Craftswoman's Paper Cutting Skills Keep Ancient Art Alive

By George McConnell

A childhood hobby that became a profession for artist Yumei Hou and brought her fame in her Chinese homeland also turned into the path to a new life in San Francisco.

On Saturday, May 13, Hou provided a rare demonstration of her celebrated skill in the ancient Chinese folk art of paper cutting to an appreciative audience at the Ortega Branch Library. Making just a few cuts in a folded piece of paper with a pair of scissors, she created, seemingly by magic, intricate pictures of animals and flowers in a matter of minutes.

Although onlookers reveled in her artistry, the story of her journey from struggling artist to international acclaim is also remarkable. Hou was born in Tonghua City in northwest China in 1952. During China's Cultural Revolution in the '70s, her family was forced to leave its home and moved to the country to work in agriculture.

"We were very poor, and I used to work in the fields harvesting crops," she said.

When she was 4 years of age, her mother began to teach her weaving, embroidering and paper cutting, and Hou discovered she excelled in art. She eventually applied at an art academy near her home. During enrollment, she told school officials about her paper cutting skills, and they handed her a pair of scissors and asked her to demonstrate.

"I was very scared," she said, "because art was considered subversive and burned, and you were not allowed to have scissors."

The government, however, had begun a program to promote ancient folk art, such as paper cutting. The school was very impressed with her talent and she was accepted as a student.

"The school was 30 kilometers (about 18 miles) away, but I had no money to take the bus, so I was forced to ride my bike to class. Sometimes, at night, on the way home, I would slip and fall into a ditch," Hou said.

Paper cutting has been traced back to the Tang Dynasty in the fifth century, according to Hou. Originally called "window flowers" because it was used to decorate windows, today the patterns are used on special occasions, such as weddings, festivals and holidays, and for home decorations.

In China, professional paper cutting artists work together in workshops and have guaranteed incomes, she said. Hou's talent became recognized in Chinese paper cutting societies, and she soon gained national recognition.

She was appointed the director of the Society of Paper Cutters of China and, in 1992, the government began to send her to international exhibitions, where she won many awards. The United Nations organization, UNESCO, awarded her the title of "Folk Artist."

But when she came to San Francisco in February 2001 to conduct a demonstration at the Asian Art Museum, her life took an unexpected turn. During the show she met a fan who later became her husband. After a brief courtship, he asked her to marry him and begin a new life together in America. Hou hesitated.

"I didn't know if I wanted to give up my life in China. I was very famous there and nobody knew me here. My husband asked me to try it for awhile, and after six months I decided I wanted to stay here," she said.

Hou said paper cutting is not well known in this country, and she has been unable to start any paper cutting organizations. She continues to demonstrate her craft in shows and schools and hopes to someday open a school. For the last several years, Hou has worked as an artist for a company in San Francisco that designs and builds parade floats.

"She works on 40 to 50 floats a year for us, including the Chinese New Years parade, sculpting larger-than-life sculptures, like cars and boats and people, out of styrofoam. She's a little bit of a genius I would say," said her supervisor and fellow sculptor David Thomas.

Although she is not famous like she was back in China, Hou said she appreciates the freedom here.

"In China, I was only allowed to do one thing. It is better here," she said.