The exhibition of “Calligraphy and Its Evolution in Taiwan” that is currently held at the Sun Yet-sen Memorial Hall has been organized by TKU jointly with Sun Yet-sen Memorial Hall. The copious works at the exhibition span over 340 years of history in Taiwan making this event allegedly the biggest and most comprehensive show ever displayed in Taiwan. Works on exhibition include rare calligraphy pieces from some significant historical figures such as Zuo Zhong-tang, Liu Ming-chuan, Chiu Fong-jia, and Shen Bao-Zhen. The exhibition will run until May 2.

The opening ceremony was held on April 10 attended by Chang Rui-bin, the Director of the Sun Yet-sen Memorial Hall, Hsu Shui-der, the former Minister of Examination Yuan as well as Flora C.I. Chang, the Vice President of Administration Affairs of TKU. The latter was invited to give a speech, in which she expressed her disappointment of the negligence of calligraphy in modern education and thus emphasized the importance of inspiring today’s students and pupils to care about and learn calligraphy. She was grateful to the collectors who unselfishly lent their ‘treasure’ for exhibition while she was admiring those works.

The mastermind of this exhibition from TKU’s side is the Director of Calligraphy Research Section at the Carrie Chang Fine Arts Center, Chang Bing-huang. He explained how his vision emerged about such a show had already started 3 years ago when his section was established and after 3 years of research, collection and categorization with the help of over 20 collectors, he was able to attain approximately 170 works dated back to Ching Dynasty to modern times. Some of these works have never been shown before, and some of them are even priceless despite the delicate condition they are in, as pointed out by the Chui Chen-Chung, the Chair of the Chinese Department, which is also part of the organizing committee. Their delicate condition accentuates even more the long history of calligraphy in Taiwan.

At the exhibition, you should be able to find such rare works by Ju Hsu-guai of 340 years ago, Jiang Yu-ying, the first governor of Taiwan, Guo Shan-Shian, the first person who set up a school in Tamsui during Ching Dynasty among many others by famous calligraphers from Japanese occupation era to modern time after 1945. The oldest of all is the work by Ju Hsu-guai entitled ‘Old Pine Trees in the mountains against the bright moon’. There are also works by some leading Japanese calligraphers whose collectors kindly lent their collections to Taiwan from Japan. Their works contribute significantly to the understanding of the relationship between the calligraphy in Taiwan and Japan in the early days.

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