Why the Chinese cut red paper?

Time in memorial, red has been an auspicious color for the Chinese. 

Red radiates respectfulness to every Chinese and respect is an element that bring the Chinese together in any ceremonial events. 

With respect, one can adopt a heritage left by their ancestors and to preserve such heritage is not easy unless the young ones wanted to make it a practice in their homes. 

So far, the thousands years old red color is still being used by the Chinese all over the world.

The cultures and customs of the Chinese is so extensive and ancient sages have recorded them in writings. 

Today, the sages' writings have become subjects of studies in universities. 

When Admiral Zheng He visited Melaka five times, he and his followers introduced Chinese customs and traditions to Orang Melaka or Maliujia Ren. 

One of them is the art of red paper cuttings. Red paper cutting was never done in other colors except red.

My mother introduced the art of red paper cutting to me in 1974, three years after my father passed away in 1971. According to traditions, red must not be used during mourning period which could last from one year to five years. I mourned for three years. (My father was born in Fujian, China and he traveled by sea to Melaka at the age of early 20s; married a Malaccan after a few years. One of the lessons children learnt in school five decade ago was to create the image of a colorful butterfly using painting paper and coloring paste. Color selection and color matching takes you to imagine how attractive would your butterfly be. The effect of symmetrical print was a test to how well the student applied color imagination.

Likewise, Chinese papercuts also uses the art of symmetical effects as one of its methods. Chinese papercuts always symbolizes luck and happiness.

The most famous papercut is the character " fú " that carry " lucks " ....

Watch a video on how to make a " fú "