KLANG: Every year, a few months before Chinese New Year, Lim Cheng Hock, 62, will take out his trusty old pair of scissors and blade to indulge in the Chinese folk art of papercutting.
Never mind if Lim, who is a classical vocal music and Chinese language teacher, is already occupied with giving lessons and reading scores, as well as calligraphy classes.
To Lim, there is always enough time in the day for him to design and do the papercutting, one of the essential decorative items during the festivities.
He fell in love with the ancient art, which originated from China, when he saw his elder brother doing papercutting when they were teenagers back in Melaka.
During his university years in Taiwan, Lim’s encounter with an old man sitting by a roadside working on papercutting sparked a deeper interest for the art.
Lim said he was impressed with the old man, who pursued the art despite his age and said that such a unique Chinese tradition and culture must not die.
“That hit home for me. I realised that I, too, must play a role to ensure the longevity of the art. I even took up short courses on papercutting in the late 1980s.
“I became serious with papercutting 12 years ago, in the Year of the Rat. As the rat was the first animal to arrive at the race’s finish line, it fuelled my will to start. I was determined to do papercuttings on every animal in the Chinese zodiac calendar.
“This is also the Year of the Rat, which marks the complete cycle of the 12-year Chinese zodiac animals. To mark my milestone, I made round papercutting with a dimension of 2½ metres.
“It features 100 rats on six layers of circles, which brings the meaning of complete cycle, wholesomeness, auspiciousness and perfection.
“I have also incorporated flowers and the pomegranate fruit, its many seeds symbolising offspring abundance and fertility.
“It took me five days to complete this,” said Lim, a father of two, who authored a book on papercutting that was published several years ago.
This year, Lim has come up with more than 20 papercuttings that centre around the depiction of the rat, as well as incorporating other elements, such as the lotus, hibiscus and hearts, as symbols of peace, harmony, prosperity and luck.
Lim makes multiple copies of each design as Chinese New Year gifts to his family members, friends and colleagues.
Under the bright light of a desk lamp in a study room, Lim starts by sketching the designs on red paper before using his blade to cut along the lines and carefully removing the fragile paper from its cutting.
“I am proud to design one papercutting of a rat and cat sitting together, which reflects peace and harmony. Most people would think that cats and rats are enemies. Through my work, I want to send messages of love and the importance of getting along and understanding one another.
“I love designing rats, as well as other zodiac animals, such as snakes and tigers, to be cute, friendly and pleasing to the eyes. Of course, there is no escaping the ever-popular Mickey Mouse this year.
“When I am papercutting, the process can stretch up to midnight and into the wee hours of the morning and nothing goes to waste as I will turn the remnants of the red paper into bookmarks.”
Lim expressed hope that the papercutting art will gain momentum in Malaysia all year round and not just during the Chinese New Year.
He said the festivities should not centre just around feasting on food, practising other traditions and cultures of visiting one another or praying to ancestors.
“Importance must also be placed on papercutting as it
is commonly displayed in Chinese homes and pasted on doors and walls. Nowadays, there are hardly handmade papercutting works anymore. It is manufactured commercially.
“When I first started, I did not think it was possible for me to get into it, being a Chinese from overseas. But I am proud to have persisted.
“I hope this art will be well liked by the people. I have to say it will not make one rich, but this art, culture and tradition is priceless,” said Lim.