On September 19th, 2013 “Our Chinese Heart and Dream” Arts and Calligraphy Exhibition jointly sponsored by CFLAC, Association for Relations Across Taiwan Strait, Xiamen People’s Municipal Government, was held in Xiamen. This exhibition received great supports from famous artists across the Strait as well as Hong Kong and Macau. 420 works of painting and calligraphy were assembled with the rich contents and various themes. The celebrities of Taiwan, such as Lian Zhan and Wu Boxiong, the honorary presidents of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Xiao Wanchang and Jiang Bingkun, the former vice president of KMT, Jiang Xiaozheng, vice president of KMT presented inscriptions for this exhibition.
The exhibited calligraphic works not only included poems and other literary works that described the round moon on the Mid-Autumn Festival, but also the thematic wishes for the peaceful unification across the Strait. Some of the calligraphic works were elegant and graceful with the beautiful touch of writing brush, while some were passionate and wild with the unexpected presentation of Chinese characters; all of these formed an excellent harmony with different art styles. As for the paintings, they covered the themes of famous mountains and rivers, national folk life, from which audiences could sense the painters’ mastery of art presentation in an exquisite way.
The most frequently-mentioned words were “the common root, ancestors and origins” among artists from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Artists belonged to different age categories. Some of them were advanced, who felt the strong bond with the mainland and their strong identification and sense of belonging could be known in their words. “In recent years, Xiamen is consistently devoted to the promotion of cultural exchange across the Strait, which is very significant. Since 2005, the relations across the strait advance in the direction of peaceful development and the general atmosphere have been better and better. If there is no place for culture during the course of mutual development across the strait, things would become much harder. The consensus of Chinese traditional culture is of vital importance to the realization of unification across the Strait.” Shi Ziqing, a calligrapher from Hong Kong remarked in excitement.
Culture lays the foundation for a nation’s prosperity and progress and is the blood and soul of the nation. Calligraphy is the most important one among all. To some extent, the exhibition emphasized the importance of returning to tradition. At the forum in writing, artists indulged themselves in writing calligraphic works and painting in order to exchange art opinions and learn from each other. They presented their own works to each other and the atmosphere on the spot was very active. Calligraphists and painters were not stingy with their works and presented the works to the viewers who loved them. The delegates from the mainland and Taiwan created the large-scale wash paintings of Our Deep Affection in Blue Rivers and Red Mountains, The Charms of Ali Mountain respectively.
“Our Chinese heart links people across the Strait in recognition of the same ancestors; our Chinese dream connects people in order to rejuvenate the same home.” This was the exhibited calligraphic work of Lian Jiasheng, president of Macau Calligraphists’ Association. In his opinion, all the descendants of Yan and Huang Emperors should recognize their common ancestors out of the same Chinese heart; Chinese dream is to rejuvenate the great, prosperous and strong Chinese nation. People across the strait, especially artists and scholars who are bent on the promotion and study of Chinese traditional culture, use the calligraphy and painting as media in order to make their own contribution to the continuously peaceful and steady development of relations across the Strait, following the wisdom of forerunners and plotting for the welfare of the whole Chinese nation.
