The previous year has flown by, and a brand new year has arrived. On February 26th, 2024, the Chinese Traditional Culture serial course, "Chinese Character Aesthetics and Calligraphy," for international students of Phoenix School commenced.

This course was instructed by Professor Zhang Weijia from School of Chinese Language and Literature, covering the introduction to Chinese characters, outline of calligraphy art, aesthetics and creation of calligraphy art, etc. 26 international students from Asia, Europe and Africa attended the course together and experienced the splendid culture and the long history transmitted by Chinese characters.

In the first lesson, the main scripts of traditional Chinese calligraphy were presented to the students by Professor Zhang. He demonstrated the long history of extensive and profound Chinese calligraphy through his handwritten calligraphic characters, and outlined the evolution of the art of calligraphy over the past 3,000 years, including the main features of each stage of development.

Afterwards, Professor Zhang instructed the students on the basic principles of holding and directing the ink brush and led them into the vast world of calligraphy by taking horizontal and vertical strokes as examples. The students were eager to try and began maneuvering their brushes on the rice paper. When everyone was basically familiar with the essentials of writing, Professor Zhang focused on the brushwork of "silkworm head and swallow tail," vividly displayed pictures of silkworms and swallows while giving in-depth explanations in easy language. Students gradually mastered the method of writing through repeated practice and mutual learning and interaction.

Later, Professor Zhang shared some tips on how to write eight Chinese characters: '二', '三', '一', '干', '下', '上', '中', and '国'. He also introduced some important points to be noted while writing them. For many beginners of Chinese, understanding and learning Chinese characters through writing and progressively experiencing their cultural connotations and historical development trajectory is a convenient way to quickly improve their proficiency in using Chinese. During the 90-minute lesson, students from different countries overcame a shaky start as they were introduced to calligraphy. Many students wrote full sheets of paper, folded them up and took them home. They were ready to do cross-checking exercises after class to consolidate what they had learned in the lesson. The first session of "Chinese Character Aesthetics and Calligraphy" ended successfully with the lingering fragrance of ink.

Translator: Wang Lihong

Proofreading: Martin Wittenberg