CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- How many loong-themed decorations is your house ornamented with for this Spring Festival? Let’s see how skilled artisans use scissors to cut out shapes of loongs from pieces of paper and make loong toys out of cotton fiber and cloth.

The loong, or the Chinese dragon, is the symbol of auspiciousness in Chinese culture. Chinese paper-cutting, a unique form of art, passes on the essence of the excellent traditional Chinese culture.

Liang Su, 75 years old, is a master of arts and crafts, as well as a representative inheritor of Chinese paper-cutting in Chongqing, creating works that combine ethnic characteristics and fashion elements.

Liang Su has a light hand for making paper loongs in various shapes and sizes: some of them wind along, some hover over the clouds, and some soar through the sky... These paper loongs evoke a sense of majesty and mystery and add visual interest and variety to our lives.

Liang Su’s paper loongs had been popular before the Spring Festival arrived. As loong is synonymous with power, strength, and good fortune, it is customary for Chinese people to decorate their houses with loong-themed paper-cutting works to pray for peace, good luck, and a bumper harvest.

Before the Spring Festival, Liang Su guided children to create paper cuttings at the paper-cutting art exhibition held at Beibei Art Museum, hoping that her efforts would get children to be interested in paper-cutting.

In addition to paper loongs, artisans also create loong fabric toys, which have been popular for their various bright colors and the festive atmosphere they bring.

Li Jia is an inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Beibei District and a teacher teaching Fabric Art at the High School Affiliated to Southwest University. Influenced by her mother, who is a seamstress, Li Jia has been fond of fabric art since childhood. She established a studio specializing in making all kinds of fabric ornaments in Beibei District.

Li Jia made loong fabric toys with her hands. Featuring the patterns of traditional Chinese loongs, these toys are creatively made out of cotton cloth and pearl cotton.

Techniques used to make fabric loongs include sewing, gluing, embroidering, painting, and knotting. Several commonly used stitches include overlocking, running stitch, back stitch, invisible stitch, blanket stitch, and pressing. Li Jia enjoys knitting and sewing fabric loongs stitch by stitch meticulously. All her works are neatly sewn.

To pass on this craft, Li Jia often teaches children to make fabric works in primary and secondary schools and kindergartens. She wishes to pass the Spring Festival tradition and the fabric art skills left by our ancestors. (Translated by Yuki, Fathom Language Limited)