Simon Haywood, whose Chinese name is Haiwu, comes from Leeds of England and has been living in China for many years. Fascinated by traditional Chinese culture and takes an avid interest in Chinese classical literature, history and calligraphy, he also styles himself a “Calligraphy Ghost 書鬼”.
The 5000-years Chinese civilization is known for its great antiquity and profoundness. Calligraphy, being a kind of abstract expressive art that showcases the beauty of Chinese characters, has attracted numerous domestic and foreign lovers. Under the Belt and Road Initiative, Calligraphy has also become an important conduit for the cultural exchanges between East and West.
Recently, Haiwu paid a visit to professor Ni Kuan, the Chinese well-known calligrapher and the distinguished professor of The Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts for advice on learning calligraphy learning calligraphy.
As soon as Haiwu saw Professor Ni, he could hardly wait to show his works of calligraphy and poetry to the professor. Haiwu has been studying Chinese and calligraphy for three years. Out of enthusiasm for Chinese culture and calligraphy, he spends several hours a day practicing calligraphy.
(Professor Ni commenting on his calligraphy works)
Professor Ni showed Haiwu his years of calligraphy works and explained to him the features of different calligraphic fonts and the essence of each work.
While Professor Ni was showcasing his calligraphy works, he mentioned a cultural allusion that Zhao Mengfu, the famous Chinese calligrapher “wrote 10 thousand Chinese characters a day”. Professor Ni proved its practicability from his real experience of writing The Diamond Sutra worth of 10 thousand Chinese characters in one day. It was quite an encouraging experience for calligraphy learners like Haiwu.
Next, Professor showing Haiwu profound Chinese seal carving artworks.
Professor Ni also showed us a live seal carving. Can you figure out which character Professor Ni was carving?
Before ending our visit, Professor Ni sent News GD.com an exquisite seal carving work. You may notice a special detail -- the “网” character was designed without a boundary which symbolizes 'connecting east and west'.
Wow, I could not help giving thumbs-up to Professor Ni’s great creativity!
For Haiwu, it was a profitable trip. After appreciating so many great artistic works by Professor Ni, Haiwu was very impressed by the profound Chinese culture and paid Professor Ni a great compliment of his prowess at calligraphy and seal carving.
At the end of our trip, Professor Ni also gave some advice for foreign calligraphy learners:
1.For beginners, it’s better practice seal characters.
2.Diligence, persistence and hard work are required. You have to spend a certain amount of time practicing calligraphy everyday.
Rome was not built in one day. If you are also a calligraphy lover, just stick at it!
