On 24 May 2023, a lecture to promote aesthetic education was held at the Wuhan branch of the Open University of China’s (OUC) School of Art, on the topic of “Writing Calligraphy with Happiness: A Talk on Calligraphy”.

The talk was hosted by Pang Zhonghua, distinguished professor of the OUC School of Art and a famous hard brush calligrapher, as he discussed his personal experience over the decades. Over 400 people attended the event, including Ma Feng, Secretary of the Party Committee of Wuhan OUC, and Tang Yingshan, dean of the School of Art, as well as teachers and students.

To open the lecture, Professor Pang read a poem titled My Love for You – A Song Dedicated to the OUC. Through the poem, he expressed his deep relationship with the OUC before introducing the history and development of calligraphy, the relationship between calligraphy and music, the learning methods of hard brush calligraphy, and the undergraduate programme in calligraphy at the OUC. He compared music to the flowing lines of calligraphy, and he described calligraphy as melody in written form. Like music, he said calligraphy also has a rhythm. He then played the accordion. By combining it with thorough explanation he shared his “joyful teaching pedagogy” with the students. He encouraged the latter to continue to gain experience, practice with determination and exercise consistently.

The lecture was organised by the OUC’s School of Art and combined a thematic education with the implementation of building core competence skills for students. It received positive feedback from Wuhan OUC staff and students.

Several media reported on the lecture. They praised it for having the capacity to influence more students to better understand the art of calligraphy, and strive to become inheritors and disseminators of Chinese culture.

By Wang Shaofan, OUC