The results of the Open University of China (OUC) system Teachers' Painting Competition, themed at “Forty Years Pass in a Flash, Leaving Fruitful Art in Their Wake: In Commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Establishment the Radio and TV University Approved by President Deng Xiaoping,” were recently revealed. Ninety-two award-winning works, 46 of which are paintings and 46 of which are calligraphy works, were selected. There were one special prize, five first prizes, ten second prizes, thirty third prizes, and several excellent prizes.
The competition started on 14 June 2018. By the closing date, the organising committee had received 511 paintings and calligraphy works from 42 branches, including 206 paintings and 305 calligraphy works. In order to ensure that the judging was fair and impartiality, the organising committee formulated evaluation rules, procedures, and other relevant rules, developed an online display platform, and uploaded photos of all of the painting and calligraphy works, which were then preliminarily reviewed online by experts.
On 29 October, the organising Committee of the competition invited well-known experts in the fields of calligraphy and painting from inside and outside the OUC school-running system to review the selected works. Yang Zhijian, Party secretary and president of the OUC, Liu Chen, vice secretary of the Party Committee, and the judges jointly wrote or drew pictures to express their own feelings about Chinese traditional culture. Yang Zhijian emphasised that 2018 is the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Radio and TV University (RTVU) under Deng Xiaoping's instruction. Over the past 40 years, the national RTVU system has kept pace with China’s reform and opening up, made great contributions to the improvement of the quality of the whole people, and gradually formed an open university culture with distinctive characteristics. Looking at the calligraphy and painting works of teachers and staff across China, we can not only see evidence of the inheritance of Chinese culture in the RTVU system, but also sense the responsibility and confidence of the open university system as it enters a new era.
The calligraphy experts invited to be judges were: Pang Zhonghua, former Chairman of the China Hard-pen Calligraphers’ Association; Zhang Zhihe, director of the China Calligraphers’ Association and researcher at the Palace Museum; Liu Xuewei, professor at Capital Normal University; Wang Guochuan, executive deputy director of the Executive Committee Office of the MOE Vocational Education Steering Committee Office; Yu Yang, vice secretary of the Party Committee of Inner Mongolia RTVU; Chen Junping, vice president of Hebei RTVU; and Liu Zhaodong, vice president of Shandong RTVU. The judges for the painting category were: Zhang Qing, deputy curator of the National Art Museum of China; Li Jianping, dean of the Animation School of Beijing Film Academy; Huang Yong, deputy dean of the School of Art Education and Management of the Central Academy of Fine Arts; Zhang Gan, deputy dean of the Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts; Yao Lu, professor of the Central Academy of Fine Arts; Chen Yigong, director of the department of large-scale activities of the Chinese Literature and Art Foundation; and Tang Yingshan, director of the OUC Faculty of Art Education.
The judges said that it was particularly meaningful for the OUC system to organise a calligraphy and painting competition since there are many talented personnel among the faculty of the open university. The overall level of the exhibited calligraphy and painting works was high and some of them were highly artistic. This will help the OUC system to form a cultural brand in the future.
The OUC recently held a painting and calligraphy competition exhibition at the Wukesong Campus to display the award-winning works. At the same time, a special column was launched on the OUC portal website, People's Network, Your Arts Network, China TV News, and Voice of the OUC WeChat .
By Yu Zhangli,OUC