Interview with Mr. Hui-yu Cheng
He always dresses in a suit, wears a pair of glasses, talks gently, and is polite and friendly. Mr. Hui-yu Cheng, working for Soil and Water Conservation Bureau, is the former president of NPH. He is 60 years old and looks as amiable as our own grandfather.
He always dresses in a suit, wears a pair of glasses, talks gently, and is polite and friendly. Mr. Hui-yu Cheng, working for Soil and Water Conservation Bureau, is the former president of NPH. He is 60 years old and looks as amiable as our own grandfather.
Growing Up In a Literary Family
Mr. Cheng recalls that his father worked for Taiwan Salt Industrial Corporation forty to fifty years ago. The plant manager of his father’s workplace Jiu-ying Chu was a master of Chinese calligraphy in Southern Taiwan. Mr. Cheng’s father was also a student of Mr. Chu and had a solid foundation of Chinese calligraphy. Taiwan Salt Industrial Corporation frequently held Chinese calligraphy competitions at the time. Both of his parents’ calligraphy skills were excellent, and they were his first teachers in Chinese calligraphy. Also, his mother was an elementary school teacher.
Mr. Cheng enjoys writing Chinese calligraphy. He received awards in many competitions when he was in fourth and fifth grades. However, his father thought that the highest priority for children should be academic work, so he had to practice calligraphy, secretly, before his father came home from work. In junior high and high school, urged by his strong interest, he voluntarily practiced hard and finally became the champion of a calligraphy competition.
The Road of Learning
When he went to Shih Hsin University, he became a student of Mr. Teng-long Hsieh, the famous Chinese calligraphy master in the country. Mr. Hsieh was the director general of Taiwan Children’s Calligraphy Education Association. Later, he became a student of Mr. Ping-nan Hsueh who was the advisor of Shih Hsin University Calligraphy Club. With the impact of these two role models, Mr. Hsieh and Mr. Hsueh, he dared not slack off on the road of calligraphic education.
Choice of Seal Script
Calligraphy is an art. It requires personal style in accordance with rules and norms. There are five fonts in Chinese scripts, such as seal, official, cursive, running, and regular script. For example, the copybooks of Yan Zhenching, Liu Gongquan, and Ouyang Xiu are basic norms of regular script for people to study. He chose to study seal script, and devoted his life to studying that script. He changed two pairs of glasses during the interview, since he hurt his eyes and vision in seal cutting. He eventually gave up seal cutting.
Important Position during School Days
He was the Chief of Shih Hsin University Calligraphy Club. The first club he participated in was Taiwan Children’s Calligraphy Education Association. He was the secretary of the director general in the club. He got to know many famous people of the calligraphic world today, and thoroughly experienced the rise and decline of calligraphic education.
Lunch at 2 A.M.
He worked in Taipei after graduating from University. Later, he became the chief editor of Eastern Publishing. The type printing was changed to computer typing in publishing industry during that period of time. Many excellent children’s books, recommended by Information Office of Executive Yuan, such as “Popular fiction for Chinese juniors”, were revised and published by him one after another. It was expensive living in Taipei, so he had to get a part-time job to teach calligraphy in Mandarin News, using lunch hour and after-work hours to pay for his house loan. Since he was very busy with making money, his first meal was normally at around 9 P.M., and could not eat his lunch until 2 or 3 A.M. He slept 4 hours a day, but no matter how tired he was, he could not give up on calligraphy. His persistency on calligraphy was obvious.
Do Not Put Too Much Weight on Academic Grade
The calligraphy competition in the 56th Taiwan Provincial Fine Arts Exhibition was the second national competition Mr. Cheng participated in. He produced his work without following the rules, and surprisingly won the Preference Prize. Later, he continued to participate in more calligraphy competitions, and almost won the prizes from all national competitions. He felt that the most important thing was to keep improving himself. He became a government employee later, so he needed to take 2 or 3 days off for a competition, since one calligraphic work require forty to fifty times of practices.
He has written calligraphy for more than 30 years, and quit smoking for more than 10 years. He used to smoke before writing calligraphy. When he became a government employee, he needed to take few days off in order to prepare for the competitions. He needed to practice forty to fifty times for one competition, and the physical strength requirement was a big burden, so he seldom participates in competitions now
The Expectation to “NPH”
Mr. Cheng talks about the development of calligraphy. People paid attention to rules during the Tang Dynasty, to the artistic conception in the Song Dynasty, and to personal thinking after the Qing Dynasty. NPH is a calligraphy club pursuing the styles of facing personal style, writing personal style, and showing personal aspect. Mr. Cheng hopes that NPH can drive the calligraphic atmosphere in Changhua County, and become a calligraphic model in 21st century.
The exhibition held by NPH in Changhua County Cultural Affairs Bureau was impressive. Everyone dressed in Chinese-style Tang suits, and wrote or painted on cloth and silk damask. The creation of decorating arts by calligraphic work was novel. Calligraphy was no longer a boring thing of writing inside a room.
The Life with a Dream Is the Most Beautiful Thing
Mr. Cheng has taught calligraphy for thirty years since he became the chief of the calligraphy club in Shih Hsin University. For pursuing personal freedom, he only reserves one class to teach grandchildren of good friends now. He dreams that he can make a speech in Shih Shin University by the standing of excellent alumni one day.
Mr. Cheng said: “Behavior is like using a writing brush. We only use one-third of our strength to write a word. We should always save room for others.” Calligraphy helps build character and is closely connected to life. A person who devotes oneself into calligraphy should be aware of self-culture and be welcomed by everyone.
Mr. Cheng recalls that his father worked for Taiwan Salt Industrial Corporation forty to fifty years ago. The plant manager of his father’s workplace Jiu-ying Chu was a master of Chinese calligraphy in Southern Taiwan. Mr. Cheng’s father was also a student of Mr. Chu and had a solid foundation of Chinese calligraphy. Taiwan Salt Industrial Corporation frequently held Chinese calligraphy competitions at the time. Both of his parents’ calligraphy skills were excellent, and they were his first teachers in Chinese calligraphy. Also, his mother was an elementary school teacher.
Mr. Cheng enjoys writing Chinese calligraphy. He received awards in many competitions when he was in fourth and fifth grades. However, his father thought that the highest priority for children should be academic work, so he had to practice calligraphy, secretly, before his father came home from work. In junior high and high school, urged by his strong interest, he voluntarily practiced hard and finally became the champion of a calligraphy competition.
The Road of Learning
When he went to Shih Hsin University, he became a student of Mr. Teng-long Hsieh, the famous Chinese calligraphy master in the country. Mr. Hsieh was the director general of Taiwan Children’s Calligraphy Education Association. Later, he became a student of Mr. Ping-nan Hsueh who was the advisor of Shih Hsin University Calligraphy Club. With the impact of these two role models, Mr. Hsieh and Mr. Hsueh, he dared not slack off on the road of calligraphic education.
Choice of Seal Script
Calligraphy is an art. It requires personal style in accordance with rules and norms. There are five fonts in Chinese scripts, such as seal, official, cursive, running, and regular script. For example, the copybooks of Yan Zhenching, Liu Gongquan, and Ouyang Xiu are basic norms of regular script for people to study. He chose to study seal script, and devoted his life to studying that script. He changed two pairs of glasses during the interview, since he hurt his eyes and vision in seal cutting. He eventually gave up seal cutting.
Important Position during School Days
He was the Chief of Shih Hsin University Calligraphy Club. The first club he participated in was Taiwan Children’s Calligraphy Education Association. He was the secretary of the director general in the club. He got to know many famous people of the calligraphic world today, and thoroughly experienced the rise and decline of calligraphic education.
Lunch at 2 A.M.
He worked in Taipei after graduating from University. Later, he became the chief editor of Eastern Publishing. The type printing was changed to computer typing in publishing industry during that period of time. Many excellent children’s books, recommended by Information Office of Executive Yuan, such as “Popular fiction for Chinese juniors”, were revised and published by him one after another. It was expensive living in Taipei, so he had to get a part-time job to teach calligraphy in Mandarin News, using lunch hour and after-work hours to pay for his house loan. Since he was very busy with making money, his first meal was normally at around 9 P.M., and could not eat his lunch until 2 or 3 A.M. He slept 4 hours a day, but no matter how tired he was, he could not give up on calligraphy. His persistency on calligraphy was obvious.
Do Not Put Too Much Weight on Academic Grade
The calligraphy competition in the 56th Taiwan Provincial Fine Arts Exhibition was the second national competition Mr. Cheng participated in. He produced his work without following the rules, and surprisingly won the Preference Prize. Later, he continued to participate in more calligraphy competitions, and almost won the prizes from all national competitions. He felt that the most important thing was to keep improving himself. He became a government employee later, so he needed to take 2 or 3 days off for a competition, since one calligraphic work require forty to fifty times of practices.
He has written calligraphy for more than 30 years, and quit smoking for more than 10 years. He used to smoke before writing calligraphy. When he became a government employee, he needed to take few days off in order to prepare for the competitions. He needed to practice forty to fifty times for one competition, and the physical strength requirement was a big burden, so he seldom participates in competitions now
The Expectation to “NPH”
Mr. Cheng talks about the development of calligraphy. People paid attention to rules during the Tang Dynasty, to the artistic conception in the Song Dynasty, and to personal thinking after the Qing Dynasty. NPH is a calligraphy club pursuing the styles of facing personal style, writing personal style, and showing personal aspect. Mr. Cheng hopes that NPH can drive the calligraphic atmosphere in Changhua County, and become a calligraphic model in 21st century.
The exhibition held by NPH in Changhua County Cultural Affairs Bureau was impressive. Everyone dressed in Chinese-style Tang suits, and wrote or painted on cloth and silk damask. The creation of decorating arts by calligraphic work was novel. Calligraphy was no longer a boring thing of writing inside a room.
The Life with a Dream Is the Most Beautiful Thing
Mr. Cheng has taught calligraphy for thirty years since he became the chief of the calligraphy club in Shih Hsin University. For pursuing personal freedom, he only reserves one class to teach grandchildren of good friends now. He dreams that he can make a speech in Shih Shin University by the standing of excellent alumni one day.
Mr. Cheng said: “Behavior is like using a writing brush. We only use one-third of our strength to write a word. We should always save room for others.” Calligraphy helps build character and is closely connected to life. A person who devotes oneself into calligraphy should be aware of self-culture and be welcomed by everyone.