Celebrating the Year of the Rooster with paper cutting

If foreign friends want to have a taste of the best Chinese festive atmosphere in Hong Kong, there is no better time than the Chinese New Year. Although not all families decorate their houses with festive lanterns and hang colourful decorations, it is still the custom to put up "fai chun" - or Lunar New Year banners - visit Lunar New Year fairs, as well as give out red packets. By doing so, much of the traditional Chinese culture is passed on from generation to generation.

Leading a busy life, some Hong Kong people, especially young people, prefer to celebrate the Chinese New Year in a simpler way. My wife and I therefore specially chose cultural inheritance as the theme of this year's Lunar New Year video. We invited Ms Li Yunxia, a paper cutting master, to show us the traditional art of paper cutting in front of the camera. We also invited 10 students from schools run by the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (TWGHs) to join the shooting. I met the students at a TWGHs charity dinner at Government House last year and was much impressed by their vitality and energy. As expected, they did not shy away from the camera during the shooting and felt excited about the traditional art of paper cutting.

Ms Li came to Hong Kong from Shaanxi over a decade ago. Her works have won her a lot of awards and have been exhibited abroad many times. She was on the list of the "Famous Experts in China" and is now teaching young Hong Kong people the art of paper cutting.

To welcome the Year of the Rooster, Ms Li specially created for the video a paper cutting pattern, "Roosters in Spring", which symbolises good luck and happiness. The work was nothing short of exquisite. She also demonstrated her skilful and precise craftsmanship during the shooting. Both the students and I were amazed at her terrific skills. In the past, my late mother also used to do paper cutting for the Chinese New Year. Her works might not have been as exquisite as Ms Li's, but she also put in a lot of patience and attention.

I hope that Hong Kong people, especially young people, can feel the festive atmosphere of this traditional festival. I also hope that they will be inspired by Ms Li and carry on Chinese traditions, so that we can maintain Hong Kong's characteristics as a melting pot of Chinese and Western cultures.

Tomorrow is the first day of the Chinese New Year. I wish you all a prosperous and successful year ahead.

Ms Li Yunxia has masterly paper cutting skills and we are all amazed at her craftsmanship.		Ms Li created an exquisite paper cutting pattern “Roosters in Spring” for the video.
I demonstrated how to carve narcissus bulbs in the video. The process is more fun than buying fully sprouted narcissi.		The 10 energetic students from schools run by the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals did not shy away from the camera at all.

January 27, 2017