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Learning a traditional Chinese art at a distance

July 01, 2004

Calligraphy thumb.jpgThe University of New England is pioneering the use of modern communications
technology in teaching a traditional Chinese art.
Students in UNE’s School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics are the
first in Australia to learn Chinese calligraphy through distance education.
A public exhibition of their work, now on show in the School, demonstrates
the success of the innovative teaching methods employed. Visitors to the
exhibition see Chinese characters written with a traditional writing brush
(both individual characters and extended texts) presented in ways that
reflect the creativity of each student.

There are characters on rocks and pebbles as well as texts on a variety of decorative paper surfaces.
UNE’s Chinese calligraphy unit was offered this year for the first time. It
attracted 23 students, some of them studying on-campus, and some by distance
education. Dr Cuncun Wu, the talented calligrapher who coordinates the unit,
uses the Internet to keep in touch with the distance-education students,
requiring them to mail her examples of their work about once a fortnight. Dr
Wu and her colleague Isabel Tasker, who lecture in Chinese in the School,
have created an instructional DVD that enables the distance-education
students to study the techniques involved in great detail.
Several examples of calligraphy by Dr Wu are included in the exhibition. “In
traditional Chinese culture, calligraphy has always been regarded as the
highest art form,” she said. “For thousands of years it played a central
role in Chinese education. It is a key to many aspects of Chinese art,
philosophy, history, and popular culture. The study of calligraphy can,
therefore, provide some deep insights into all of these.”
Dr Wu said that the students, each in their own way, had made calligraphy
practice a part of their lives. “Doing calligraphy can be like a
meditation,” she said. “Calligraphers tend to live to a healthy old age.”
She pointed out that anyone with an interest in Chinese culture, whether or
not they knew any Chinese, could enrol in the unit. “Calligraphy combines
art and written language,” she said. “As well as opening a window on to the
world of East Asian culture, practising calligraphy inspires some of the
students to go on to study the language itself.” (Mandarin is also offered
by distance education at UNE.)
The exhibition, titled “Flying Brush, Dancing Ink”, will continue in Room
102 of UNE’s Arts Building till 4 pm on Friday 2 July. For information on
the calligraphy unit itself, contact Dr Wu on (02) 6773 3580 or Helen
Creagan on (02) 6773 3503.
Media contact: Dr Cuncun Wu, (02) 6773 3580; Isabel Tasker (UNE’s Convener
of Chinese), (02) 6773 3504; Jim Scanlan (UNE Public Relations), (02) 6773
3049.
A photograph of Dr Cuncun Wu with the Dean of UNE’s Faculty of Arts,
Professor Michael Macklin, taken at the opening of the calligraphy
exhibition, is at:
http://smithserver.une.edu.au/photography/media/calligraphy.jpg

Posted by Lydia Roberts at July 1, 2004 03:48 PM