Chen Yumei： She Has a Passion for Paper—Cutting

Paper-cutting， also known as paper-carving， is one of the oldest Chinese art forms and a national folk art treasure of China. As a requisite of a perfect traditional Chinese woman， paper-cutting was a basic skill for all Chinese girls. Following the paper-cutting samples of their elders or sisters， they cut paper into the forms of familiar natural objects such as flowers， birds， fish and insects. Gradually， they can cut any new patterns at will.

Chen Yumei， who owns \"Yumei Paper-cutting Center\"， lives in Fengtai district， Beijing and she is one of skillful female paper-cutters. She is simple， kind-hearted， strong-willed， passionate， charitable and dedicated. And now her excellent skills are well rewarded -- she now lives a happy life.

剪紙，又叫刻紙，是中國(guó)最古老的女紅藝術(shù)之一，也是中國(guó)民間藝術(shù)的瑰寶。作為中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)完美女性的一個(gè)重要標(biāo)志，剪紙是過(guò)去很多女孩子從小就要學(xué)習(xí)的手工藝。她們從前輩或姐妹那里要來(lái)學(xué)習(xí)剪紙的花樣，通過(guò)臨剪、重剪、畫(huà)剪、描繪自己熟悉而熱愛(ài)的自然景物、花鳥(niǎo)魚(yú)蟲(chóng)以至最后達(dá)到隨心所欲的境界，親手剪出新的花樣來(lái)。

在北京市豐臺(tái)區(qū)豐就有一位有著精妙剪紙手藝的巧娘，在她樸實(shí)的外表下藏著一顆善良的心，在她纖細(xì)的雙手里藏著過(guò)人的技藝，堅(jiān)強(qiáng)和執(zhí)著讓她體會(huì)到了豐收的喜悅，熱心和奉獻(xiàn)讓她擁有了另一番幸福的生活，她就是“玉梅剪紙藝術(shù)中心”工作室的巧娘——陳玉梅。

From hobby to career

從愛(ài)好到事業(yè)

Born in Fucheng County， Hebei Province， Chen Yumei learned paper-cutting from her mother as a child. \"It intrigued me to see my mother cut these patterns， and I began to tear apart the left paper scraps until I could cut some Chinese characters such as the one meaning double happiness，\" said Chen. Little by little， paper-cutting becomes her dominant passion and hobby， and now it is her career and pride.

1969年出生在河北省衡水市阜城縣的陳玉梅自幼就在母親的教導(dǎo)下學(xué)會(huì)了傳統(tǒng)剪紙。陳玉梅說(shuō)，“看我母親剪那些東西就好奇，剩下些小紙片，我就開(kāi)始用手撕著玩，到后來(lái)大點(diǎn)兒了，會(huì)剪個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的小囍字”，慢慢的，這門(mén)手藝成為了她最大的興趣和愛(ài)好，直到如今，剪紙更成為了她的事業(yè)和驕傲。

In 1998， Chen moved to Beijing with his husband whose job was transferred there. She tended to cut some knickknacks to entertain her little son. Besides， she also did some part-time jobs near her home to help the family. \"At a supermall where I worked， a customer said that she wanted to buy some paper-cuts of the Chinese character meaning double happiness for her son's wedding. I thought it was easy， as I had cut a lot of them. So I cut a small one for her. To my surprise， she liked it very much.\" This experience opened a door for Chen， who saw the value and the business opportunity of traditional handicrafts for the first time.

After that， she cut papers at night and looked for marketing channels at daytime， embarking on an arduous paper-cutting career.

1998年，婚后的陳玉梅隨著工作調(diào)動(dòng)的丈夫來(lái)到北京生活。為了哄年幼的兒子，陳玉梅常常剪一些兒子喜歡的小玩意兒。除此之外，她也會(huì)利用空閑的時(shí)間到附近打打零工以補(bǔ)貼家用。“在豐西那有一個(gè)超市，我常去那里幫忙。一次有位客人說(shuō)，她家兒子結(jié)婚，想買(mǎi)那種傳統(tǒng)的囍字。我心想囍字最簡(jiǎn)單，以前剪過(guò)很多，便剪了個(gè)小的，沒(méi)想到客人非常滿意和喜歡。”這次意外的收獲讓陳玉梅了解了顧客的需求，發(fā)現(xiàn)了傳統(tǒng)手工藝的價(jià)值和商機(jī)。

于是，她晚上在家做剪紙，白天四處奔走，尋找代銷剪紙的渠道，從此下定決心把剪紙當(dāng)作自己的事業(yè)，開(kāi)始了艱辛的創(chuàng)業(yè)之路。

Only those who persist

will prevail

執(zhí)著才會(huì)贏

However， her undertaking was at first objected by her husband， since it didn't have a profitable start and they had a hard life then. \"I'm excited when people like my paper-cut works. I can do this， and I will carry on，\" Chen persisted. And she had scavenged all the small commodity wholesale market in Beijing for sales proxy for her paper-cut works.

Her years of hard work finally bore fruit. Starting from supplying goods to shop owners， she then had her own counter， and now many orders are directly delivered to her. Moreover， her works won many awards in competitions. \"Every detail of our works has its specific meaning such as best wishes and good-wills，\" said Chen as she demonstrated her award-winning works. \"See， this one is called ‘Fish Leaping over the Dragon Gate'. It's one of the most traditional Chinese motifs and it has a good omen of successful careers. We also cooperate with animal protection associations and create a series of animal theme works such as tigers， elephants， which also win applauses from the community.\"

眼看著剪紙為她帶來(lái)了經(jīng)濟(jì)效益，卻遭到了愛(ài)人的極大反對(duì)。那時(shí)候生活條件并不好，剪紙事業(yè)也是剛剛起步，不僅不掙錢(qián)，有時(shí)還得往里搭錢(qián)。可執(zhí)著的陳玉梅卻說(shuō)，“有人喜歡我的剪紙，我就特別的興奮。我能做，我一定得走下去。”就這樣，陳玉梅依然堅(jiān)持著自己的剪紙道路。為了推銷自己的剪紙作品，尋求代銷途徑，陳玉梅基本上跑遍了北京市的小商品批發(fā)市場(chǎng)。

多年來(lái)的辛勞，終于有了回報(bào)，從最初給店家供貨，到擁有自己的柜臺(tái)，再發(fā)展到現(xiàn)在訂單直接上門(mén)。不僅生意好了起來(lái)，她的剪紙作品還在多個(gè)比賽中獲得了獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)。“我們剪紙每一個(gè)細(xì)小的地方都有寓意，有美好的祝福、愿望在里面。”陳玉梅給記者展示獲獎(jiǎng)作品時(shí)說(shuō)道，“你看，這是‘魚(yú)躍龍門(mén)’，傳統(tǒng)剪紙題材之一，寓意著事業(yè)有成。還有我們和動(dòng)物保護(hù)協(xié)會(huì)合作，創(chuàng)作了老虎、大象等一系列動(dòng)物題材的剪紙，也很受大家的歡迎。”

Her honors include \"Green Peace\"， which won the Silver Award at The First China Esperanto National Painting and Calligraphy Contest； \"Honest and Upright\"， which won the Award of Excellence in China Xiangshan Anti-corruption Paper-cutting Contest； and \"Beijing Olympics\"， which won the Award of Excellence at Welcome Olympics Paper-cutting Contest. Five of her works were collected by China Agriculture Museum and another one by UN International Science and Peace Promotion Association. In 2009， member of the Party Political Bureau of China and Mayor of Beijing Liu Qi gave high opinion to Chen's works at China Children and Women Industry Expo.

As Chen's paper-cuts was acknowledged by more people， her passion towards paper-cutting finally converted her husband's mind， who began to learn paper-cutting and then fell in love with this traditional Chinese folk craft.

此外，其作品《綠色和平》在首屆中華世界語(yǔ)全國(guó)書(shū)畫(huà)美術(shù)大賽榮獲銀獎(jiǎng)作品。《雙清圖》在中國(guó)象山廉政剪紙大賽中榮獲優(yōu)秀獎(jiǎng)作品。《奧運(yùn)北京》在迎奧運(yùn)剪紙大賽中榮獲優(yōu)秀獎(jiǎng)等。還有5幅作品被中國(guó)農(nóng)業(yè)博物館收藏，一幅作品被聯(lián)合國(guó)國(guó)際科學(xué)與和平促進(jìn)會(huì)收藏。2009年，中央政治局委員北京市市委書(shū)記劉淇在中國(guó)（北京）國(guó)際婦女兒童產(chǎn)業(yè)博覽會(huì)上對(duì)陳玉梅的剪紙給予了高度評(píng)價(jià)。

隨著陳玉梅的成績(jī)被越來(lái)越多的人認(rèn)可，她對(duì)剪紙藝術(shù)的那份執(zhí)著和熱愛(ài)，也讓愛(ài)人的思想有了轉(zhuǎn)變。憑借著這份感動(dòng)，陳玉梅的愛(ài)人也開(kāi)始學(xué)習(xí)剪紙并且慢慢愛(ài)上了剪紙這項(xiàng)傳統(tǒng)的民間工藝。

Fengtai Women's League in Beijing gave Chen and her \"Yumei Paper-cutting Center\" great support. It not only designated her works as diplomatic gifts in foreign affairs， but also presented her many opportunities to attend large-scale activities and expos together with the All-China Women's Federation. In September 2013， with the help from Vice Chairperson of Beijing Women's Federation Zhou Zhijun， Chen and four other female artisans from Beijing attended the Ninth Moscow International Handicrafts Festival in Moscow. With her deft hands， skillful technique， unique aesthetic taste and profound cultural understanding， Chen won great honor for the Beijing handicraft industry and the \"deft women\" Handicraft brand of Beijing Women's Federation.

目前，豐臺(tái)區(qū)婦聯(lián)對(duì)陳玉梅的大力支持使得陳玉梅和她的“玉梅剪紙藝術(shù)中心”在傳統(tǒng)手工藝傳承與發(fā)展的道路上越走越踏實(shí)。區(qū)婦聯(lián)不僅訂購(gòu)她的作品作為外事活動(dòng)的禮品，而且與全國(guó)婦聯(lián)一起時(shí)常為她提供一些大型活動(dòng)與參展機(jī)會(huì)。2013年9月，在北京市婦聯(lián)副主席周志軍的帶領(lǐng)下，陳玉梅與其他四位巧娘代表北京參加了在莫斯科舉辦的第九屆“莫斯科國(guó)際手工藝藝術(shù)節(jié)”。陳玉梅用她靈巧的雙手、精妙的技藝、獨(dú)特的審美情趣、深厚的文化底蘊(yùn)為北京手工藝藝術(shù)和北京市婦聯(lián)巧娘手工藝品牌贏得了良好的聲譽(yù)。

Imparting the skills to others

妙手仁心傳承技藝

Full support from her husband gave Chen more momentum. As the orders increased in 2000， Chen decided to recruit people to help her. Initially， she only recruited her neighbors and young girls until she heard something from her husbands' family， which totally changed her mind.

\"Her husband’s brother has a disabled child diagnosed with congenital scoliosis. My sister-in-law said， 'If only she can learn some skills to feed herself when she grows up， I would be happy'. Hearing this I thought I could do something for the disabled. I can teach them how to cut paper， help their families and let them have a career.\"

丈夫的全力支持，給了陳玉梅極大的鼓舞，為了應(yīng)對(duì)越來(lái)越多的訂單，2000年的時(shí)候，陳玉梅決定開(kāi)始擴(kuò)增人員。最初招聘的員工，都是街坊鄰里和一些年輕的女孩，直到愛(ài)人家里發(fā)生了一件事讓她徹底改變了想法。

“他大哥有個(gè)殘疾孩子，患有先天性脊柱側(cè)彎。我大嫂就說(shuō)這孩子將來(lái)大了能學(xué)個(gè)手藝技能維持一生就行了。當(dāng)時(shí)我心里就想應(yīng)該為殘疾人做點(diǎn)事。如果教授他們剪紙手藝，既解決了他們各個(gè)家庭的憂愁，又成就他們的事業(yè)。”

In Snug Home of Fengtai district live a lot of mentally disabled people who can only do some simple work like sub-packaging. Introduced by Fengtai Women's League in 2006， Chen started to teach these handicapped the skills of paper-cutting to help them to stand on their own feet. Beijing TV ran a show about this on January 6， 2008.

Cao Xiumei， an official of the local community， said，\" In 2009， Fengtai Women's League， Beijing Women's Federation， and the local street office introduced Master Chen to us to teach these mentally disabled skills like paper-cutting and paper-carving.\" Although this is not enough to cover all their life expenditures， it does help their families a lot.

Liu Wei， a craftsman who has worked at Chen's workshop for nine years， is one of the recipients of Chen's help. He makes new friends， be treated as a family member and finds his life goals and meaning as well.

以豐臺(tái)區(qū)橋梁二廠的溫馨家園為例，這里的殘疾人多以智障為主，只能從事簡(jiǎn)單的分裝工作。在豐臺(tái)區(qū)婦聯(lián)的介紹下，陳玉梅從2006年開(kāi)始就為這些殘疾人培訓(xùn)剪紙技藝，希望他們也能夠憑借自己的雙手和技能自食其力。2008年1月6日，北京電視臺(tái)生活頻道播出了陳玉梅幫助殘疾青年學(xué)剪紙的事跡。

豐臺(tái)區(qū)新村街道橋梁廠第二社區(qū)主任曹秀梅說(shuō)：“2009年的時(shí)候，北京市婦聯(lián)、豐臺(tái)區(qū)婦聯(lián)、還有新村街道婦聯(lián)，就把陳老師介紹到我們社區(qū)，來(lái)教這些患有精神殘疾和智力殘疾殘疾人剪紙、刻紙項(xiàng)目的康復(fù)活動(dòng)。”雖然說(shuō)不能完全靠這個(gè)收入來(lái)給生活開(kāi)支，可是給家庭減免了很大一部分的負(fù)擔(dān)。

為了傳承傳統(tǒng)剪紙技藝，她還創(chuàng)辦了“玉梅剪紙藝術(shù)中心”工作室。該中心的員工劉偉就是接受她幫助的人之一。他到玉梅剪紙藝術(shù)中心已有九年的時(shí)光，在這里不僅感受到家庭的溫暖，還結(jié)識(shí)了新的朋友，同時(shí)也找到了自己生活的目標(biāo)和意義。

Chen also train local women who are unemployed or relocated， and sets up training classes for children. Vice Chairperson of Women's Federation of Fengtai Chen Li said， \"Through this training class， these women can cut paper for Chen Yumei， who then sell these works and gave them money. It's a win-win for both of them. Chen's work can be improved， and these women also have jobs. It also helps family and societal harmony.\" With Chen's help， more handicapped people joined in this handicraft industry. Even Chen's 4-year-old daughter started to learn this craft and was invited to perform on the stage of a TV program of CCTV on behalf of Yumei Paper-cutting Art Center. This traditional art is thus inherited to be vibrant and alive.

It's about the end of the year when this interview was conducted， when paper-cut works to celebrate the spring festival was in great demand. Chen and her team were entering into another busy season of business.

陳玉梅不僅僅局限于個(gè)人技藝的提高，還對(duì)豐臺(tái)部分地區(qū)的失地失業(yè)婦女進(jìn)行業(yè)務(wù)培訓(xùn)，并成立了兒童培訓(xùn)班。豐臺(tái)區(qū)婦女聯(lián)合會(huì)副主席陳麗說(shuō)，“通過(guò)舉辦玉梅剪紙培訓(xùn)班，讓失地失業(yè)婦女與陳玉梅對(duì)接，將來(lái)陳玉梅的產(chǎn)品可以給她們，讓她們來(lái)制作，然后銷售，這樣達(dá)到互贏。這不僅促進(jìn)了陳玉梅企業(yè)的發(fā)展，也促進(jìn)了我區(qū)失業(yè)失地婦女創(chuàng)業(yè)，同時(shí)促進(jìn)家庭的和諧，社會(huì)的和諧。”在陳玉梅的帶動(dòng)下，越來(lái)越多的殘疾人正在用自己的雙手，創(chuàng)造著自己的價(jià)值。如今，陳玉梅四歲大的小女兒耳濡目染，也跟著媽媽開(kāi)始學(xué)習(xí)起了剪紙藝術(shù)，還曾代表玉梅剪紙藝術(shù)中心應(yīng)邀上中央電視臺(tái)表演剪紙技藝。傳統(tǒng)剪紙技藝的綿遠(yuǎn)長(zhǎng)存也正是緣于如此的輩輩相傳。

記者采訪之時(shí)正值年關(guān)，傳統(tǒng)題材的剪紙作品很是應(yīng)景。陳玉梅和她的團(tuán)隊(duì)已經(jīng)開(kāi)始了新一輪的緊張籌備和銷售工作。