KINGSTON, R.I. –March 20, 2008—A talk and a demonstration of Chinese calligraphy will be held at the University of Rhode Island Tuesday, March 25 from noon to 1 p.m. in the Galanti Lounge, URI Library, 15 Lippitt Road, URI Kingston campus. The event, sponsored by the URI Confucius Institute, is free and open to the public.

Genyuan Jiang, a visiting scholar from Zhejiang University of Technology in China, will introduce The Four Treasures of the Study (tools for Chinese calligraphy and Chinese painting): writing brush, ink stick, ink stone, and rice paper.

Jiang is a visiting scholar in URI’s Department of Communication Studies. He was influenced by famous calligraphers from a young age. Starting at 12, he has practiced calligraphy for more than 25 years. He will demonstrate calligraphy toward the end of his talk.

Xiaodong Dai , a professor at the Foreign Languages College of Shanghai Normal University, will provide an English translation and cultural and historical background of Chinese calligraphy. Dai is a Fulbright Scholar with the Department of Communication Studies at URI.

The presenters will discuss and present the characteristics of different styles of calligraphy, such as large seal script, small seal script, clerical script, cursive script, regular scripts, and semi-cursive script used during different dynasties