An ink landscape painting lets people savor the beautiful painting and calligraphy mood; a Yu opera excerpt lets people enter into the vivid traditional stories; a classical dance lets people feel the flowing and unrestrained oriental charm. In recent years, more and more foreigners have come close to Chinese culture and felt the beauty of Chinese culture, becoming friendly envoys to promote different cultural exchanges and mutual understanding.
In the picture, a pair of skillful hands demonstrates his ability to write calligraphy with a brush, carve seals with a knife, and trace inscriptions. This is a video program that introduces the art of traditional Chinese calligraphy, painting and seal carving to foreigners. When the camera pushes to a distant view, the viewer realizes that the lecturer, Jia Kemu, is an Italian boy with deep eyes, a high nose and a bushy beard.
"Chinese art embraces all differences and blends different types of art." Jia Kemu is studying Chinese landscape painting at the China Academy of Art, while creating a variety of Chinese art. From the rainy bamboo shoots by the West Lake, to moss-covered tree stumps along ancient roads, to unknown caves and stone inscriptions, all have become objects for Jia Kemu to depict. Whenever he created a satisfactory work, he would write the name "Fumo". The similar pronunciation of the word "Fumo" means "foggy, hazy" in Italian, which, in Jia Kemu's view, is also the imagery and flavor that Chinese landscape painting is good at expressing, and he was fascinated and admired by the "poetic spirit" of the ancient Chinese literati.
In 2012, Jia Kemu came to China for the first time to participate in a cultural exchange program between the University of Padua, Italy and Guangzhou University. During his stay at Guangzhou University, a close friend recommended that he take a calligraphy class. At first contact, Jia was deeply attracted by the unique charm of Chinese calligraphy, "I enjoy the feeling of freedom when I dip the brush into the ink." As a result, he fell in love with Chinese painting and became involved in Chinese art. After earning his master's degree from the University of Padua, Jia came back to China to study and research traditional Chinese art, and in 2019, after getting his PhD in Literature and Art from Jinan University, Jia moved to Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province to continue his studies in Chinese painting.
Jia Kemu has not only mastered the art of landscape painting, but has also displayed his unique perspective in his ink works. "Whether it's Chinese landscape painting or Western artworks, each kind of artistic and cultural expression opens up different perspectives for me to observe life and makes me think more about the world." He strives to incorporate his understanding of Chinese and Western cultures and thoughts on the exchange and mutual understanding of civilizations into his works. In one of his landscape paintings, he has the Latin letters written in seal script, cursive script and other fonts blended into the green mountains. "Dialogue is always interesting, and as long as there is communication, richness and identity can collide. The integration of different cultures can influence and enrich each other."
In 2020, Jiakemu will open the website of "Shan Shui Project" to promote traditional and contemporary Chinese painting and calligraphy abroad through exhibitions, magazines and seminars, and to build a bridge between the Chinese and Western painting art exchanges, so that more foreigners can understand Chinese art and fall in love with the profound Chinese culture. "The 'truth' of Chinese painting is the internal reality of things, the spirit that people feel from concrete things" "Chinese painting should be sensed with the mind"" Chinese painting is not a visual presentation of things, but a spiritual presentation of things" ...... These explanations help foreign audiences to feel better about Chinese painting and to understand the aesthetic interest and spiritual pursuit in traditional Chinese art.
"Appreciating and creating Chinese landscape paintings has taught me to perceive the diversity and complexity of beauty. Understanding Chinese culture has also given me a better understanding of Western culture." Jia Kemu firmly believes that both Chinese and Western cultures can reap immeasurable benefits when they interact with each other. "I will continue to study Chinese painting and introduce it to a wider Western audience. My dream is to one day open an art academy in Europe for students who want to study Chinese art, so that Chinese culture can be known to more Westerners."
"Brother Liu's speech is too unreasonable, who says women only enjoy leisure ......" mellow singing voice, clear lines, Henan University Cameroonian student Sim Nyikmeni Darling can sing Yu opera very well. After seven years of studying opera, he has fallen in love with Chinese culture and the city where he lives, and this love is revealed in his Chinese name - Liu Bianjing.
"Bianjing is the ancient capital of Kaifeng, and 'Liu' and 'stay' are homophonic. My name means 'staying in Kaifeng'." In 2017, Liu Bianjing came to study at Henan University in Kaifeng, Henan Province. That year, a performance of Mulan organized by the school and the Kaifeng Yu Theater made him instantly fascinated by Yu opera. "This form of artistic expression is so novel and interesting that I was eager to learn it." At that time, he could speak some simple Chinese, but he was still "far from singing opera". In order to learn opera, he set higher requirements for himself: he studied Chinese for no less than six hours a day, listened to textbooks without a teacher, and imitated while listening.
"Singing is about rhythm and melody, and 'being able to speak' is not the same as 'being able to sing'." Liu Bianjing said. On the recommendation of a friend, he studied with Li Shujian, a Yu opera artist. Professor Li was strict in his teaching and once said to Liu Bianjing, "Although you can sing, you can't sing well." "I have tried so hard, but I still can't sing well." Liu Bianjing recalled that he was very frustrated at that time and thought of giving up, but finally he persisted with the encouragement of friends around him.
One minute on the stage, ten years of work off the stage. In order to lay a solid foundation, Liu Bianjing often practiced singing in schools and parks. In the Yu opera Chaoyang Gully, he could not pronounce the word "we" in the lyrics, so he practiced it hundreds of times a day and eventually formed a muscle memory; in the Yu opera Proud and satisfied "I had to lift up my robe and walk down the Golden Palace step by step", because of its rhythm is too compact and easy to spit out the words, he disassembled word by word, and practiced until fluent ...... "I found that learning traditional Chinese opera is also in the understanding of a character, a story, a period of history." Liu Bianjing said that plays such as Mulan, Mu Guiying Takes Command, and Su Wu Shepherds Goat have helped him understand more about traditional Chinese values such as truth, goodness, beauty, loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness.
The effort is not hard to come by. With the gradual clarification of pronunciation and deeper understanding, Liu Bianjing's performance presentation has become more perfect. Now, he has mastered more than 10 Yu opera choruses and often follows his teacher into theaters and villages to perform on more and bigger stages. "When a foreigner learns Yu opera, he has to speak Mandarin first, then learn Henan dialect, and after that, he has to learn the accent of Yu opera. It's not easy for Liu Bianjing to learn the opera, and the boy loves it from the bottom of his heart." Li Shujian told the reporter that Liu Bianjing is his first foreign disciple, and now there are nine such "foreign students", "We have to do a good job of inheritance and popularization, so that Chinese culture can go out better."
In 2022, Liu Bianjing began to teach Yu opera to other international students, initially at Henan University, and later expanded to other neighboring universities. In his teaching, he would use both Chinese and English to make it easier for people to understand, "In the sentence 'Brother Liu's speech is too unreasonable,' 'yuan' is far, meaning far from the original meaning. " Sometimes, he also takes international students to the theater in Kaifeng Drum Tower to listen to the opera and feel the charm of the opera on the spot.
In June last year, Liu Bianjing was invited to be one of the first "Overseas Recommendation Officers" of Henan International Communication Center. "The longer I stay here, the more I feel that there is a lot to learn and understand about traditional Chinese culture. Take opera for example, in addition to singing and reciting, it also emphasizes 'hand eye body method and pace', and there is still a long way to go if you want to understand it completely!" From not knowing the meaning of the opera at the beginning to becoming a person in the opera today, he hopes to spread Chinese culture and promote cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries through the promotion of Yu Opera, "Yu Opera brings me a sense of 'home'. I hope to share what I have learned about Chinese culture and Henan opera culture with more people so that they can feel the charm of traditional Chinese culture."
"Learning Chinese dance has been a wonderful experience and has opened doors in my life!" Vu Minh Anh, a master's degree student in dance choreography at the Guangxi Arts Institute from Vietnam, has an elegant and glowing physique and also speaks fluent Chinese. For her, from Guangxi to Beijing to Chengdu, from participating in China-ASEAN humanities exchange activities to recording TV programs to taking part in dance competitions, behind this door opened by Chinese dance is a wonderful world of constantly pursuing beauty and showing it.
Vu Minh Anh grew up studying in a children's dance troupe at the Lotus Song and Dance Theater in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Once, she saw a Chinese group dance on TV, "The dancing sisters were 'fairy-like' and I wanted to be like them!" This desire took root in the young Wu Mingying's heart, and when she was 11 years old, she came to Guangxi Art Institute Affiliated Secondary Art School to study dance systematically through the China-ASEAN Art Cooperation Program. "I learned dance because I was prepared to overcome the difficulties." From overcoming the language barrier to adapting to the boring monotony of dance training, her teachers and classmates in China gave her a lot of moral support, "From them, I learned a positive mindset, and every time I heard a 'keep up the good work,' I was able to pick up my spirits and continue training. "
After six years of hard study, Vu Minh Anh returned to Vietnam to work as a lead dancer at the Lotus Song and Dance Theater. She often performs Chinese dance on stage, "Dancing is conveying an aesthetic and imagination to the audience. The choreography of Chinese dance is good at drawing inspiration from excellent traditional culture, for example, classical dance contains a lot of Chinese cultural elements, with high aesthetic value and artistic charm." Vu Minh Anh told reporters that over the years, Chinese dance training has become popular in Vietnam, many elementary school have opened Chinese language classes, and more and more Vietnamese young people are showing strong interest in Chinese culture, "I often tell the media the story of my dance lessons in China in the hope that more people will understand Chinese culture."
In 2018, in order to continue to improve her dance skills, Wu Mingying returned to the Guangxi Arts Institute for further study. Once again in China, she was surprised at the development and changes in Guangxi over the years, "There are more high-speed rail lines here, the transportation is more convenient, and the cultural exchanges with ASEAN countries are also richer." Open Wu Mingying's Wechat moments, "dance" is a constant keyword, in addition to studying in school, she also traveled to many cities in China to participate in performances, observation of outstanding works. Not long ago, the dance epic Yellow River by Shanxi Provincial Song and Dance Drama Theater left a deep impression on her, "I saw a wealth of artistic elements such as music, sculpture, oil painting, Chinese painting and other elements in this work, and I also felt the tenacious Chinese spirit. I hope that I can create such heart-stirring works myself in the future!"
With the music playing, her toes tapping on the ground, hand gestures flipping and changing, and her body swinging lightly ...... In one of the school's dance classrooms, Vu Minh Anh is rehearsing for the upcoming midterm show. "I'm choreographing a dance called Salt and Sweetness, which uses the form of Chinese dance to express the scene of Vietnamese women working in the salt fields by the sea, showing the hard labor and sweet life of the Vietnamese people." Talking about her plans for the future, Vu Minh Young said, "China is my second home, and there is still a lot I want to learn here. In the future, when I return home after my studies, I hope to train excellent dancers for my hometown, encourage and help more Vietnamese children to come to China to learn dance, and contribute to the exchange of humanities and arts between the two countries."