On August 11, the Confucius Institute of the State of Washington held the commencement ceremony for its first training session of Chinese Paintings in Art School Building of Washington University.

The just-completed training session was started on June 23 and attended by 14 trainees including faculty members and students of Washington University and community residents. Among them are Americans having interest in the Chinese painting art and teachers of Chinese language. The famous Chinese painter Prof. Yang Hongduan took the teaching job with his students from Washington Chinese Painting Art Academy working as his assistants and interpreters.

The training process consisted of “work presentation”, “theory explanation”, “painting on site”, “painting practice”, “homework assessment” and “work display”, which helped the trainees to make progress step by step. Prof. Yang and his students taught the trainees how to make Chinese paintings. With the teaching and learning interaction, the trainees observed the painting process, listened to the instructions, painted with their own hands and asked questions, thus combining theory and practice. Studying earnestly, they made the class pleasant and lively. The class teaching lasted 8 weeks with each week having two and a half hours. By learning in class and practicing after class, the trainees made exceptional progress. In the beginning of the session, some of them even did not know how to use the painting brush. However, when the session was about to be concluded, they could paint the hairy chickens under bamboos and fishes swimming in the water weeds. Even they were surprised and excited about the great progress they have made.

In the training session, the trainees got initial understanding of the Chinese art and traditional culture while some knowledge about the difference between eastern and western paintings. The training helped stimulate their interest in the Chinese painting art. According to Deng Bo, the Chinese Rector of CI, the Institute will organize the follow-up activities such as exhibition of the trainees’ works so as to expand the influence of the training session. And the CI also plans to make the training a regular one to meet the needs of more pople loving the traditional Chinese art.