Chinese folk art or Chinese handcrafts are artistic forms inherited from a regional or ethnic scene in China. Usually there are some variation between provinces. Individual folk arts have a long history, and many traditions are still practiced today. The general definition of folk art incorporates Chinese art forms that are not classified as Chinese fine art.
Paper cutting for a Year of the Dog celebration.
Baskets in Haikou City, Hainan Province, China.
Photograph of the entrance hall of the Kite Museum in Weifang, Shandong, China.
Sugar painting
Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically trained within a popular tradition, rather than in the fine art tradition of the culture. There is often overlap, or contested ground with 'naive art'. "Folk art" is not used in regard to traditional societies where ethnographic art continue to be made.
Pew group of Staffordshire figures, England, c. 1745, salt-glazed stoneware. 7 1/2 × 8 3/8 in. (19.1 × 21.3 cm)
"Gran calavera eléctrica" by José Guadalupe Posada, Mexico, 1900–1913
"Old Bright, The Postman", George Smart, c1830s
Traditional styles of faience pottery from Székely Land, Romania, on sale in Budapest in 2014. A conventional idea of folk art, though no doubt made in quasi-industrial conditions.
