The Life News Agency
May 25, 2023

On May 13rd afternoon – after the Bacolod brownout – the Fo Guang Shan Yuan Thong Buddhist Temple invited teachers to participate in a teacher's training. The training focused on providing teachers with practical insights on Chinese culture and paper arts, that they can directly apply in their next week's classes. These paper arts are the two-dimensional paper cutting and the three-dimensional Chinese paper folding.

Venerable Zhi Rong welcomed the teachers. photo／The Life News Agency

One of the foundations Fo Guang Shan propagates is the "three acts of goodness". Do good deeds, speak good words, and think good thoughts. Implementing the three acts of goodness in orphanages and schools has led to mobbing being eradicated in participating institutions. These acts are an important part of any Fo Guang Shan teacher's education. As this was a special workshop on Chinese culture, all participants got the chance to learn the three acts of goodness in Chinese.

The rest of the workshop was focused on paper-cutting and different Chinese paper folding techniques. Paper was invented in China almost 2000 years ago. The art of paper cutting appeared shortly after in the 4th century AD. Due to its cultural importance and long history, paper cutting is included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists. Paper folding became popular in China later, likely around the turn of the century, when paper became cheaper.

As it is the Chinese year of the rat, the teachers practiced their paper cutting skills with the design of the rat. The essence of paper cutting is to start by cutting the small inner parts and then only cutting the outer parts. This allows for beautiful artwork to be created. One teacher stated that he would consider adding paper-cutting to his curriculum to deepen pupils' interaction with the topic by selecting a paper cutting design that best represents the material discussed in class.

Teachers practiced their paper cutting skills.  photo／The Life News Agency

After being introduced to paper-cutting, the teachers learned the art of paper folding. They learned various paper folding techniques that they used to fold beautiful 3D hearts, birds with moving wings and other figures. Naturally it is also possible to combine paper-folding and cutting. The result is beautiful multi-coloured 3D animals or objects. Designs of differing difficulties were introduced that can be challenging for children and adults of differing age groups to create.

Teachers learned the art of paper folding. photo／The Life News Agency