came in 1990 when she attended the China Folk Art and Paper Cutting Competition in Beijing. She represented her hometown of Baotou.

She attended Central Nationality University in 1993, studying in the fine arts department, and met artists from Australia, Japan and France. She found that they charged quite a bit more for their handiwork than she'd imagined. Her small paper-cuts might go for a few mao in Baotou, but her colleagues were making ?0 for similar pieces. "If I could stay in Beijing, I could make quite a living," she thought. For the next two years, Sun taught handicrafts to middle school students in rural Inner Mongolia. She found juggling 14 classes at once both difficult and rewarding. The school's 800 students selected her as "teacher of the year" in both 1994 and '95.

In 1996, Sun finally returned to Beijing, this time to stay. After nearly eight months in the Central Nationality University guest house with no work, she went broke. Without a vendor's license, Sun could not sell her wares in public. "I'm not young or beautiful," she says, "so I figured I wouldn't get good work."

Luckily, an old teacher in Baotou, where her husband remains, recommended her as a caretaker for a retired 93-year-old man. Sun, 36, finds it a convenient arrangement: She does the shopping, washing and cooking in exchange for a room. The rest of the time she spends making paper-cuts. Now, whenever there are folk art festivals or exhibitions at universities, parks and hotels, she is able to sell her works. Each nationality and region has a different style of paper cutting. An Inner Mongolian characteristic is the feeding or milking of goats, since milk and cheese are regional staple foods. In general, northern paper-cuts give a broader sense of space as compared to the more highly detailed southern style. The difference, believes Sun, may have to do with the local environment. The north is full of wide-open spaces, whereas the south is crowded, and people must make the best of what little space they have. A special characteristic of Sun is her preference for matted paper over the more commonly used glossy material. It's just her style. Another factor that influences Sun's work is her religious beliefs, although she is not quite sure how. Perhaps it is through the sense of harmony one finds in her paper-cuts.

Paper-Cutting Symbols

Birds express happiness. In one of Sun's paper-cuts a bird appears to be flying out of her mother's hand as she creates it out of paper. This is a tribute to her mother's skill with handicrafts.

Diamond shapes (actually coins) represent wealth.

The lotus flower is the female aspect, and the fish is the male aspect. Together they stand for a respect for and continuation of life.

The lychee and date together mean giving birth as early as possible.

Peaches symbolize longevity.

Peonies represent the peasants and the hope that things will get better. It is traditional that this flower be enclosed in a diamond shape.

Pomegranates, with their many seeds, predict more children and more happiness.