Source: Yuncheng Urban and Rural Collective Industrial Association 
Updated: May 19, 2020  10:08
YANG Yi, courtesy name Jizhong, art name Shangyixuan Zhuren, was born in 1975, a native of Jishan, Shanxi, with a tertiary education and a member of the Communist Party of China. He learned the art of paper-cutting with his mother since childhood and enjoyed himself. For ten years in the military, he has successfully held his own paper-cutting exhibition of folk customs. In 2003, he changed his job and worked in the Shanxi branch of the Aluminum Corporation of China Limited. He was the winner of the 10th Chinese Folk Literature and Art "Shanhua Award", and the "Hundred-Flower Cup" and "Golden Phoenix" Gold Medal of Chinese Arts and Crafts. He also won five consecutive gold medals at the China Paper-cutting Art Festival and the International Paper-cutting Art Festival, and his works have been collected by many museums.

In 2012, YANG Yi founded Shangyixuan Paper-cutting Art Center. Before digging, researching and sorting out the folk art of paper-cutting and embroidery in Hedong, he visited local paper-cutting senior artists, collecting more than 10,000 pieces of various folk-custom paper-cutting and embroidery art. He created a 100-meter paper-cutting scroll with Hedong culture as the main content. There are more than 10,000 works in more than 20 series, including “Guandi Hundred Dragons”, "Hedong Wedding Customs", "Hedong New Year Customs", "Hedong Ancient Beliefs and Customs", "Jiwang Culture Paper-cutting" and "Longmen Culture Paper-cutting". Currently he occupies a number of positions in different associations, such as the Chinese Folk Artists Association, the Chinese Arts and Crafts Association, the Paper-cutting Art Committee of the Chinese Culture Promotion Association, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Project of Shanxi Province, and Shanxi Province Talent Program, the Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage of Nanjing University, Shanxi Yellow River Paper-cutting Art Research Institute, the Shanxi Arts and Crafts Association, the Yuncheng Paper-cutting Association.
 YANG Yi integrates both northern magnificent atmosphere and southern delicate texture into his work. Derived and inspired from the traditional profound cultural heritage and folk customs of Shanxi, he has refined and innovated his design and layout in details such as multiple perspectives, shape exaggeration and color mixing of black, white and red, resulting in his unique artistic style.

Hejin Shangyixuan Paper-cutting Art Center was established in 2013 and it currently has 6 faculty members. It is a protection project that under various associations, such as the provincial intangible cultural heritage protection project "Hejin Paper-cutting", the municipal intangible cultural heritage protection project "Hejin Pillow Top Embroidery", "Hedong Hand-painted Techniques", and "Hedong Native Cloth Printing and Dyeing". YANG Yi, the key figure, occupies many positions such as the former vice chairman of the Paper-cutting Art Committee of the Chinese Folk Artists Association, the vice-chairman of the Shanxi Folk Paper-cutting Artists Association, a master of arts and crafts of Shanxi Province, and the provincial representative of the intangible cultural heritage protection project "Hejin Paper-cutting" in Shanxi Province, "Top Ten Scissors" in China, "Three Jin Talents" in Shanxi Province, "Hedong Craftsmen" in Yuncheng City, and "Top Talents" in Hejin City. 
Over the years, he created more than 10,000 paper-cutting works of folk customs in Hedong, and won more than 100 gold, silver, and bronze awards. Among them, "Hedong Wedding Customs" won the 10th Chinese Folk Literature and Art "Shanhua Award" Gold Award, and "Yellow River Soul and Taihang Mountain Nostalgia" "Longsheng Huyang Diaodashan (born as a hero)" won the "Hundred Flowers Cup" Gold Award of Chinese Arts and Crafts, "Hedong Marriage Customs", "Hedong New Year Customs", "Hedong Religious Customs", "Wealth and Royalty", "Hedong Drum Baby Expecting the Winter Olympics" won gold awards in the Chinese Paper-cutting Art Festival for five consecutive years. YANG Yi and his works are acknowledged the best and are considered the honor and pride for our local people.  

In recent years, their research team have done substantiate work of visiting senior folk artists and rescuing, studying folk art work for protection and conservation. So far, they have rescued and collected nearly 10,000 pieces of paper-cutting materials on cultural relics ranging from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, more than 1,000 pieces of precious old embroidery from the Qing Dynasty to the liberation period, more than 300 pieces of homespun printing and dyeing wrapping cloth from the Republic of China to the liberation period dated back to the Qing Dynasty. It also included more than 200 hand-painted works of various kinds of homespun cloth, and more than 100 pieces of various folk embroidery tiger-hats. All of them are reliable evidence for the study of folk culture in Hedong. Particularly in 2016, the Art Center received the invitation of JIN Zhilin, who is the founder of Chinese Primordial Culture, a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and a top expert on paper-cutting research in China. Therefore, more than 200 pieces of Hedong folk art were exhibited at the Capital China Primordial Art Museum. Experts and scholars attending the conference spoke highly of Hedong folk art. JIN Zhilin immediately wrote "Beauty is among the people" as a high compliment. It greatly encouraged and motivated us. Nowadays, more than 500 experts, scholars, graduate students from universities, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education pay a visit to the studio every year. It serves as a window for spreading Hedong culture and protecting and inheriting our intangible cultural heritage.