Pizhou Paper Sculpture Lion Mask, as an integrated folk craft, is a head mask of Traditional lion dance which include sculpture, wallpaper, rolling, painting.
In 1992, Shi Shengrong, a Paper Sculpture Lion Mask artist from Pizhou, was awarded the title of “Folk Craft Artist” by UNESCO. In 2008, this craft was officially listed in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage.
With a long history, Pizhou Paper Sculpture Lion Mask has been passed down from generation to generation with more than 500 years. Traditional folklore believes that lion dance can exorcise evil spirits. Therefore, people like to play drums and lion dances every festival, such as the opening ceremony, the Spring Festival, etc. According to the development of the lion head mask, we can see the development of folk lion dance and the Chinese folk mask art.
Different from the southern lion head mask, it is exquisite, extremely aggressive and bold, with exaggerated style, vivid image, bright colors, strong contrast, and sense of humor, and high artistic value.
