The oldest surviving paper cut out is a symmetrical circle from the 6th century Six Dynasties period found in Xinjiang China.[1][2] Papercutting continued to be practiced during the Song and Tang Dynasties as a popular form of decorative art.[2]
By the eighth or ninth century papercutting appeared in West Asia and in Turkey in the 16th century. Within a century, papercutting was being done in most of middle Europe (see also scherenschnitte and silhouette).