The Ministry of Education recently announced the results of its 2024 Honouring China’s Outstanding Traditional Culture Educational Promotion Initiative in higher education. Joining USST in Chinese Paper-Cutting Art, submitted by Department of Publicity of USST and SBC-USST, was selected for MoE’s innovative micro-video series on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Craftsmanship.

Official Awards List

This micro-video series encourages universities to showcase traditional music, dance, drama, folk art, crafts, and other ICH elements through creative videos. By documenting student-led projects, the initiative aims to inspire deeper appreciation and hands-on engagement with China’s living heritage.

USST’s award-winning video, Joining USST in Chinese Paper-Cutting Art, explores the intangible cultural heritage at our fingertips—Shanghai paper-cutting. Blending global perspectives, the video documents our students’ years of unwavering dedication to preserving and promoting the art of paper-cutting through theory and practice under the guidance of Sun Jihai, a Shanghai ICH inheritor.

Video Clip of Joining USST in Chinese Paper-Cutting Art

For over 10 years, faculty and students of SBC have actively organised paper-cutting culture workshops, learning and practicing the art alongside our international students and peers from UK universities while exchanging insights on cultural heritage preservation. Going global, we have conducted in-depth research and sharing sessions in countries including the UK, France, Germany, Russia, and Indonesia.

During SBC’s summer school project, we offers cultural experience classes like calligraphy, paper-cutting, and Tai Chi for the students from overseas. I learned the meaning of courage and perseverance, which are values I will carry for life. Ignace Kitu from the UK said. Pawel Przedaszek from Poland, whose exquisite paper-cutting work won praise from all, said excitedly: Paper-cutting is a delicate art. Polish paper-cutting, namely wycinanki, is also famous for its bright colors and symmetrical craftsmanship. Chinese and Polish paper-cutting have similar techniques but distinct artistic styles.

SBC summer school project

Additionally, our students produced bilingual introductory videos on paper-cutting and offered classes to rural children, combining craft instruction with cultural education. Innovatively, they designed a multi-functional app integrating paper-cutting tutorials, interactive photography, and an e-shop for cultural creative products—exploring new media’s potential in cross-cultural communication from home and abroad.

Source:The Sino-British College of USST (SBC-USST)