TSMC Nurtures Innovative Talent by Introducing Youth Calligraphy and Seal-carving Competition
The TSMC Education and Culture Foundation is dedicated to youth development and introduced the TSMC Youth Calligraphy and Seal-carving Competition, the only kind of competition for high school students in Taiwan. The Foundation aims to help high school students achieve a better understanding about traditional Chinese culture and arts, increasing the tradition and cultural awareness with young generation. This year, the theme of the fifteenth Youth Calligraphy and Seal-carving Competition was “Culinary,” where students can copy passages from classical poems, contemporary poetry or essays, or they can create their own original contents and incorporate the sense of taste (of the five senses) into their works. Also, the Foundation has invited some gourmet writers to share the culinary culture and the stories of the Song Dynasty to help students achieve an immersive art experience. This year’s competition has also invited Kai Ping Culinary School to create a six courses meal to inspire students with innovative applications for the calligraphy and seal-carving culture. There’re 449 students have participated in this year’s competition, while 87 award-winning works have been exhibited at the Chiang Kai-she Memorial Hall. Those works will be moved back to the TSMC headquarters for exhibition to showcase the beauty of the art of calligraphy and seal-carving continuously.
Inheritance and Innovation of Calligraphy and Seal-carving by Combining the Traditional Arts with Modern Elements
To increase the awareness and interests with young students, the TSMC Youth Calligraphy and Seal-carving Competition has created four categories of awards: seal/clerical/regular scripts, semi-cursive scripts, seal-carving, and copying ancient calligraphy models. Additionally, the TSMC Education and Culture Foundation has organized an event of “Floral Feast of the Song Dynasty - Writing Song Poetry, Tasting Autumnal Fare.” Gourmet writers are invited to share stories of the 12 classic dishes from the book “Light Mountain Dishes of the Southern Song Dynasty” (Shan Jia Qing Gong) edited by Lin Hong, a literati from Song Dynasty. The Foundation also invited teachers and students from the Kai Ping Culinary School to create six dishes of “Floral Feast of the Song Dynasty” based on the recipes in that book. The events made the traditional calligraphy and seal-carving competition more fun an interactive. To encourage teachers to design with Chinese characters in daily life, the Foundation continued to hold the event of “Creative Calligraphy Teaching Proposal” for the second year. Incorporated with calligraphic elements, the selected works for 2023 included menu designs, restaurant signboards and documentary of the character designs on traditional cakes from participants’ hometowns. These events are designed to guide the students to appreciate the beauty of the aesthetics of Chinese writing and to live with the culture of calligraphy and seal-carving in their daily life.
The 15th TSMC Youth Calligraphy and Seal-carving Competition
The TSMC Education and Culture Foundation aims to help young students to achieve a deep understanding about traditional Chinese culture and arts. The Foundation continues to promote literature and arts competitions such as the TSMC Youth Calligraphy and Seal-carving Competition, nurturing young talent in arts of calligraphy and seal-carving. Theses competitions will help young generation to achieve a deeper understanding of the tradition culture and arts while infusing them with modern spirit, passing down the heritage of classical culture from generation to generation.