The Confucius Institute at the Durban University of Technology (DUT CI) and the DUT Art Gallery recently held a Magic Chinese Characters Exhibition to showcase the excellent works created by the DUT CI staff and Mandarin students.

The exhibition was held at the DUT Art Gallery, Steve Biko Campus.

More than 250 invited guests, including H.E Mr Wang Jianzhou, Consul General of China in Durban, attended the opening night recently and enjoyed a feast of Chinese language and calligraphic art.

“The exhibition will enable the visitors to better understand part of China’s history and culture, specially help gain a general impression of the development of Chinese language heritage,” said Dr Eddie Chaobo Fu, Co-Dean of the DUT CI.

The exhibition consists of two sections: the Evolution of Chinese Characters and the DUT CI Chinese Calligraphy Works. The first section is displayed on 33 panel posters, giving a panoramic introduction of the origin and evolution of Chinese characters. The second section consists of 45 pieces of art works with two categories, all created by the staff and learners at DUT Confucius Institute. Among the first category are some selected Chinese Calligraphy artworks produced by the DUT CI students, who are learning calligraphy writing while studying Mandarin, and who are incorporating IsiZulu culture and Indian Culture into Chinese Calligraphy creation when producing the art works.

Other works are created by the CI instructor, Josh Xin Xiao, a young talented artist from Jiangxi Province, China, who has the expertise in writing Chinese Calligraphy in different styles. The second category includes some of the best selected Chinese Character Writing works from the 2^nd Chinese Character Writing Competition hosted by the DUT Confucius Institute in April, 2016. “The creators are all DUT students from different departments, and though new in learning a different language, they show great talents in understanding the magic of the language and the writing the old Chinese characters,” said Dr Fu.

He also reiterated that selected artworks showcase some well-known Chinese ancient poems from Tang Dynasty, some describing emotionally the beautiful landscape, while some highlight the thoughtful contemplation on life. “Different writing styles in Chinese Character development history, like the seal inscription, the official inscription, the standard inscription, the running inscription and the cursive inscription, etc, are intelligently adopted by the DUT Mandarin learners in these art works,” he said.

The exhibition will run until 29 April 2016 at the DUT Art Gallery.

Copy: Supplied

Pictured: Guests at the opening night. From left to right are Devanathan Govindasamy, Professor Graham Stewart, Chinese Consul General Wang Jianzhou, Kiran, Govindasamy, Consul Ning Jun, and Dr Eddie Chaobo Fu. Also pictured is a Chinese calligraphic painting: “Zulu Mama”, created by CI Mandarin student, Khulekani Cele.