McDaniel Students on TV in China
McDaniel Students on TV in China
PAPER MAKING AND CALLIGRAPHY! – C. WEETMAN
Started when Zoie woke me and asked, “What time are we supposed to meet downstairs?” To which I replied, “7:55 AM” and she says, “Okay, well it’s 7:50 AM” Ahhhh! Somehow my phone had turned off during the night so my alarm didn’t go off! What a way to start the morning. Through on some clothes, hair in a ponytail, and grabbed a can of Pringles for breakfast, and we were off!
We headed about an hour south of Wuhu to a town where rice paper making is a fairly large industry. Also named as a cultural folk art by the state, the papermaking is an honoured art for which there are “masters” who are the experts of the industry (like Tiehua).
Our first stop was actually at the Anhui courthouse. In the lobby was one of the largest pieces of Tiehua that has ever been produced. The piece featured the history of the Chinese legal system. Very interesting! And a beautiful piece.
Next stop was at a calligraphy and paper shop outside of town. We met two masters there. One named Master Jiang. They painted a couple pieces for us and gave them as gifts to McDaniel! We discussed some of the differences between western art and the Chinese ink painting we saw today.
After the shop, we headed even farther outside of the city into a very …. very rural area for lunch. You have to really be careful what you eat here. I’ve been sure to ask what things are before I try them, just in case. Also, the Chinese do not waste anything. When they serve duck, they serve the WHOLE duck. So today there was a very good chicken soup with the chicken in it. I saw the legs and wings and such and then I saw the head, the WHOLE head. So just watch what you bite into.
The rice paper factory was actually just across the street from this little restaurant, nestled in the green mountains. We had a very cool tour through each part of the paper making process and even got to make our own paper! I’d done something similar at living history camp in elementary school, but this was a bit more advanced.
The coolest part though was when the owner of the paper factory, Mr Guan, taught us to write our names in Chinese using ink! Of course my name turned out to be the hardest because of the sheer number of strokes in each character. So the man wrote it first on the right side and I copied the characters on the left. Master Jiang was seated over by the wall and asked to look at my piece. After careful examination he gave me a sturdy thumbs up. I think he approved.
Turns out that Master Jiang is nationally known for his calligraphy art. He wrote our names using his own styles and traditional styles of Chinese characters. Very cool!
It was a long bus ride home but we stopped for dinner at a hot-pot restaurant. Sort of like Chinese fondue? But an interesting menu. I was able to get friend rice, bean sprouts, and some shrimp. But those more adventurous ordered liver, mutton, duck blood (yes, that’s right), and squid. No thanks!
After dinner a couple of us decided to stop at the old British Consulate, which has come to be my favourite place. Very pretty and rustic and a relaxing place to sit in the midst of a busy city.
Long day and very ready for bed. Tomorrow we have a farewell get together with some of the students from the polytechnic university who have helped us with translations throughout our stay in Wuhu. And tomorrow afternoon I think we are doing some Tiehua shopping!
