Our Story
Traditional Craftsmanship,
Presented for the Modern World
ChinesePapers exists for one reason: to bring the oldest paper arts in the world — paper cutting and Xuan paper — into homes everywhere, with the care and honesty they deserve.
The Art
What Is Chinese Paper Cutting?
Chinese paper cutting — jianzhi (剪纸) — is the art of cutting paper into openwork designs with scissors or a fine knife. Practiced for at least fifteen centuries, it is one of China's most widespread folk arts: window flowers for the New Year, double-happiness symbols for weddings, zodiac animals for birthdays, and lantern decorations for festivals.
The rules of the craft are deceptively simple. A design must stay connected — no floating, disconnected parts — and every cut is final. There is no erasing in paper cutting. A single slip of the knife can end hours of work, which is exactly why finished pieces carry the quiet confidence of mastery.
In 2009, UNESCO inscribed Chinese paper cutting on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The Paper
What Is Xuan Paper?
Xuan paper — xuanzhi (宣纸) — is the most celebrated handmade paper in China, produced in Jing County, Anhui Province, since the Tang dynasty. It is made from the bark of the blue sandalwood tree (Pteroceltis tatarinowii) and rice straw, fermented and pounded into a pulp, then lifted sheet by sheet from a vat.
A single batch can pass through more than a hundred steps and take up to two years, including natural aging that mellows the paper. The result is a surface calligraphers describe as soft as silk and strong as leather — absorbent enough for expressive ink, stable enough to last a millennium.
Xuan paper making, too, was inscribed by UNESCO on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2009.
How We Work
Small Workshops, Real Hands
We are not a marketplace. Every product in the collection is chosen, described, quality-checked, and packed by a small team that knows the craft.
Direct from workshops
We buy directly from small artisan workshops and paper mills — no resellers, no mass production. You pay for the work, not the chain.
Honest descriptions
Every listing tells you the paper type, materials, dimensions, and how the piece is made. No invented stories, no inflated claims.
Packed to arrive perfect
Rigid acid-free packaging, corner protection, and tracked shipping across North America and Europe. Handmade deserves better than a padded envelope.
A Modern Interpretation
Old Craft, New Homes
Paper cutting was never a museum piece. It lived on windows, doors, and lanterns — part of everyday life. We believe it still belongs in everyday life, so we present it the way modern homes want it: framed pieces for walls, subtle pieces for shelves, kits for hands that want to learn.
Our visual language is deliberately quiet. The artwork speaks for itself — we simply give it the room to do so.
Our Mission
Why ChinesePapers Exists
Chinese paper arts are world-class craftsmanship that most of the world has never properly met. Our mission is to change that — to make a hand-cut dragon or a sheet of real Xuan paper as understandable, and as desirable, to a customer in Chicago as it is in Shanghai.
We do that through education — the Journal, honest product stories, and patient customer service — and through products that earn their place in your home on craftsmanship alone.
Traditional Chinese craftsmanship, presented for the modern world.