Fri/Sat/Sun September 21~23, 2018 06 i culture

HUNDREDS of artists from across the nation, Datie Literature and Art Tribe contributors, and Shenzhen

audiences witnessed the opening cere-mony of the 2nd China·Bao’an Cartoon Festival at Bao’an Library on Sept. 15.

The winners of the 2nd Datie Car-toon Contest were also announced at the ceremony. There was one fi rst-prize winner, three second-prize winners and six third-prize winners selected from among more than 300 submissions.

According to the judges, the overall quality of works this year was higher than that of last contest. The fi rst-prize work titled “Chatting Time” by Li Wei, creatively depicting the future of smart phone use, was highly relevant to the contest’s theme, “Technology changes life,” and thus was highly regarded by the judges.

In addition, art by young Chinese cartoonists is a highlight of the exhi-bition.

Approximately 80 works from famous cartoonists including Kang Yongjun and Gou Ben from Beijing, Yin Chengwei from Heilongjiang Province, Chen Huan and Wang Ben from Guangzhou, Wu Jingpeng from Dongguan as well as Wei Guan and Wang Zhiling of Shenzhen are on dis-play until Sept. 30.

Moreover, over 10 cartoonists took turns drawing caricatures of citizens during the festival, allowing visitors to get a personal encounter with the charm of cartoons in a fun way.

The Datie Cartoon Book Bar also held a forum in Bao’an’s Xixiang Subdistrict to discuss the infl uence of cartoons on teenagers.

The program was jointly organized by the China Newscartoon Society and Bao’an Literary Federation and under-taken by the Datie Literature and Art Tribe of Bao’an District in Shenzhen.

(A Ding)

Cartoons showcased at Bao’an cartoon festival

A cartoon on display in the festival. File photo

CURRENTLY, Bao’an is the origin of the largest number of intangible cultural heri-tage practices in Shenzhen,

including one national-level, nine pro-vincial-level and 15 municipal-level items ranging from folk culture to traditional music, dances, sports, techniques, art forms and folk customs. Among them, papercutting is an important part.

With a pair of small scissors, a piece of thin paper dances between the fi ngers in Chinese papercutting. After some seem-ingly casual cuts, one beautiful papercut after another materializes.

He Hong is the third-generation inheritor of He Family Papercutting. Born into a papercutting family, she is a direct descendant of He Zhizhang, a renowned poet during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). He started learning papercut-ting techniques from her father at 5 years old. She has since also learned other techniques from other teachers.

During the decade of her teaching career as a primary and middle school teacher, He dedicated herself to the teaching and promotion of the art of papercutting. Over 150 art works by her students have won fi rst prizes and special awards.

Originating from Baotai Village of Qianshan Township, Anfu County, Jiangxi Province, He Family Papercut-ting is a folk art with a unique aesthetic. According to He, Anfu is an ancient county enjoying a long history of over 2,200 years. Since the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties, the art of papercutting has spread among the people there.

After the middle period of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Baotai Village became well-known for its developed papercutting techniques. The He family of Baotai Village later moved to South China and blended the styles and techniques from both the north and the south.

Each generation of the He family have worked on the hollow-out papercutting technique, resulting in works that pres-ent an aesthetic beauty distinct from other styles.

Since settling down in Bao’an in 1991, He has been carrying out exhibitions, sales and the teaching of papercutting. As a folk artist, she has traveled to the United States, Turkey, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates to deliver lectures.

(Chen Xiaochun)

He Family Papercutting passes on Bao'an heritage

He Hong is a third-generation inheritor of He Family Papercutting. Paper-cutting works by He Hong. File photos

A TOTAL of six stage plays and an inter-active parent-child play event were held during Bao’an Drama Week from Aug. 7 to 16, which attracted more than 5,000 attendees.

This year’s Bao’an Drama Week incor-porated opportunities for parent-child bonding and invited families to partici-pate in the family-themed dramas. It was the organizers’ intention to inspire an interest in performing arts in children as well as nurture family relationships.

Among the plays staged that week, “Piao Pupu’s Adventure,” “My Primi-tive Family” and “Hi! Big Whale” tell stories about the joy and pain in growth, love, environmental protection and the parent-child relationship.

Dedicated to providing high-qual-ity events for theater lovers, Bao’an Drama Week has now been held three years consecutively since 2015 and has become a brand cultural event in Bao’an District. (Nan Nan)

Bao’an Drama Week ends