Papercut has emerged as an important art form in rural China. Its theme is usually very simple, depicting familiar objects on the farm. The pattern is however complex, which is cut from a piece of paper by scissors. (The different parts of the design are tightly connected so that they would not fall apart, as the design is not attached to any back panel.) The picture in the middle shows a group of women doing papercuts together. Such sideline occupation helps the families to earn extra incomes. Some regions are famous for their papercuts. The two samples shown below come from Ansai, which has earned a reputation for handicrafts. [Ansai is also known for its Waist Drum dances.]

Papercuts are pasted on windows to add color to the room. Picture on the left below shows a girl decorating a room, which most likely belongs a pair of newly weds. The red "double happiness" symbol on the wood window panel gives it away. The new colorful quilts on the bed (by the window) are also signs of recent marriage. Other forms of handicraft are being sold in the market.

Picture below shows a worker in a carpet factory trimming a carpet. Some of you may not know that the edges of a color pattern must be trimmed with a pair of scissors in order to bring out the contrast. This is never done for carpets manufactured in the West, since it is a labor-intensive work that demands considerable skill on the part of the worker. The craftsman below is using hand tools to make small daggers and knives, which make handsome ornaments for Mongolian men.

Some samples of small daggers and large knives are shown below.

Another favorite craft is the making of pottery objects for decorative purposes. Some favorite items are the pottery horses in the style of the Tang pottery horses, which became famous during the Tang dynasty over 12 thousand years ago. The Tang horses are known for their elegance and the brilliant tri-color glaze. The pottery models are made from clay, and must be baked in a high-temperature kiln until they become pottery. After a glaze is added the models are burned again for the glaze to set. In the pictures below we see different pottery decorative objects are made in small factories.