Following on from the successful Chinese Language workshop, the Confucius Institute moved on to its second workshop, Chinese Calligraphy, which was held by our teacher, Duan Zhipeng. The workshop attracted nearly 70 participants from both the UK and countries around the world.
Zhipeng started the workshop by explaining the exact definition of Chinese Calligraphy and introduced both the aesthetic appreciation and kinetic experience that Chinese Calligraphy brings.
Zhipeng also introduced historical concepts such as the Four treasures of the study and the Four arts. The Four treasures of the study is an expression used to describe the brush, ink, paper and ink stone used in traditional Chinese Calligraphy.
The Four arts or Four arts of the Chinese scholar were the four main academic and artistic accomplishments required for ancient Chinese scholars, of which proficiency in Chinese Calligraphy was one.
These are qin 琴 (the guqin, a stringed instrument), qi 棋 (the strategy of the game Go), shu 书 (Chinese calligraphy) and hua画 (Chinese painting). They can be combined to form a singular phrase, qínqíshūhuà 琴棋书画.
In the second half of the Calligraphy workshop, Zhipeng used the Five basic strokes of Chinese characters to teach the audience how to write Chinese numbers, as well as a Year of the Ox blessing to celebrate Spring Festival.
Doing so not only taught the audience how to correctly hold their pen/brush, but also how “soft” and “hard” writing implements require different movement and techniques to correctly write Chinese characters.
The combination of lecture, exercises and interactive audience participation allowed participants in the workshop to gradually understand and uncover the mystery of this visual art and jointly appreciate the unique charm of the Chinese writing system.
This series of workshops is a new endeavour by the Sheffield Confucius Institute to virtually celebrate Spring Festival. The SCI organised further workshops in Tai Chi, traditional Chinese musical instruments and an interactive Quiz to celebrate Lantern Festival.
Feedback from participants:
Thank you - wonderful session
Participant
Chinese New Year Calligraphy workshop
Loved it! Thank you so very much!
Participant
Chinese New Year Calligraphy workshop
Thank you, awesome class!
Participant
Chinese New Year Calligraphy workshop