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About two kilometers west from the urban township of Beidou in Changhua County a newly established school of higher learning rises from the extensive flat, green plains of central Taiwan: Mingdao University, lying in the administrative area of the Beitou rural township. In the August of 2004, the Institute of Chinese Studies was set up within the Chinese department. This Institute offers two programs, one specializing in Chinese Literature, the other in the Art of Calligraphy. It is the first graduate school in all of Taiwan to award a master’s degree in calligraphy, making Mingdao a pioneer in the research, practice, and promotion of this ancient Chinese art.
In today’s Taiwan, there are a considerable number of graduate students of literature, history, the fine arts or education who write their master’s theses on topics relating to calligraphy. Yet very few of them undergo a systematic and comprehensive training in the art. Instead of being able to rely on a well-organized curriculum and clearly structured research program, they usually struggle to find their own way into the complex world of calligraphy, and only after many setbacks and difficulties can they eventually complete their master’s theses. It is hard not to be moved by their persistent and arduous efforts, and often excellent results, yet society at large has
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An Engraved Blue-and-White Square Vase 隸書李白山中問答鏤刻青花方瓶, Height: 24.5 cm |
done little or nothing to provide them with the adequate environment and support they deserve. Certainly the professors who teach calligraphy classes,and who have in the past served as mentors for some of these graduate students, guiding them in their studies and helping them with their theses, feel the same way! Against this backdrop, the establishment of a graduate program in calligraphy at one of Taiwan’s universities provides the welcome opportunity for a fresh start in calligraphy education.
Over the past ten years, there have in fact been a number of professors in the humanities and fine arts departments of various universities who have actively sought to set up graduate
programs in calligraphy at their respective schools, but even repeated requests and applications were turned down with reasoning along the lines of “this isn’t relevant for economic growth or the welfare of the people, and neither would it advance our school’s development, so there is no urgent need to establish a graduate school for calligraphy.” Yet if we take a look around and survey the development at universities in Japan, Korea or Mainland China, we find that they began to enroll students for master’s degree study of calligraphy as early as the 1980s, and even went so far as to set up departments of calligraphy to nurture talents at the undergraduate level. But in Taiwan at the beginning of the 21st century, the government and decision-makers at universities still think that there is no urgent need to set up calligraphy programs, an attitude . . . . |
Vase Carved Small Ke Tripod Inscription
小克鼎銘鏤刻花瓶
Height: 45 cm |
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