Bathed in the strong east wind of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), a documentary work collection from the third session of a series of calligraphy seminars of the Shuyuan Calligraphy Class of the Open University of China (OUC), is about to be sent to the press for printing. The Calligraphy Institute director, Cai Minji, invited me to write a preface. I am very pleased to accept because I love calligraphy art very much. I also want to take this opportunity to share my thoughts on this and exchange views with the students and my colleagues.

The OUC, founded in 2012 on the basis of its predecessor of China Central Radio and Television University (CCRTVU), is a new type of university of higher learning directly under the Ministry of Education (MOE). With the support of modern information technology, the OUC aims to serve the demand of social and economic development and the all-round development of human beings, promote lifelong learning for all, and develop distance education for all members of society. Five years after its foundation, the OUC Party branch committee, in accordance with the spirit of Comrade Liu Yandong's speech at the meeting of the establishment of the OUC, has led its faculty to emancipate minds bravely and continue to reform, innovate and forge ahead with determination. This has resulted in constant improvement of the OUC’s education and teaching level, lifted it’s social reputation, image and evaluation, and has brought increasing support from the government and society. Since the university was established, it has trained a total of 13 million college graduates nationwide and provided up to 100 million people with non-degree training services. This has been an important contribution to China's economic and social development. At present, there are 26 undergraduate programmes and 121 junior college degrees, for 3.51 million students (including 1.01 million undergraduates and 2.5 million junior college students) nationwide. Among them, nearly 200,000 are farmers, 100,000 are military personnel, and 10,000 have disabilities.

The OUC Calligraphy School was established in September 2016 in order to adapt to the new situation of great development and prosperity of culture and to implement the function of calligraphy continuing education well. For over one year, under the leadership of the director, Cai Minji, all the comrades of the OUC Calligraphy School, with a high degree of professionalism and sense of social responsibility, have adhered to the principle of "grasping construction on the one hand while the central task on the other", and held four sessions of Shuyuan Calligraphy classes. With the high level of the instructors, a good result has been achieved. In return, it brought to the country a great influence that is sparsely seen in the contemporary calligraphy circle. The class has been well received by the majority of students and attracted attention from society. In December 2016, the China Calligraphy Education Village programme was planned and launched and a "well-off" demonstration village, first of its kind. It was created at Xixinfang village, Longquan town, Mentougou District, Beijing, and has achieved remarkable results. In October 2017, a “poverty alleviation” demonstration village, second of its kind, was set up at Liuhe Dian village, Yaozhan town, Weichang County, Chengde, Hebei province. This indicates that the project is developing both in depth and scope and is in full compliance with the strategic deployment of the CPC's nineteenth national congress, “A Decisive Victory in Construction of a Well-Off Society”, "Revitalisation of the Township”, "Solving China's Main Contradiction Against the New Era" and "Implementing Cultural Projects Beneficial to the People". In order to provide help for calligraphy education in primary and middle schools, during the 2017 summer holiday, a special training camp, New Stars in Calligraphy, first of the kind, was held among primary and middle school students nationwide. This has built a bridge and a path between the famous calligraphy teachers and primary and middle school students. The assistance of famous teachers in cultivating classical calligraphy stars as successors has a far reaching impact. Calligraphy education is promoted within a class by a star, and within a school by the class, which is brand new creativity and exploration in our country. To explore calligraphy education for OUC’s "Special Groups", a calligraphy training class titled "Assistance in Business Startups for the Disabled” was held at Tangshan, Hebei province, which is pioneering in this field. At the same time, preparations were stepped up to develop calligraphy education for the elderly, and actively create better teaching conditions, such as curriculum system, online teaching and teaching staff. For this purpose, a College Students Entrepreneurship Guidance Centre was established in the School. In view of the upward development trend of the Calligraphy School, I summed up the development ideas as "One Body, Two Wings". The subject refers to the calligraphy education provided by the main body of the OUC. Two wings refers to the high-end talent cultivated with the Shuyuan Calligraphy class and calligraphy education popularisation with the representative creation of the “Chinese Calligraphy Education Village". I believe that with the support of all sectors of society, the relevant departments of the OUC and the joint efforts of all the comrades of the Calligraphy School, "One Body, Two Wings" will be able to present a good momentum of interaction, mutual promotion and rapid development.

The Calligraphy School is a new force in the OUC and I have always been very concerned about the work of the School. Although it has only been a short time after its foundation and it is still in the developmental stages, the influence and contributions of the School are remarkable. We can see the preciousness of the team who have big loving minds and regard “Serving Calligraphy for All and Safeguarding Calligraphy and Painting Art Culture in the Chinese Nation” as their own responsibility and mission. They have a strong spirit of innovation and share the same feelings of the nation in its changes and stand at the forefront of the times. They are courageous in making explorations, forging ahead, and conducting teaching activities which are forward-looking, innovative and having a leading and demonstrative role. They follow their own work pattern, pay high attention to the strategic deployment of the party and the state and the dynamic development of culture and education. The team also always think and plan work from a comprehensive point of view of the complete OUC system with open minds and lay emphasis on “Reflection of the Will of the State and Assistance in National Strategies”, which fully meet the positioning of the OUC. Additionally, most of the team members are volunteers with a devoting consciousness, selflessly dedicated, without a care for fame and wealth. It is especially valuable for a few old comrades to give up a comfortable life and devote hard work in order to promote the art of calligraphy and cultivate calligraphy talents.

In the 19th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that "Culture is the soul of a country and a nation. Cultural prosperity and strength will bring in that of the country and the nation. Without a high degree of cultural confidence and the prosperity of culture, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will not come true." At the key stage of a decisive victory in building a well-off society in an all-round way and under the background of the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the OUC shoulders a sacred mission to provide assistance in the construction of "Cultural Power" in the country and solve the unbalanced and insufficient education development issues. For this purpose, it is an important and obligatory responsibility for the OUC to adhere to a people-centric development of art education.

I hope the Calligraphy School will conscientiously implement the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress, regard calligraphy education as a project for the benefit of the people, consolidate, deepen and enhance the achievements already made, conduct more in-depth study and exploration of the new forms and new path of calligraphy education, and take the responsibility and mission of “Serving Calligraphy for All and Safeguarding Calligraphy and Painting Art Culture in the Chinese Nation” in the true means. We should not only do a job in running calligraphy training classes like the Shuyuan Calligraphy class with its own distinctive features, but also focus on tracking their performance, provide strong guidance, expand the training achievements, and strive to build a Chinese calligraphy elite team worthy of its name.

I hope that the trainees will treat the OUC like a home and make full use of the Shuyuan Calligraphy platform to constantly improve the level of calligraphy art, become a pillar in this field, and make contributions to the achievement of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the Chinese Dream and Calligraphy Dream. (This article is a preface to the collected works of the Cradle of Chinese Calligraphy Elites: A Record of the OUC Third Shuyuan Calligraphy Class made by President Yang Zhijian on 30 December, 2017.)

By Yang Zhijian, OUC