Eastern Designs: Chinese calligraphy illustrates cultural history of the country

Students at the University of Texas-Pan American learned Wednesday that Chinese characters not only spell out words, but provide insight into the country's history and culture.

"When learning a language you not only learn how to say (something), you learn about civilization and culture," said Zhixiang Chen, a computer science professor at UTPA who gave a demonstration on Chinese calligraphy to students in Zhiying Lu's beginning Chinese Level 2 class and others interested in the art.

Lu said she usually brings in guest speakers to talk to her students about different aspects of Chinese culture and asked Chen to teach them about the art of calligraphy.

The calligraphy class was one of the many events showcased as part of the university's weeklong Festival of International Books and Arts, or FESTIBA, which celebrates the arts and humanities and promotes literacy.

Chen drew some characters on the classroom's dry erase board. Below those characters he drew a timeline with more characters to show the evolution of the Chinese language.

Each character reveals a bit of history, including which dynasty was in power or which technology was available at that time, he said.

Chen also showed students the brushes and inks used to draw the characters, then began to draw characters with the ink and brush on paper he placed on an overhead projector. Lu handed out brushes and paper for the students to copy him.

Anakaren Cruz copied every character Chen drew in her notebook before she joined Chen in drawing the characters with the brush. The 19-year-old nursing student said she loves Chinese culture and has tried to pick up as much of the language and customs as she can.

Cruz, who is not in Lu's class, said she decided to sit in on the class to learn more Chinese.

"I found it interesting, especially since he's trying to teach us calligraphy ... explaining how (the characters) all relate to each other," the sophomore said

Like Cruz, Citlalliacq Garcia loves the Chinese culture. The 24-year-old graduate student has even traveled to China under the university's study abroad program as a supervisor.

"I fell in love with the language and the culture," said Garcia, who is a student in Lu's class and is studying interdisciplinary anthropology.

Garcia asked the most questions throughout the class.

After the demonstration, she said she likes the precision involved in calligraphy, from the way one has to hold the brush to the alignment of the letters. She said the way a character is drawn can show one's personality.

"That's why I asked (Chen) about personality," she said. Someone with a big personality, like an emperor, used big strokes to convey his importance.
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Jennifer L. Berghom covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4462.