Cai Lanying

Cai Lanying (蔡蘭英; 1918 – 2005) was a Chinese cut-paper artist.

Cai Lanying
蔡蘭英
Born	1918  Xian County
Died	2005  (aged 86–87)
Occupation	Papercut artist

Cai Lanying was born in 1918 in Xian County, Hebei, China. She was born into a peasant family and had little education; she was unable to read or write. She began papercutting at age eight and created over 10 thousand works.^[1]

Most of her works depict Chinese peasant life, including agricultural work, festivals, and folktales. Many of her works are autobiographical.^[1]

Her paper-cut of a rooster was selected for the annual Chinese zodiac stamp by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications for the 1993 Year of the Rooster.^[2] Her design features a rooster with cocked head and outspread wings above plum blossoms and a caption reading, "The rooster crows for the coming of spring."^[3]

Cai Lanying was invited to the World Conference on Women, 1995.^[1] Her work is in the collection of the National Art Museum of China.^[4]

Can Lanying died in 2005.^[5]

References

1. Biographical dictionary of Chinese women. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe. 1998. ISBN 978-0-7656-0043-1.
2. Bottomley, Ruth (1994). Chinese papercuts : a selection. Singapore: Sun Tree Pub. ISBN 978-981-00-4410-7.
3. "The Year to Cock-a-Doodle-doo it" (PDF). First Cut: Guild of American Papercutters. 6 (4). 1993.
4. See, Pamela M (2020-10-01). "The Agency of Papercutting in the Post-Digital Era". doi:10.25904/1912/3981. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
5. Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: The Twentieth Century 1912–2000 (Chinese edition) (in Chinese) (REV - Revised, Chinese language ed.). Sydney University Press. 2016. ISBN 978-1-74332-522-3. JSTOR j.ctt1kzcbzj.