Each year, KULeuven, Campus Brussels, organizes a calligraphy contest in conjunction with the Chinese language classes offered by the university’s Faculty of Humanities. Both are sponsored by the Taipei Representative Office in the EU & Belgium. This annual activity gives students who are curious about Chinese language and culture an opportunity to enjoy a hands-on taste of this fascinating aspect, and it has always attracted many participants. 

This year’s calligraphy contest, the sixth, took place on March 28 conducted by Twricy Hsu, a Chinese language teacher. Over 40 people took part, including people from KULeuven and others from outside the university.

Using a special calligraphy brush proved to be quite a challenge for nearly all of them, but with a little assistance from Twricy Hsu and some practice, most got the hang of it and they ended up enjoying being able to write some basic characters.

All the participants had to temporarily leave their calligraphy work behind, for three to be selected to receive a prize. An award ceremony will be held on May 2, hosted by the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Prof. Lieven Buysse, at which the three selected winners will receive a prize provided by the Taipei Representative Office for their calligraphy efforts.

The annual calligraphy contest helps to awaken students to the beauty of Taiwan’s traditional script and the culture behind it. Chen Yu-wen and Kelly Van De Paer from the Education Division both attended, encouraging the participants to visit Taiwan or undertake further studies there. Indeed, last year’s second-place winner took part in an intensive Chinese summer course at National Cheng Kung University, and last year’s first-place winner has applied for a Taiwan Scholarship to do a master’s degree in Taiwan.

Photo: Chinese language teacher Twricy Hsu shows a student how to use a calligraphy brush.