Written by: Shu Han and Fan Pei
Posted on: January 02, 2019 | 
| 中文
Experiencing Chinese traditional musical instruments
Knotting, calligraphy, seal carving, Chinese painting, and Chinese musical instruments are parts of traditional Chinese art. Now foreigners are no longer satisfied with casting only a passing glance at China, but are rather attracted by Chinese traditional culture and arts. They get to know and experience China in their practice. Their curiosity turns into love, which makes them more persistent in learning about the Chinese culture, and the more they learn, the more deeply they understand China.
Sayaka, a Japanese lady, often shares her knotting experiences with netizens, by skillfully tying and flopping colorful ropes, photographing every step of the process, marking the essential actions on the pictures, and uploading them on Weibo.
"When I was young, I thought that the Chinese people are only fond of the red colour. It was a long time ago when I first experienced the rope weaving art, after I observed some Chinese pendant decorations," Sayaka recalled.
Four years ago, Sayaka came to China with her husband because of his job transfer. In learning Chinese, she developed a strong interest in Chinese traditional culture and customs. Sayaka was fully aware that the best way to know a traditional skill is to practice it. Driven by her curiosity, she bought more than ten books about Chinese knots and participated in a training course specially designed for Chinese Knotting.
Today, she has gotten familiar with more than 40 kinds of knotting methods, such as flat knot, snake knot, corn knot, double coin knot, Panchang knot (long spiral knot) and button knot. She enjoyed the fun of tying and weaving cords and ropes. “With just a few cords, you can weave various decorations. The shapes are nice, and every kind of knotting has different auspicious implications. In the eyes of foreigners like me, knotting is full of fun!”
Sayaka does not only have a pair of skilful hands, but also integrates her unique thoughts and innovations into her weaving. She designs woven jewellery ornaments, pendant decorations and daily articles, which add a lot of fun to her life. When it comes to her favourite works, she showed two round and exquisite original cup mats. One is purple, and the other is pinkish-blue; both are artistic and practical.
The Japanese lady is also a lover of seal carving and Chinese pastry making. In her opinion, learning these traditional Chinese skills is interesting and fun. "They not only enrich my life, but also deepen my understanding about the Chinese culture. The deeper I understand the Chinese culture, the more I realize how little my knowledge is, and I want to continue to learn more about traditional Chinese art."
Every autumn, various clubs of Renmin University of China (RUC) go all out to extend their membership in promotion and recruitment events on the campus. Kim Chae Seong, a Korean MA student at the International Relations School of RUC began to learn to play the flute through this event. “At that time, I was attracted by beautiful melodies, and I loved to trace where the musical sounds came from. In one such search, I saw a beautiful girl playing the flute. So I decided to join the Flute Club." While saying this, he could not help laughing.
Kim’s undergraduate major in Korea is China Studies. Before he came to China, he had already known China well. After joining the club, the young man learned to play the flute under the guidance of professional teachers and practiced hard in his spare time. Now, he can play the music pieces like Chrysanthemum Terrace, Blue and White Porcelain, and The Legendary Swordsman very well, to say nothing of the hit song “Little Apple." “I learned to play the flute to develop my hobbies, and also to experience Chinese culture in depth. Now, it has also become a way to relax myself in my spare time."
Music can calm one’s mind, and playing the flute helps one make more friends. So the experience of learning to play the flute has also enlarged Kim’s circle of friends. "I got to know a lot of Chinese friends at the flute club. Through communicating with them, I got a deeper understanding of the ideas of Chinese young people and their respective hometown characteristics," he said.
The young Korean man hopes that this autumn, he could represent the flute club in its recruitment performance and attract more and more foreign students like him to join the club.
Being the only university teaching Chinese language to speakers of other languages and promoting Chinese culture as its main task in China, Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) has always attached great importance in disseminating Chinese traditional culture and arts to foreign students. In BLCU, foreign students can learn Chinese calligraphy, seal carving, Chinese painting, Chinese musical instruments, verse recitation, traditional poetry and other Chinese traditional culture courses with complete curriculum.
Zhu Tianshu, director of the Chinese Calligraphy and Seal Carving Institute and professor of BLCU, once worked as a calligraphy and seal carving teacher for foreign students. He was deeply impressed by the calligraphy teaching. "Foreigners are very sensitive to and interested in the shapes of Chinese characters. Foreigners practicing Chinese calligraphy can learn to read Chinese characters and understand their meanings on one hand and enjoy the artistic beauty in various forms of calligraphy on the other hand."
Translated by Xu Donglin
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