An Analysis of the Use of Paper-Cutting Art in Art Teaching and Campus Culture in Rural Secondary Schools in Multi-Ethnic Regions: A Case Study of Daping Dong, Tujia, and Miao Township Junior High School in Wanshan District

Abstract

Chinese paper-cutting is a national form of intangible cultural heritage that integrates aesthetic, folkloric, and educational values. It is therefore a locally grounded resource for rural primary and secondary schools seeking to strengthen aesthetic education and transmit outstanding traditional Chinese culture. Daping Dong, Tujia, and Miao Township Junior High School in Wanshan District, Tongren, Guizhou Province, is located in a multi-ethnic cultural environment where Dong, Tujia, Miao, and Han communities interact. The school possesses rich local heritage resources, but it also faces persistent constraints, including limited rural art-education resources, discontinuity in ethnic cultural transmission, and insufficiently distinctive campus culture. Drawing on its regional multi-ethnic cultural foundations, the school has spent four years developing a paper-cutting society, compiling the first volume of the school-based textbook Wanshan District Daping Junior High School Paper-Cutting Course, and establishing a three-part instructional system consisting of foundational classroom teaching, society-based advancement, and campus-cultural immersion. Traditional paper-cutting has been integrated into regular Grade 7 art instruction and connected with local Nuo culture, ethnic customs, red culture, campus life, anniversary themes, and graduation culture. Taking this school-based curriculum as a case, this paper examines the implementation model of paper-cutting instruction in a rural multi-ethnic junior high school, analyzes its value for art teaching and campus culture, identifies problems in curriculum development, classroom implementation, and cultural transformation, and proposes targeted strategies. The study offers a practical reference for implementing intangible-heritage-based aesthetic education, strengthening a shared sense of Chinese national community, and building distinctive campus culture in comparable rural multi-ethnic schools.