Mukhyang, a club to break the preconceptions about eastern calligraphy

What do you think about eastern calligraphy? When many people think of this, they recall many things such as difficult Chinese characters and the letters used by old scholars. They also remember how difficult it was to learn when they were younger. However, there are people who say that eastern calligraphy is not difficult, like those in CWNU’s eastern calligraphy club, ‘Mukhyang’. The Campus Journal met with Mukhyang to hear their story.

Q. Hello. Please introduce yourself and the club, Mukhyang.

A. Hello, I’m Ha Tae-in (Department of Applied Mathematics, 25), the previous leader leader of Mukhyang, which is a club that has been around since 1982 and was established for the purpose of correctly writing Hangeul characters and sharing the joy of writing together. As the club has been in existence for 36 years, there are many seniors who have graduated and communication between seniors and juniors is very active. Our club writes not only Chinese characters, but also Hangeul, calligraphy and drawing. If you are interested in writing, you can come and check us out anytime.

Q. Eastern calligraphy is an uncommon area. What made you get into it?

A. I’ve loved writing since I was young, so I used to write if I had a favorite sentence. When I entered university, I discovered this club. It quickly drew my interest, so I joined and I learned many things such as theoretical knowledge of eastern calligraphy, Chinese characters, Hangeul characters and calligraphy. That I could write my favorite sentence, famous sayings, song lyrics, etc., was also a great attraction.

Q. What kind of activities do you usually do?

A. We write each of our favorite sentences and promote friendship activities. You can write in the club room anytime. We usually practice for the work to be exhibited in an exhibition. We display our work in November every year. We exhibit works that we have practiced for a year, so we show our accomplishments to our seniors and aim to finish the year together. By selecting the content and presenting the work by itself, we can accumulate the knowledge of calligraphy deeply and also grow an attachment to the work. As we prepare for the exhibition, club members become more familiar and some students feel more interested in eastern calligraphy and participate in a competition. Furthermore, once a week, the Lifelong Education Center calligraphy instructor teaches us about calligraphy, free of charge. Through this lesson, we learn about the characteristics of each letter and we feel the aesthetic points such as the thickness and roundness of each character. After that, we write our own sentences and the instructor advises us. Through these activities, we can feel the beauty of the letters more. Last year, two Chinese students were interested in eastern calligraphy, so they visited our club. It was a very different experience and we thought that we should teach about ourselves, so we enjoyed writing letters and taught Hangeul characters enthusiastically. If foreigners come to our club, it will be a good experience. Our club has prepared all necessary tools for studying, so you can come to our club room in Bongrim student hall with a light heart. Also, on the 11^th, we will have an exhibition on Bongrim student hall’s 3^rd floor. If you attend our exhibition, you will be fascinated by eastern calligraphy.

Q. Is there anything you want to say to our readers?

A. Eastern calligraphy can make you feel distressed, so we started the calligraphy club to break the preconceptions about this art form. We want to let you know that eastern calligraphy is not so difficult and corny. You can write more easily than you think and if you just write what you want and complete the work, it will be worthwhile. We don’t force you to write Chinese characters from the beginning. We hope you enjoy writing. We will continue to work hard to change people’s bias about eastern calligraphy. Please love our club and support us!

Ha Tae-in writing Chinese characters

Choi Ga-yun, reporter  rkxnsl@naver.com

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