外籍學生戀上中華書畫

沈翊

2017年6月26日，第六屆寧波國際大學生節在甬拉開帷幕。本屆大學生節在寧波市人民政府外事辦的引領下，邀請了來自20多個國家的200多名師生參與。各國大學生懷著對中國傳統書畫藝術的熱愛，來到寧波大學圖書館紅牡丹書畫國際交流社，在“紅牡丹”創始人姜紅升老師的帶領下，第一次接觸毛筆的外籍人士在短短的2小時內，畫出一幅幅令人驚嘆的牡丹花畫作。中國文化國際傳播“紅牡丹”模式，探索出一條“2小時內讓外籍人士愛上中國”的神奇魅力。

姜紅升向師生們介紹了在中華人民共和國成立66周年時，來自英國、德國、法國、意大利、俄羅斯、美國、加拿大、巴西、玻利維亞、印度、韓國、巴基斯坦、尼日利亞、馬達加斯加、澳大利亞等五大洲66個國家的國際友人，齊聚寧波“紅牡丹”，在9.9米長的同一幅畫卷上，用古遠華夏的筆墨，創作66朵不同顏色牡丹的書畫長卷，表達對新中國的祝福。

姜紅升現場演示了如何繪畫牡丹花。全英語的交流，耐心的指導，令學員們樂在其中。大家紛紛拿起畫筆開始學習描畫牡丹花。

浙江大學寧波理工學院烏克蘭籍教師康斯坦丁在“紅牡丹”已經學習了三年時間，是一名資深的國畫助教，從最初的中國文化的學習者，成長為一名中華文化的傳播者，從紅牡丹公益書畫教學的受益者成為跨國公益的踐行者與“領頭羊”。

以牡丹為繪畫題材的中國書畫藝術，歷來被書畫家鐘情與喜愛。雍容華貴、婀娜多姿的牡丹，素有“國色天香”、“花中之王”的美稱，中國人民把牡丹看作是人類和平、幸福美好、繁榮富貴的象征。牡丹花是中國的國花，牡丹是中國的，更是世界的。象征著人類和平、幸福美好、繁榮富貴的牡丹更是體現當代中國文化的內涵與中國人民的精神追求。不同語言、不同膚色、不同民族的國際大學生，調和著不同色彩的國畫顏料，描繪著“精彩美麗”這同一個夢想。

外籍師生興奮地互相展示他們創作的牡丹花。一些優秀學員被邀請在已有160多個國籍人士描繪的牡丹書畫長卷上，延伸綻放這國色天香、富貴吉祥的“文化長城”。

以“花為媒”的藝術載體，從教授畫一朵牡丹開始，帶領國際友人走進詩意盎然的中國文化。牡丹的自然之美、文化之美、藝術之美，濃縮在國際友人創作的千姿百態書畫牡丹中。國際友人在國色天香中國文化藝術的體驗中，融入中國文化的國際“百花園”。

6月27日，來自英國、美國、法國、波蘭、韓國、新加坡、馬來西亞、印度尼西亞等8個國家的師生拿起毛筆，在姜紅升老師的帶領下，第一次接觸中國書法藝術，臨摹碑帖，認識中國漢字的魅力，領悟中國書法的博大精深。

從握筆、運筆到勾勒線條，姜紅升細細解說，耐心傳授，為第一次接觸書法的學生們創造良好的學習氣氛。

學生們認真觀察著漢字的模樣，姜紅升在漢字的表情達意、書寫筆順、用筆技巧等方面悉心指導。

學習書法對于諾丁漢大學的學生們來說，是以一種充滿儀式感的方式來接觸與認識中國文化。他們不僅對漢字本身的結構充滿新奇感，更為漢字所組成的成語、古籍經典、唐詩宋詞等蘊含的深刻意義與營造的文化氛圍所陶醉。

“上善若水，水善利萬物而不爭，處眾人之所惡，故幾于道。”“上善若水”源自《道德經》，學員們在了解了這個詞是指像水的品性一樣，澤被萬物而不爭名利的含義后，情不自禁地下筆揮毫。

學員們很喜歡“自強不息”一詞，并將之作為自己的座右銘。

課堂中，不少同學是“左撇子”，但絲毫沒有影響他們對書法的臨習與創作，正所謂“左右開弓”，氣勢不凡。學員們對于中國的傳統文化形式“春聯”很感興趣，在姜紅升老師的帶領下，先后在春聯紙上寫下自己的祝愿，既是對自己的鼓勵，也表達了對中國傳統優秀文化的贊美。

在詢問了“I Love You”的中文表達后，一位祖籍巴基斯坦的英國留學生興致滿滿地在紙上書寫下了“我愛你”三個字，這是學員們對“紅牡丹”的贊美，也是對中華傳統文化的筆墨傾訴。

書法課堂歡聲不斷，在完成了書法練習后，學員們情不自禁地在春聯上寫下了“寧波紅牡丹學院”，表達了對體驗中國傳統文化發自內心的喜愛。洋學生愛上了紅牡丹。

新加坡學員欣喜地展示她書寫的人生警言“厚德載物”。

兩位馬來西亞學員同樣興奮地展示她們書寫的“萬事如意”、“上善若水”、“厚德載物”、“自強不息”等，并特意要求為她們的書法作品用立軸裝裱，作為本次文化藝術交流的珍貴記憶。

在兩個小時內，外國學員對于中國書法藝術的體驗與領悟，對于漢字書寫的把控與揮灑，萍水相逢，驚鴻一瞥，暗香盈袖，最美不過初相見，恰如牡丹那般艷。濃情在華夏古老筆端的藝術之花，成了跨國交流中外友誼的幸福之花。

“紅牡丹”以教育的方式傳播文化，以文化的方式構筑友誼，以藝術的方式深化情感，學員們對中華文化的好奇、體驗、挑戰以及由挑戰成功而產生的喜悅、充實、興奮，老師對學生佳作的贊譽和欣賞，學生對中華文化的認同與喜愛，結出中外文化交流的豐碩成果。

The curtain came up on the 6th Ningbo International Students Festival on June 26， 2017， in Ningbo， a port city in eastern Zhejiang. Sponsored by the foreign affair office of the city government， over 200 international students and teachers in Ningbo participated. One of the events they enjoyed at the festival was a visit to Red Peony， an art learning project for international students， visitors and local expat community. Red Peony sits at the Library of Ningbo University.

Red Peony is the name of an art learning institution designed to teach foreigners in Ningbo to get started in traditional Chinese art and build up communications between China and the rest of the world.

Red Peony is also the name of an easy and hands-on approach for foreigners to learn how to paint a peony in the traditional style of Chinese painting within two hours. Traditional Chinese painting boasts a long history， a galaxy of ancient masters， and a great number of artworks. It would be a daunting challenge for a foreign non-artist to grab the essentials of the complex art within a short period of time. A red peony flower is the solution Jiang Hongsheng has developed. By learning how to paint a red peony， a non-artist foreigner could try her hands at holding a brush pen， learning basic ink strokes of a brush pen， and using simple colors. What is more， peony symbolizes fortune， peace， happiness， and prosperity in Chinese culture. It is Chinas unofficial national flower. Usually， a beginner could learn with ease how to paint a red peony within two hours.

Jiang Hongsheng， the founder of the society， gave the visitors a short talk about the easiness of picking up the essentials of Chinese painting. In 2015， the year that marked the 66th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China， Red Peony invited 66 international students and teachers in Ningbo to create a 9.9-meter long drawing. They were from various countries and they drew 66 peonies in different colors. Jiang showed the visitors this long painting scroll.

After the talk， Jiang demonstrated how to paint a peony. His tips were easy to understand since Jiang speaks English fluently. Eventually they successfully drew peonies in different colors. Some of the visitors， due to their brilliant performance， were invited to add their peonies to an existing long scroll of peony painting created jointly by over 160 foreigners over a long period of time and on different occasions.

On June 27， Jiang Hongsheng met with international students and teachers from UK， USA， France， Poland， South Korea， Singapore， Malaysia， and Indonesia at Red Peony at the library. They are now learning or teaching at University of Nottingham Ningbo.

It was the first time that these foreigners tried their hands at Chinese calligraphy. For these students and teachers， the visit was like a ceremony. It opened a window for them to peep into the cultural magnificence of Chinese characters. For these beginners， Jiang had picked some phrases and concise sentences from ancient classics， which are still in widespread use in China today. Jiang explained these phrases and short sentences that act as mottos to the beginners， knowing it was very probably the first exposure these foreigners had to Chinese classics.

Jiang noticed something quite interesting at the class. Some foreigners were left-handed. He thought it quite unusual， for nearly all left-handed Chinese students write with their right hands， though their left hands use chopsticks or play the basketball nimbly. Jiang himself broadened his teaching experience by observing how these left hands held a brush pen and adjusting his instructions about how to move the pen to write ink strokes.

Like a class for learning how to paint a red peony， the calligraphy class lasted about two hours. After all， it wasnt very difficult for a foreigner to learn to write four or five Chinese words in a calligraphic style. Toward the end of the class， they asked Jiang how to write Red Peony and Ningbo in Chinese. They wrote them down accordingly. Some even decided to get their calligraphic works done on this occasion mounted or framed for memory.