Ielts 雅思 口语全攻略 Ideas and Examples for ielts speaking Jeremy Chiron

A National Art Form

Tell me about a national art form in your country.
You should say: what the form of art is
how popular it is whether you are generally interested in works of art
and explain what particularly interests people about this form of art.

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  Paper-cutting: ancient art = paper was invented in China
  
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  Decorations: "window flowers" in Chinese = popular, especially around Spring Festival
  
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  Female activity in the past: women could be judged by their skills. Now = expensive
  
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  Meaningful: identical to calligraphy + Chinese zodiac animals = common
  
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  Good luck = prosperity, health, harvest
  

My country is famous for its wide variety of art forms, especially folk arts: every Chinese person is familiar with embroidery, calligraphy, or handicrafts such as the making of Chinese knots. But in these 2 minutes, I will tell you about my favorite form of folk art, which is Chinese paper-cutting; you know, cutting paper with scissors in order to create a landscape or a portrait. Paper-making is one of the four great inventions my people came up with (along with gunpowder, the compass, and printing). Paper-cutting has existed for thousands of years.
Paper-cutting is extremely popular around Spring Festival every year. We buy paper-cuts as ornaments, and we usually stick them on windows or doors. In Chinese we occasionally refer to paper-cuts as chuang hua, which means "window flower". They decorate and bring life to our windows. In addition, some artists incorporate (= include) paper-cuts into the making of lanterns. The results are always stunning, and very traditional.
In the past, in the countryside, women would be judged upon their ability to shape paper. I know that my grandmother is very skilled at paper-cutting and paper-folding. Last year, I visited a shop where both a man and his wife designed all kinds of paper-cuts. The price of each piece was actually very high. They had them in albums, or framed for you to pick. It was gorgeous.
Sometimes artists first fold the paper and cut it. In this way, a symmetrical design is revealed when they unfold it. The designs are always meaningful. It's very common for artists to cut out the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, you know, like the dragon, the snake, or the horse. This year is the year of the rabbit, so I am sure you have seen many paper-cut rabbits on windows everywhere. I particularly like it when they mix a drawing and some Chinese characters, just like calligraphy. It's always so precise. The artist must be very careful and meticulous.
Usually paper-cuts are made of red paper in China. Red is the national color to start with, and on top of this, it also represents good luck. For the New Year, offering red paper cuts to someone means we wish them prosperity and health. In the countryside, red implies that we wish farmers good weather and good harvest.

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