Hands-On Humanities Day – Wellbeing in Chinese Traditional Way

The Confucius Institute at the University of Southampton (CI) ran two workshops on the Hands-On Humanities Day at John Hansard Gallery on 23rd November 2019. The event was part of Human Worlds Festival – an annual event organised by the Public Engagement with Research unit to display the fantastic Humanities researches taking place at the University of Southampton.

Workshop 1 was Chinese Calligraphy, which has been appreciated more for its aesthetic quality over the years. It is also regarded as one of the arts in the countries where it is practised. Chinese calligraphy focuses not only on methods of writing but also on cultivating one's character. It is also a good way of improving wellbeing as one often practices it. CI tutors demonstrated the way of using ink and brushes to write Chinese words and many participants took their children there to learn how to write their names in Chinese characters.

Workshop 2 was Paper Cutting - a very distinctive visual art of Chinese handicrafts. Its history can be dated back to the 6th century. From the 7th to 13th century, paper cutting became popular especially during Chinese festivals. The art spreads to the rest of the world in the 14th century. Nowadays, it is a good practice to reduce the stress from work, which in a way contributes to one’s wellbeing. CI tutors provided tutorials to the participants and helped them to achieve their artwork products. Yang participants were especially happy with the cutting of a lovely panda.