Anyone who visits the city of Baotou’s largest handicraft market, in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, will probably come across a grey-haired female folk artist patiently teaching visitors how to make paper cuts.

Liu Jinglan (C) working with two young apprentices in Baotou, Inner Mongolia. [Photo/Xinhua]

Liu Jinglan, who is 60, began studying the ancient Chinese folk art of paper cutting at around the age of 8 and has never stopped working with her scissors and paper and has become an outstanding practitioner of “Baotou paper cutting”, intangible national cultural heritage from Inner Mongolia.

Liu’s skill has allowed her to develop a unique style and she’s still quite enthusiastic about popularizing the art and explains, “I’m concerned a lot about how to get people interested in folk art so promoting it is my obligation.”

An apprentice practices paper cutting [Photo/Xinhua]

Liu has six primary and middle school student apprentice and adds that learning the technique requires patience and calm, and, “I usually take them to my home to observe the flowers and birds and ask them to depict their shape, then I teach them to cut out the shapes with basic techniques and their own imagination and I’m always amazed at their cleverness and talent.”

She also has regular classes in the handicraft market and lectures at universities, such as the Central Academy of Fine Arts and Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology and sees these as ways to communicate with young people and popularize the art form.