“My favourite is the surprises that I accidentally experience everyday when I use paper cut. the joy and the excitement take me further and further to create children’s books.” Ming’s story is not the first time Yu Rong has turned her artistic eye on pandas, but says the first time she attempted it she couldn’t find a way to make paper cutting work effectively. Now though, after many years of practice she is much more confident using the technique, allowing her to be freer and less structured. “I worked on another non-fictional book about pandas nearly 20 years ago”, she says. “Tracks of a Panda published by Walker Books. At that time, I tried very hard to use paper cut to create the images without success, eventually I decided take on Chinese traditional ink painting on rice paper instead.
“For Ming, I was ready to challenge myself and try paper cut once more to depict the softness and cuddliness of the panda Ming. This time it was a great success.
“After two decades practicing paper-cut, I have made friends with the traditional method originated thousands years ago. The papers, the scissors and my hands, they all come together working with my passion. My technique is the same – paper cut, but my way to explore this wonderful method is more freestyle and improvising.”
And pandas do not only appear in her artwork, as she recounts one recent encounter, saying: “I love car booting, it is the highlight activity of my week. Anything non-essential we only get them from second hand. Two weeks ago, I met a family whose stand was covered by
pandas, from duvet cover, table cloth, lunch boxes, travel bag, to key rings, anything you can image. I was so amazed with ecstasy, couldn’t help myself to ask them, how? Why? Their aunt is called Christine Hiseman, she was the biggest fan of pandas, she travelled around the whole world to visit pandas, collected panda items over the her life… I am a big fan of pandas, so is Jake.”
After finally embracing pandas and paper-cutting, Yu Rong is turning her hand to a different technique for her latest book. She says: “I am working on
a new book about Chinese embroidery. I have designed the book to use some embroidery art works by a Chinese master, combine with my paper cut and pencil drawing. In addition, I will use the silk thread to stitch through the whole book, which is really exciting for me to try. “Alongside the embroidery story, I have a few projects coming along working with Jake. I am also working on a collection of nursery rhymes and a non-fiction book about the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, it is the most important place in China’s culture and history.” PEN&INC
Paper-cut and pencil art. 14 PEN&INC. Spring-Summer 2026
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54
