Qingyang paper-cutting is unique compared with similar folk paper-cutting in China. Qingyang is located in the intersection of Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia region, with closed traffic and little impact from foreign culture.

The dragon culture with dragon as a symbol of life and the deer culture with deer as a totem are almost extinct in other parts of China, but they have been continued and preserved in Qingyang paper-cutting.

such as "head fish", "magic fish bottle" and "giant salamander" are the inheritance of primitive culture with fish, dragon and snake as totems. The paper-cut "Shouhua" not only has the original totem form of deer head pattern, but also develops into the plant form of the tree of life. The axisymmetric paper-cut "Tree of Life" with two birds on it is a widely circulated pattern in the Han Dynasty.