The Voice of CCNU In order to promote cultural self-confidence and self-improvement, to inherit the spiritual power of traditional culture, and to promote the interaction, exchange and integration of various ethnic groups, the first "Runwen Lecture Hall - Face to Face with Calligraphy Masters" was held in the afternoon of March 15 at the Student Activity Centre of the UWI. House of National Unity and Progress. Mr Ma Shihao, retired professor from the School of Physical Science and Technology of CCNU, member of "Boya Five Elders Reporting Group" of the Working Committee for the Concern for the Next Generation of the University, and member of "Calligraphy, Poetry and Couplets Society" of the University, was invited to be the instructor of the activity. All the teachers of the Ethnicity Office of the Academic Engineering Department and representatives of students of various ethnic groups participated in the activity, which was hosted by Ms. Jemila of Ethnicity Office.
At the beginning of the activity, Mr Ma started with the question "Without the Chinese characters at the tip of the brush, what can we use to depict the Chinese dream?" He introduced the question and talked about the value of calligraphy from four aspects: the importance of calligraphy in teachers' professional skills, its function in personal cultivation, its importance in traditional Chinese culture and its contemporary relevance.
Mr Ma started with the basics of penholding, and talked about the different styles of calligraphy that correspond to different penhold positions. In order to let the students have a more intuitive understanding of the requirements of holding the brush, Mr Ma used a pen and a ping-pong ball to show the students how to hold the brush with a solid finger and a weak palm, and he also checked and corrected the students' hands one by one. Then, he took the strokes and characters such as "点", "垂露竖" and "福" as examples, and explained to the students one by one the ten strokes such as "折", "绞", "抢", "挫", and "衄", and so on.
It's not easy to realize what you've learned on paper, but you have to do it yourself. Mr. Ma asked the students to start practicing with the Chinese character "永" in regular script and their own names. When a student asked the teacher about the progress of his calligraphy, Mr. Ma praised the beauty of the character and encouraged the student to strengthen the power of the brush, to be as tense as a vigorous old tree; a student asked the teacher about the writing style of the stroke "捺" in the character "永", and Mr. Ma instructed him to close the stroke appropriately in the middle of the stroke. Mr. Ma instructed the students to close their strokes appropriately in the middle of the stroke and guided them in the process of strokes.
At the end of the activity, everyone wrote "The Chinese nation is one family" and held up their works to record the moment of harvest, and felt a strong sense of national pride and patriotism. After the activity, Liu from the School of History and Culture said, "Thanks to the teachers' organization, this activity is very meaningful, learning calligraphy is to inherit the traditional Chinese culture, Mr. Ma is kind and easy-going, and the afternoon learning is full of rewards". Zhuo Ma from the College of Life Science and Technology said that through the teacher's explanation and demonstration, she felt the unique charm of Chinese calligraphy and the profound connotation of traditional culture, and also got to know her classmates who love calligraphy, so that they can meet and practice together in the future.
Next week, at the same time and place, the second session of the face-to-face activity of famous calligraphers will be held as scheduled, with Mr. Ma Shihao leading us to get closer to the poems and couplets, and creating calligraphy works on site. We will meet again next time.
Source: The Voice of CCNU
Author:Tao Jingyi
Translator: Zhao Xiuran
Date: March 26, 2024
