Zhou Guang's home exhibition room displays 150 artworks that at first glance appear to be photorealism-style oil paintings. However, upon closer inspection, viewers can see the works are actually paper-cut art and the detail is exquisite.

Zhou Guang displays his paper-cut Fuwa mascot. [China Daily]

The folk artist has developed a unique technique that puts him a cut above the rest.

Together with his father, Zhou has created ancient maidservants, Chinese fairy tale characters, Beijing Opera performers and modern politicians, all in stunning detail.

They start with the intaglio cutting technique and add colored paint at various stages in the process to create a three-dimensional effect.

The innovation, developed by his father and improved by Zhou, won the 55-year-old craftsman the title of "Chinese folk artist" from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1995. It was quite an achievement for the Hebei native, who had never received any artistic training or higher education. He didn't even complete primary school.

Zhou admits the motivation for embarking on paper-cutting is simple. "I fell in love with it when I was little. Besides, the work is much lighter than farming," says Zhou. "The happiness paper-cutting has generated for me is endless and has gone through my whole life."

Located in the northwest of Hebei Province, Yuxian County is famous for paper-cutting with a history of more than 200 years. Last June, Yuxian County Paper-cutting (YCP) was listed in the first group of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Category.

Zhou comes from a family of folk artists specializing in YCP. His grandfather didn't achieve major success, however his father Zhou Yongming, is regarded as a paper-cutting master. In Zhou's words, his dad is a living legend.

When Zhou Yongming was 12, he studied basic techniques for no more than three months before he surpassed his teacher. In order to improve his skills, the youngster wanted to become the intern of Wang Laoshang, who was a representative figure of northern paper-cutting style before 1949.

However, Wang was not willing to pass on his skills to an outsider. No matter how hard the young intern tried to impress the master by doing a lot of chores, he was shutout. The Zhou family eventually paid Wang a considerable amount and Zhou Yongming's career began to take shape.

"There is no doubt that my father had a talent for paper-cutting, but what really made him successful was his persistence," Zhou comments.

Zhou started the folk art at 9, learning from his mother in the first.

In the past, YCP was made in family workshops in which almost all the family members made contributions to the productions. Men made the cuts, then women painted colors on the handicrafts.

After developing a good knowledge of color painting, Zhou made the shift to study cutting under his father's supervision, and was able to create works independently at 15.

According to Zhou, the first step is to wet Xuan paper, a high-quality paper from Xuangcheng, Anhui Province. The paper is left to dry, then compiled into about 40 pieces. The thickness of the cuts depends on how delicate the works are designed to be. The thinner the paper is cut, the more meticulous the result. The final step is adding colored paint.

"My father hardly ever slapped me for doing things wrong in daily life, but he did when I performed badly in paper-cutting, as he took it so seriously and didn't treat me like a boy at all," he recalls.

Once Zhou was cutting the moustache of a Peking Opera figure and did not notice his father standing behind. Zhou admits he was slack. Suddenly, his father gave him a slap on his neck, said in anger, "when can you start performing well after so many failures?"