The Global Launch of the New Book A Creative Course in Calligraphy for HSK Basic Chinese Characters Held Successfully

On April 20, 2022, the global launch of the new book A Creative Course in Calligraphy for HSK Basic Chinese Characters was held online to celebrate the “International Chinese Language Day”. The event was hosted by Center for Language Education and Cooperation, Chinese Plus and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), and was organized by Chinese Testing International, the Junior United Nations of Calligraphy, School of Humanities of SJTU, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, and USC-SJTU Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry. The event was chaired by Prof. Chen Ke, Deputy Director of International Affairs Division at SJTU. 

Mr. Zhao Guocheng, Deputy Director of Center for Language Education and Cooperation, delivered a welcome address. He was pleased to attend the new book launch on the 2022 “International Chinese Language Day”. He mentioned that in recent years, SJTU had explored a unique pathway of combing online Chinese language teaching and calligraphy, and this new book was its manifestation. He expressed his wish that SJTU would continue to support its faculty to further promote the spread of Chinese language and culture and the exchanges between China and other countries. 

Prof. Xu Xuemin, Vice President of SJTU, delivered a welcome speech as well. She mentioned that SJTU had been committed to promoting international cooperation, Chinese language education and the spread of Chinese culture. The new book was compiled by Prof. Zhou Bin and his team from SJTU, and by combining Chinese language education with practice of calligraphy and reading of Chinese classics, it would help Chinese learners improve their Chinese and achieve a better understanding of Chinese culture. She also mentioned that in the future, SJTU would continue to support the development of innovative Chinese language courses for worldwide Chinese learners. 

Ms. Qi Hong, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Humanities of SJTU, and Mr. Qian Tiandong, Secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, congratulated Prof. Zhou Bin on the launch of the new book. They both expressed their willingness to work together in the development of Chinese language courses and the compilation of more textbooks.  

Then, Prof. Zhou Bin from SJTU made a detailed introduction to his new book. Consisting of three chapters, namely “Chinese Character Culture”, “Writing Techniques” and “Collection of Famous Sentences”, the book was a bilingual introductory course in Chinese calligraphy to help Chinese learners learn Chinese characters and achieve a deeper understanding of Chinese culture.  

Prof. Cui Xiliang, former President of Beijing Language and Culture University, delivered a final speech. He emphasized that the global launch of the new book was an important event for international Chinese language education and the international spread of Chinese calligraphy. He believed that the promotion of international Chinese language education would not only help worldwide learners better learn Chinese and understand China, but also help establish a platform for international exchanges and cooperation. 

The online new book launch attracted more than 110 attendees from all over the world.