Chinese Calligraphy Wood Carving Workshop

A group of students from the Chinese Language Society of SMK Tengku Madmud, Besut, Terengganu (TMS) visited UTAR Kampar Campus on 22 September 2015.

The 31 TMS students were led by society advisor teachers Tan Kheng Lim, Lee Sian Soo, and Chong Bee Kuai. The visitors were cordially welcomed by staff from the Division of Programme Promotion, Chai Wei See and Tan Yew Way, and then brought on a campus tour.

After that, a traditional Chinese cultural talk and Chinese calligraphy wood carving workshop was organised by UTAR Centre for Chinese Studies Research (CCSR), Chinese Arts Research Unit for the school visitors who came all the way from Terengganu. The talk and workshop was conducted by ICS Deputy Dean for Student Development and Industrial Training Dr Lim Chee Men.

Dr Lim introduced activities and classes that have been organised by the Chinese Arts Research Unit to the team such as Chinese calligraphy, go (weiqi), ink wash painting, child fun (tong wan), stone carving, wood carving, lantern making, and other relevant activities.

Entitled “Inheritance of Malaysian Chinese Traditional Culture (马来西亚中华传统文化承传)”, Dr Lim explained profound theories concerning the cultural inheritance of Malaysia’s Chinese community. He also discussed with the students on “What is inheritance (承传)?”, “The cultural value of inheritance”, “What is Chinese Arts and Culture?” and an introduction to Chinese art and cultural activities in Perak.

Dr Lim said, “The benefit of cultural inheritance will help to cultivate your personally mindfulness, patience, endurance, learning confidence, and aesthetic feeling. Further on, culture can encourage social civilisation and racial harmony.”

During the Chinese calligraphy wood carving session, Dr Lim introduced the students to the wood carving tools, the carving steps and precautions while carving. He then gave a live demonstration for the team. This was their first time participating in wood carving, and thus stayed highly focused on the task at hand.

Tan mentioned, “The talk and workshop benefited us well; it brought great impact to awareness of our collective cultural inheritance.” He added, “Even though the number of TMS Chinese students was small, the Chinese Language Society will continue promoting Chinese cultural activities, including Wushu in the coming days.”

President of Chinese Language Society, Pan Soon Seng said, “The wood carving workshop was really a great experience for us because I could not imagine us attempting wood carving by our own hands.” He added, “Before this, I knew little of Chinese cultural practices such as calligraphy and Chinese chess, but after this I felt that we received a lot of input from Dr Lim.”

After attending the talk and workshop, the TMS team’s interest and understanding of Chinese culture that is their ancestral inheritance was greatly enhances.

TMS team visiting ICS

Dr Lim (right) presents a souvenir to Tan (left)

Pan (middle) presents a souvenir to Dr Lim (right), while Tan (left) looks on

Dr Lim demonstrating a wood carving technique to the students

Students with their happy face

Student using a carving tool on the wood

Students concentrating on carving