{"id":10124,"date":"2019-04-27T19:50:04","date_gmt":"2019-04-28T03:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=10124"},"modified":"2019-04-27T20:07:57","modified_gmt":"2019-04-28T04:07:57","slug":"visiting-scholar-yuanyu-liao-gives-insight-into-chinese-culture-through-traditional-poetry-and-calligraphy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/visiting-scholar-yuanyu-liao-gives-insight-into-chinese-culture-through-traditional-poetry-and-calligraphy\/","title":{"rendered":"Visiting scholar Yuanyu Liao gives insight into Chinese culture through traditional poetry and calligraphy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Chrys Weedon<\/strong> | Entertainment Editor<\/span><\/p>\n

In the U.S., the works of Shakespeare and Keats from hundreds of years ago are viewed as timeless classics that strongly affected the world of English poetry. According to chinasage.info<\/a>, Chinese culture looks back even further \u2014 over one thousand years further \u2014 to their poetic Golden Age during the Tang dynasty. Visiting scholar Yuanyu Liao has brought traditional culture to Western\u2019s campus with her painting and calligraphy in an exhibit on the third floor of Hamersly Library.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy research is about Chinese art history. My focus is on traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy,\u201d Dr. Yuanyu Liao explained. \u201cI want to communicate with everyone about Chinese culture.\u201d Poetry from the Tang dynasty and the dynasties beyond are extremely valued in Chinese culture today. Dr. Liao commented that from the time children start school in China, they start memorizing ancient poems.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Liao was born in Fengcheng, Jiangxi Province of China. Liao received her Master\u2019s degree from Jiangxi Normal University in 2002, and continued on to study the painting history of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, graduating in 2012 with a PhD of art.<\/span><\/p>\n

Liao has published multiple academic papers in journals such as Art Magazine and the Journal of the National Museum of China. Dr. Liao also published a book in 2017 titled \u201cRelationship between Chen Hongshou Art, Identity and the Change of Dynasty.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Currently, Dr. Liao is a master tutor and associate professor for the College of Fine Arts at her alma mater; she is also a member of the Jiangxi Female Painters Association.<\/span><\/p>\n

In her exhibition titled \u201cImage External,\u201d Dr. Liao\u2019s art reflects the core aspects of traditional Chinese poems and paintings. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think lines (are) very beautiful \u2026 when I (practice) calligraphy, I like the brush, ink and paper together,\u201d commented Dr. Liao. \u201cI think it\u2019s very strong. I hope when people look (at) my work, they can understand (that strength).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Liao has studied Chinese painting and calligraphy for 20 years. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI like nature\u2026\u201d Dr. Liao explained, \u201cthe fresh asparagus smells of soil and rain, a blooming lotus is so beautiful; a sweet litchi is so delicious. The sun shines on the bamboo leaves, and the shadows on the walls sway in the wind \u2026 these touching feelings can be found in ancient Chinese poetry. I use the beautiful words and rhymes of these ancient poems to express my love for life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cImage External\u201d exhibit includes traditional poems from the Song, Ming, Tang and Qing dynasties, along with paintings of things from nature, such as pomegranates, shrimp, asparagus and different flowers.<\/span><\/p>\n

While some paintings stand alone, some are coupled with ancient Chinese poems. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of a true imitation of nature, (ancient Chinese artists) use abstract, rhythmic lines to express an ethereal mood,\u201d detailed Dr. Liao. The strong lines of the Chinese characters in the poems coupled with the delicate, minimalist paintings create a beautiful contrast. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI hope if people come (to my exhibition), they can know \u2018oh, Chinese culture (is) beautiful,\u2019\u201d Dr. Liao concluded.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Photo by Ashlynn Norton<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor In the U.S., the works of Shakespeare and Keats from hundreds of years ago are viewed as timeless classics that strongly affected the world of English poetry. According to chinasage.info, Chinese culture looks back even further \u2014 over one thousand years further \u2014 to their poetic Golden Age during the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1094,"featured_media":10127,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"modified_by":"The Western Howl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}