AI Empowers Tradition: JD Cloud Helps Weixian Paper Cutting Flourish in the Digital Age

AI Empowers Tradition: JD Cloud Helps Weixian Paper Cutting Flourish in the Digital AgeIn the warm sunlight filtering through the clouds onto the swirling paper scraps of Weixian's ancient Warm Spring Town paper-cutting street, a story of millennia-old artistry unfolds. Zhou Shuying, an inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage Hebei Weixian paper cutting skillfully carves intricate designs onto red paper with her knife

AI Empowers Tradition: JD Cloud Helps Weixian Paper Cutting Flourish in the Digital Age

In the warm sunlight filtering through the clouds onto the swirling paper scraps of Weixian's ancient Warm Spring Town paper-cutting street, a story of millennia-old artistry unfolds. Zhou Shuying, an inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage Hebei Weixian paper cutting skillfully carves intricate designs onto red paper with her knife. Her exquisite technique is breathtaking; each cut precise, each piece imbued with profound cultural heritage. Yet, she faces the challenges of the digital age: how to captivate younger generations with this ancient art? She admits that young people are more drawn to smartphone emojis and internet trends, their interest in traditional paper cutting waning. This spurred her to constantly explore ways to rekindle young people's love for this art form.

Fortunately, the intervention of artificial intelligence has injected new vitality into Weixian paper cutting. Approaching the Spring Festival, JD.com, in collaboration with the Weixian Culture and Tourism Bureau, leveraged JD Cloud's Yanxi AIGC's image generation capabilities. This ingenious blend of "new technology" and "old craftsmanship" created numerous Spring Festival paper-cutting greetings that retain traditional charm while incorporating modern sensibilities, giving wings to the inheritance and innovation of Weixian paper cutting.

Renowned for its unique colorful dyeing art form, Weixian paper cutting is a significant Chinese national intangible cultural heritage project. Its creation involves three main steps: drawing, carving, and dyeing. Artists use small knives and brushes to infuse each piece with auspicious meanings and wishes. JD Cloud aimed to use AI large models to learn the unique style of Weixian paper cutting and incorporate young people's preferences to explore new creative approaches.

To achieve this, the JD Cloud Yanxi team "fed" thousands of exquisite Weixian paper-cutting works to the Yanxi large model, enabling it to learn the carving techniques and coloring methods. This allowed it to accurately capture and reproduce the rich colors and unique artistic style. To generate patterns appealing to younger audiences, the team further inputted a vast amount of data related to trends and popular culture, such as trendy check-in locations, anime culture, esoteric beliefs, pets, emojis, and internet memes, cleverly blending tradition with modernity.

This fusion of tradition and modernity enabled the efficient, large-scale generation of digitally native paper-cutting patterns across multiple themes and series. The speed was hundreds of times faster than manual drawing, with an acceptance rate exceeding 50%, sparking new creative ideas in collaboration with artisans.

For instance, designs like "snake resting, salary rising," "snake holding nine, surely stable," and "snake means everything good" quickly sparked discussions on social media platforms. These designs not only preserve the exquisite detail of Weixian paper cutting but also subtly incorporate the lives and emotions of modern people, showcasing a modern expression of traditional art.

Zhou Liwei, a young inheritor of paper-cutting, possesses a deep affection and unique perspective on the art form. He believes young people don't dislike intangible cultural heritage; they need a catalyst to connect traditional art with their own lives. A university graduate in animation, Zhou Liwei combined paper cutting themes with animation, creating stunning short films that were successfully shortlisted for an international student film festival. Ultimately, he chose to inherit Weixian paper cutting and actively explores collaborations with modern trendy brands, breathing new life into this traditional art.

Using his work "Snake coils around rabbit, guaranteed wealth" as an example, Zhou Liwei illustrates the application of AI technology in traditional paper cutting. This design adheres to the principle of paper cuttingthat images must have meaning, and the meaning must be auspicious. With the aid of AI, this traditional pattern has been given a more Q-cute, modern aesthetic, revitalizing its appeal.

With the rise of "Guochao" (national trend), intangible cultural heritage paper cutting is increasingly popular among young people. With JD Cloud's assistance, Weixian paper cutting has not only broken through online boundaries but has also spawned a series of peripheral products, such as sweatshirts, tote bags, scarves, photo frame stands, and phone cases. These products allow young people to integrate traditional art into their daily lives, making it a part of their routine. JD He Wu flagship store operators reported that over 500 customized phone cases were sold shortly after launch, with New Year-themed phone cases becoming a must-buy item for young people.

The JD Cloud team shared their exploration experiences in combining AI with intangible cultural heritage. They believe that AI can not only help artists find creative inspiration but also leverage JD's supply chain and platform strength to increase awareness and appreciation among young people. In the future, they will continue exploring more applications of AI in the preservation and innovation of intangible cultural heritage.

This year's Spring Festival, coinciding with China's first "World Intangible Cultural Heritage Edition" Spring Festival, saw a surge in searches for couplets, window decorations, and red envelopes on the JD app. JD data shows that "Year of the Snake"-related searches increased by over 100% in the past two weeks. With Gen Z becoming the main force in Spring Festival consumption, novel, fun, and interesting holiday peripherals are selling exceptionally well. This set of paper-cutting designs, blending traditional aesthetics with contemporary young people's New Year wishes, has been warmly received.

This "collision" between AI and Weixian paper cutting has not only infused new vitality into traditional art but has also opened up new avenues for the inheritance and innovation of intangible cultural heritage. As Zhou Shuying says, "As long as we constantly innovate, traditional culture will never become obsolete."

The Weixian Culture and Tourism Bureau actively promotes the integration of intangible cultural heritage and other traditional cultures with technology. The Weixian Museum, leveraging its rich collection of artifacts, has built a 3D interactive screen and established a permanent digital archive of artifacts, providing visitors with an in-depth and engaging experience. The deep integration of Weixian's cultural and tourism industries has breathed new life into this ancient city. Geng Xuefeng, Party Secretary and Director of the Weixian Culture, Radio, Television, and Tourism Bureau, stated that this collaboration with JD.com, through the AIGC-generated New Year designs and derivative products, represents an organic combination of intangible cultural heritage protection, inheritance, and development. These measures meet the needs of artifact preservation, research, restoration, display, and cultural and creative product development, making Weixian's cultural and tourism projects incredibly popular.

In Weixian, there are many intangible cultural heritage inheritors like Zhou Shuying and Zhou Liwei. They actively embrace new technologies and try to empower traditional art with AI. Zhou Shuying reflects, "I've always wondered how to make more young people fall in love with paper cutting. Now, with the help of AI, I feel closer to that goal." The application of AI technology has brought new hope to the inheritance and development of Weixian paper cutting and provides valuable experience for the protection and innovation of other intangible cultural heritage projects.

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