Chinese Paper Cutting

As traditional Chinese art, paper cutting has a long history. The first and earliest paper cutting was found in China 1,500 years ago. 【小题1】. Luckily, Woo, a Chinese immigrant（移民）in America, is trying to bring this art back to life.

One Saturday in 2022, Ms. Woo held a paper cutting show at a shopping center near Washington. 【小题2】. She hoped more people would enjoy the art of paper cutting.

Ms. Woo began to study the art of paper cutting as a 14-year-old girl in her hometown in China. She said all the students at school had to learn paper cutting. But she had a deep love for it. 【小题3】. Later, she won the second prize in a national painting and art competition. Ms. Woo went to America after she finished college in 2018. Soon after that, she took part in an activity to promote（宣传）Chinese paper cutting. 【小题4】. “It is important to promote this art to Americans or anyone who is interested in it. Maybe it will make this art more popular.” Woo said.

From the art of paper cutting, people can know about Chinese cultural values, history and stories of people’s life. Ms. Woo uses the art as a tool to show Chinese culture to people who know little about it. 【小题5】, but also for people all over the world.

Do you know how Chinese people get their names? And what do different names mean? Let me tell you now.

In China, the parents or grandparents give the child the first name and family name. Generally speaking(一般来说), the child’s family name is the same as the father’s family name. But there are also exceptions(例外).

Some parents will let their child use the mother’s family name. About the first name, it usually has the hope(希望) and best wishes for the child from the parents. So, parents will use very nice words for the child’s first name. And parents often use different words in their boys’ and girls’ first name because they have different hopes for the girls and boys. For example, parents with boys hope their boys to be strong, honest, and powerful while parents with girls hope their girls to be good-looking, friendly, and gentle.

Another interesting fact is that if the child is born(出生) on a special(特殊的) and good day, the parents will give the child a first name that has something to do with the day. For example, if the child is born on October 1st—the Chinese National Day, parents may name the child Guoqing meaning the National Day.

So, from the name of Chinese, you can know something about him/her and his/her family.

Huangmei opera came from Huangmei in Hubei Province developed to Anqing of Anhui Province. Now the opera becomes a performance art, especially in Anqing and Huangmei.

It is one of China’s five major operas. It has an important influence on Chinese opera.

At first, Huangmei opera was sung by women when they were picking tea and the opera was called the Picking Tea Song. Then, under the influence of folk songs of the Song Dynasty and dramas of the Yuan Dynasty, over the Ming, in Qing dynasties, Huangmei opera became the most popular. On May 20th, 2006, people put Huangmei opera in the first list of national intangible cultural heritages.

In Huangmei opera, there are many roles, Zhengdan (major female role), Zhengsheng (major actor), Xiaodan (a young female role), Xiaosheng (young man), Huadan (a female role), Laosheng (old actor), etc.