Winners of 2023 Chinese Bridge Calligraphy and Painting Challenge announced

The 2023 Chinese Bridge Calligraphy and Painting Contest lasted for six months and attracted 1,084 contestants from 86 countries with a total of 1,146 calligraphy and painting works.

After review from the jury and public voting, the calligraphy group and the painting group selected one special prize, three best technique awards, three best presentation awards, three most creative awards, three most potential awards and network awards respectively. Three people will receive the Popularity Award and three will receive the We-Media Popularity Award.

According to Zhang Bing, professor at the School of Culture and Media of Central University of Finance and Economics as well as a member of the Chinese Calligraphers Association, the award-winning calligraphy works this year mirrored many Chinese classic inscriptions with more expressiveness and creativity, compared to the winners of last year's contest.

Wang Xiangbei, director of Rongbaozhai Art Museum said the work included more Chinese elements.

"I feel honored to be the jury member again and also delighted to find that the entries for this year have been such a breakthrough. From their progresses, you can see the authors must have spent a lot of time and energy on learning traditional Chinese culture."

Zhang Bo, professor from the Institute of Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages of Beijing Language and Culture University, gave high praise of the achievement of overseas Chinese teaching which played a significant role in cultural exchanges.

He said the quality of the entries resulted from the contestants' years of study, as well as the guidance and assistance of overseas Chinese teaching behind them.

Another jury member, Zheng Qinyan, director of the Children's Art Education Research Center of the Central Academy of Fine Arts pointed out the differences between art works by domestic and international children.

"Children in other countries have more diverse ideas, relatively simple compositions and bold strokes. It is characterized by personalized expression and a spiritual core, which can reflect a child's unique observation and perception of life. Their art education focuses more on stimulating students' innovative abilities and aesthetic tastes, rather than just pursuing professional presentation of skills or results," Zheng said.

Wu Yanpeng, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily Website suggested watching the videos about the contesters on the official website.

"Through these video works, we can see their daily practice and creation process, and we can also feel the author's understanding and love for Chinese culture from his self-introduction, The art of calligraphy and painting is a ‘time and space art', and the creative process itself has a visual appreciation making it similar to dance. I hope they can share these videos to social media across the globe so that more people in the world can fall in love with Chinese culture." he said.