The Confucius Institute at the University of San Marino (UNIRSM-CI) has been conducting a series of cultural activities under the theme of the International Chinese Language Day: "Chinese Language: Lighting Up Colorful Dreams." On the evening of May 12, the Confucius Institute held a calligraphy lecture and Chinese character cultural experience event titled "Discovering the Beauty of Chinese Characters" at the University of San Marino, attracting active participation from local university students, who immersed themselves in experiencing the charm of Chinese characters and the beauty of Chinese culture.
The event focused on the origin, evolution, and cultural connotations of Chinese characters. Teachers from the Confucius Institute delivered vivid explanations, introducing the unique characteristics of Chinese characters as ideographic writing. Using typical Chinese character examples, they visually demonstrated the development process of Chinese characters from oracle bone script to modern script, enabling students to understand that Chinese characters originate from nature and convey meaning through form, playing an important role in the inheritance of Chinese civilization.
During the event, the Confucius Institute innovatively combined oracle bone script animated short films with interactive quizzes, bringing the ancient script of Chinese civilization to life. This approach helped students quickly build an intuitive understanding of the forms of Chinese characters. For students whose native writing system is the Latin alphabet and who had little prior exposure to Chinese characters, this enjoyable and engaging learning method helped them rapidly familiarize themselves with the basic forms of dozens of common Chinese characters. The atmosphere was lively with enthusiastic participation. The students expressed that this artistic and enjoyable approach, with the aid of images and stories, made the originally complex and seemingly difficult Chinese characters intuitively vivid, sparking their interest in further learning Chinese.
During the calligraphy experience session, teachers from the Confucius Institute introduced the "Four Treasures of the Study" — brush, ink, paper, and inkstone — and organized Chinese character writing and creative experience activities. Students picked up brushes and dipped them in ink, attempting to copy oracle bone script forms to experience the pictographic beauty of ancient characters. They then tried writing simplified regular script Chinese characters, experiencing the structural beauty and rhythmic charm of Chinese calligraphy between each stroke.
This event used Chinese characters as a "bridge," integrating knowledge explanation, artistic appreciation, and interactive experience. It not only allowed local young people to intuitively appreciate the beauty of Chinese characters and the joy of learning Chinese, but also deepened their understanding of and interest in Chinese culture, playing an active role in promoting people-to-people exchanges and mutual learning between China and San Marino.
