Chinese calligraphy at the Ulster Museum

On Sunday 8th September, students and staff from Queen’s University hosted a Chinese calligraphy session for the general public at the Ulster Museum, offering visitors the opportunity to explore the charm and tradition of Chinese calligraphy (书法 shūfǎ).

Xiaoxiang MA, QUB PhD student and Dr Liang WANG, QUB Language Centre staff

This event, led by Dr. Liang Wang of the Language Centre and the calligrapher, Xiaoxiang MA, PhD student from School of Arts, English and Languages, was part of the ‘Bout Ye?‘ programme developed by Ulster Museum.

Structured as an informal, drop-in session, museum visitors were welcome to join at any time. The session provided a dynamic, personalized introduction to the aesthetics and cultural practice of Chinese calligraphy, including briefing about the fascinating history of Chinese characters (汉字 hànzì), their meanings and their stroke order (笔顺 bǐshùn) before having a try themselves! Practising on water mats (水写布 shuǐxiěbù) with traditional Chinese brushes (毛笔 máobǐ) means that there were endless opportunities to practice without the fear of making a mistake.

Participants learned that there are certain principles to follow in order to write characters correctly and beautifully, beginning generally from top to bottom, from left to right and from outside to inside to close frames last – a task that proved easier said than done!

Our wonderful team of student assistants from Chinese Language Interest Group (C-LIG) at Queen’s were there to support the event. We also engaged with museum visitors, learning about their personal experiences with Chinese culture, both locally and globally.

Before their leaving with great fun, visitors, as well as museum staff who kindly helped with the session, were offered a chance to receive a Chinese name (中文名字 Zhōngwén míngzi) by student volunteer and calligraphy expert, Xiaoxiang, who also explained the meaning and pronunciation of each character and how that would match nicely with their original names – what a meaningful and memorable end to their visit!

The session received very positive feedback from the visitors, who enjoyed their participation and expressed their joy in the following words:

We would also like to extend our thanks to the Museum staff who kindly provided this opportunity for us to organise this calligraphy event. We wish to provide more sessions in the future, on campus or at Museum, or elsewhere to generate more interest from a wider community.

Author: Lauren McShane
Editor: Liang Wang

More cultural events updated

The first half of the CNY celebrations went on extremely well, featuring the student-led Interactive Chinese Culture Displays and Demos, the CNY2023 Launch Event, and the art exhibitions both online and in-person. We would like to send our ‘thank-you’ to all of you who have contributed, participated in and helped with promotion. We hope that you have enjoyed yourselves.

In the following part of the CNY Programme, we continue to warmly welcome you to attend a series of culture talks, a fun time table tennis event and a guzheng introductory workshop. All QUB students and staff members are welcome!

More information and registration

Click below for registration and viewing the full programme

Tasting the Rabbit

Interactive Chinese Cultural Display and Demo

Date: Friday 20 January 2023
Time: 13:00 – 16:00
Venue: 1st Floor Social Space, The Graduate School

About the Event:

Some of the main activities will include Chinese way of traditional writing in calligraphy, performances of musical instruments such as guzheng, guqin, and skills of practising taiji, Chinese dance and traditional Chinese costumes, all of which enriches the interactive topics through live demonstrations and hands-on practice.

Timeline

§ 13:00-13:15: Start and welcome

§ 13:15-13:30: Guzheng performance (DENG Wei)

§ 14:15-14:30: Taiji performance (DA Wenkai)

§ 15:00-15:10: Chinese classic dance (SONG Yihui)

This half-day event is free for all. Tea/coffee and refreshments (including a taste of Chinese traditional snacks) are provided. Booking is needed due to capacity. Please complete the registration form below.

Discovering Chinese Family Names and Dialects

Go to the CCP2023 Homepage

关于英国女王大学及北爱范围的中国姓氏及方言的问卷调查

本问卷调查是英国女王大学2023中国新年文化庆祝的一部分。本问卷旨在邀请在女王大学工作和学校的华人师生以及北爱地区的华人、华裔参与此次中国姓氏及方言的文化调查。希望通过此次调查收集并展示在北爱地区/女王大学的中国姓氏和方言的多样性。本问卷主要用中文填写。

我们也欢迎华人社群以外的个人如中文学习/使用者(特别是有正式中文名字的朋友)来参与此次调查,在相应的问题栏下 (问题1,2,5,6,7) 用英文填写信息。

本次问卷调查是自愿参与,相关结果(姓氏、方言)会于春节活动期间择日在女王大学的中文博客平台发布。本次调查查结束时间为中国新年,即2023年1月22日星期天。

Discovering Chinese Family Names and Dialects at QUB and elsewhere in Northern Ireland

This cultural survey is part of the programme for 2023 Chinese New Year Celebrations (CNY) at Queen’s. It invites Chinese-speaking staff members, students from Queen’s University, and members of the public who identify themselves with Chinese origin (e.g. early immigrants) to tell us their Chinese names and the dialects they speak. We hope to collect Chinese names with a focus on a variety of Chinese family names and the richness of the dialects they speak. The survey is to be filled in Chinese.

For members of non-Chinese speaking communities who have been learning/using Chinese, esp. who have a Chinese name, you are more than welcome to share with us your information (in English) in the corresponding section (Q1, Q2, Q5, Q6, Q7) as well.

The participation is voluntary and we will publish/present the result (family names and dialects only) on the Chinese@QUB Blog in due course. The cut-off date for this survey is the CNY date (Sunday 22nd January 2023).