Yuxian lies in the southern hills of Zhangjiakou, on the old road between the Hebei plain and the Mongolian plateau. Its historic town keeps a street of Ming and Qing houses, temples and wall remains, and the county is known across China for its paper cuts, which are cut, dyed and sold as window decorations. The craft uses local coloured papers and a knife rather than scissors, and the designs are built up in layers of dye.
Yuxian in Zhangjiakou cuts paper with knives, not scissors, and dyes the colour on by hand in more than twenty steps. The craft began as window decoration and is now a county industry with a national listing.