An elder and a staff member of a nursing home paste a paper-cutting on a window to greet the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, Jan. 24, 2025. (Photo by Zhang Ying/Xinhua)

　　BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- As dawn breaks over a village in suburban Beijing, 75-year-old Hao Lanying sits at her desk, scissors in hand, cutting red paper into the shape of a snake winding around a bird. The design is part of a series she has created to celebrate the Year of the Snake.

　　“I designed the 'auspicious snake' series as gifts for elderly locals,“ said Hao, who is from Jishanying Village in Beijing's Shunyi District and is a practitioner of the art of paper cutting, which is recognized as a form of intangible cultural heritage.

　　The distinct water-ripple paper cutting technique that Hao has mastered originated in a Shunyi household in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). What makes Hao's work unique is her use of scissors instead of knives. With skilled hands, she creates intricate patterns of rippling water and falling raindrops on single-layer red paper, bringing her designs to life.

　　This humble folk artist has spent over half a century promoting what has been called a dying art form, bringing it to the global stage.

　　In 2004, UNESCO acquired a piece of her work for its collections. And over the past 20 years, her works have been presented as national gifts to leaders of many European countries.

　　A map of the world in Hao's studio documents her cultural journey: a total of 193 red pins show the countries and regions where her works have traveled, while 28 marked flight paths weave together her stories of cultural exchange.