28 September 2012 (Day 23):

For my readers’ information, my Chinese name is Ye Xinyi, 叶心怡. Translated, it literally means “Leaf Heart Happy”.

During this trip, many people have told me that it is a very nice name. I never really thought about how nice it was until today, where I saw it as a really pretty name for the first time. Why do I say that? Well, let’s just say it had something to do with today’s IS (Interdisciplinary Studies) lesson.

The lesson was on Chinese Knots and Artistic Design of Chinese Characters, and was conducted by the same Professor who taught us how to do paper cutting (on Day 13).

For the 1^st hour of the lesson or so, he taught us how to do a simple traditional knot. When completed the loop of the knot can be worn on the wrist or around the neck, depending on how large you adjusted the loop to be.
 

Tie 2 dead knots like this…

 

 

 

Pull the inner loop of each knot through the area where the string of the opposite knot overlaps (See diagram below) 

 Pull hard and you’re done!

 

After observing the knot, I think that by repeating the knot a second time and tying a few dead knots can form a dragonfly. I have yet to experiment with this theory but I’m sure that it is possible because I have a keychain back home that uses similar knots to this.
 

If I shorten the loop at the top, push the 2 knots closer together and add a few dead knots at the loose ends, I’m sure it’ll look like a dragonfly.

 

Due to time constraints, the Professor was unable to teach us anymore knots and proceeded to show us how he designed Chinese characters. However, before he could start, he required 3 students’ names. Among us students who had eagerly raised our hands to be a part of this activity, Mr Wong (our Aicraft Propulsion Systems lecturer) chose Vannessa, Yi Heng and me.

We wrote our names on the blackboard and promptly went back to our seats. Admittingly, my name looks the simplest to write and I did wonder how he was going to do mine.

 

Clockwise from top: My name, Yi Heng’s name and Vannessa’s name

 

The Professor chose my name first and began painting with on 1 of the 3 scrolls that he had stuck on the blackboard. With deliberate and careful strokes, he painted out ye (叶) first and took a fine tipped brush to draw in the finer details, such as the butterfly’s antennae. He proceeded with the same steps for the next 2 characters in my name.

Once mine was completed, he painted out Vannessa’s name as well as Yi Heng’s. Among our 3 names, I was the only one to have a goldfish painted within my name. As such, I feel quite proud of my name. For the 1^st time, my Chinese name looks so nice and colourful. And the birds, butterfly and goldfish on it are so sweet.
 

Our completed names
(From the top: My name, Vannessa's name and Yi Heng's name)

 

The last activity the Professor did was to paint a scroll for Ngee Ann Polytechnic, as a gift from Tianjin University of Technology. Mr Wong accepted the painting from the Professor and a lot of us took photos of all the paintings.
 

Mr Wong and the Professor posing with the completed scroll for Ngee Ann Polytechnic

 

It takes skill to write Chinese characters out in calligraphy. But it takes an extra flair of creativity to make Chinese characters look fancy (yet legible) at the same time. Perhaps one day… if I do master in the art of using the Calligraphy brush, I will artistically write all Chinese characters just as the Professor did. But if I don’t master the Calligraphy brush, then I’ll settle with acrylic paint and normal brushes instead.

Take care, dear reader, and thanks for reading!
 

Best regards,
Marianne