He has been recognized as a master and inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage. (Photo/Xinhua)
He Kefeng, a 54-year-old woman residing by Crescent Moon Lake, an oasis amid the desert in landlocked Gansu Province, was overwhelmed by the frescoes of Dunhuang, an important Buddhist center on the ancient Silk Road, the first time she saw them at the age of 12.
Accompanying her grandfather on a donkey, the young girl was transfixed by the bold, elegant and imaginative paintings inside the grottoes with a history of more than 1,000 years.
"I was totally thrilled by the murals and was most reluctant to leave," She recalled.
In the ensuing years, when the restrictions of visits to the grottoes were less severe than today, she often cycled there and stayed late, together with the children playing in the sand or engaged in hide-and-seek, as well as the artists drawing replicas of the paintings.
Taught by her grandma, the deftest paper-cutting craftswoman in her hometown, He started to use her scissors to create layout of the frescoes, including the beautiful divinities playing Pipa at the back.
However, her idyllic life ended shortly after she had to drop out of high school and labor as a farmer. Bidding farewell to her carefree youth, He, a foster child, has to support 11 seniors, including, her great-grandfather, grandparents, step parents, parents-in-law and two unmarried brothers.
She lost half of an index finger of the right hand in 1994, and became desperate at the draconian life and cried time and again in the barley field after completing her farm work.
However, amid the abyss of misery, the paper-cutting opened a window of hope to her.
When she was young, she spent her income on brushes and colors as well as a book introducing the Grottoes,something far removedfrom the majority oftown women interested mainly in clothes and cosmetics.
She stored all her prototypes and materials after her finger was fractured and never touched the ancient handicraft until a friend asked her to help draw some Dunhuang elements onto a number of vests. She completed the assignment well within the three-month schedule and gained some rewards.
From then on, she restarted her hand-made art, which was featured by a local newspaper in Dunhuang. Recognizing her dexterous skill, the local post office placed an order for 2,000 paper-cuts, silhouetting the performances of plucking the Pipa at back, for which she earned 7,000 yuan (about US$1,019).
She embarked once again on her own designs and worked on them whenever she could find time after finishing her labor in the fields, and sold them publicly, sometimes continuing until midnight, even though she had to get up at dawn for farm work. The workload extended over nine years.
Many a time she could have left the village when the town school invited her to join their faculty and the Dunhuang Academy China offered her free visits to work on facsimiles.However, she refused to leave, being concerned about her family, especially the old people who needed her care.
With the seniors passed away one after another, He is also turning old. No longer capable of drudgery in the fields, she has opened a paper-cutting store and relies heavily on its incomes. She has won many awards in nationwide contests and been recognized as a master and inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage.
The rent-free studios in Crescent Moon Lake Town have enabled her to settle down, promoting her creations among travelers.
Although she no longer visits the grottoes so often, she said the frescoes of the skyward figures are permanently fixed in her mind and soul.
"I feel so satisfied of being born in the town where there are the murals delineating the dances heading to heaven," she said."Despite my lifetime suffering, I can still be pleased when finishing each paper-cut, which can bring me genuine happiness while dispersing my worries."
