On 24 February, USTB-DMU Confucius Institute (CI) delivered a calligraphy workshop for students of DMU and members of the public as part of the university’s week-long Cultural Exchange Festival in 2020.
Pic 1 - Chinese Director introducing the CI with a note of welcome
Yang Yingjun, the Chinese director of the CI, opened the session with a note of welcome and an introduction of the CI. Wei Zhiping, a teacher of the CI, made a brief introduction of the history of Chinese calligraphy and the four treasures of a traditional Chinese study, as well as several famous Chinese calligraphers.
Pic 2 - Students practising writing with a brush
The students could not help admiring Wang Xizhi’s spirit of assiduous study of calligraphy and his artworks. They also marvelled at Yan Zhenqing’s calligraphic works which are of great historical and artistic value, especially his Draft of a Requiem to My Nephew.
Pic 3 - Wei Zhipinginteracting with students
Ms. Wei started the workshop with instructions on how to hold and use the writing brush. Taking the characters “yong (永)” and “fu (福)” as examples, she demonstrated how to write the basic strokes of a character. Students were also very interested in the cultural connotation of character “福”. They were especially amazed at the character “fu” written by Emperor Kangxi which entails the meaning of more “children, talent, fields, blessing and longevity”.
Pic 4 - Students displaying their own calligraphic work 'fu' (福)
After a lot of practice and emulation of the character "福", they completed their first piece of calligraphy work on red paper. One student was so inspired that he decided to practice calligraphy as a hobby using his calligraphy kit, a gift from one of his Chinese friends.
This workshop has provided DMU students and the public with a taste of Chinese calligraphy using a writing brush. Participants said that they would like to come for more such cultural workshops.
(Draft: LIQi; Revision: YANG Yingjun)
