Sunday, May 19, 2024

Taipei Calligraphy and Qin Gathering

Sunday, May 5th, 2024, was the first Sunday of my Taipei trip this year. My husband and I went to Master Yuan Jung Ping's place in downtown Taipei for a calligraphy class. Prior to this day, I had been taking the calligraphy class online. It felt really good to see Master Yuan and old and new friends in person.

This day was the third class of practicing the "Song Gao Ling Miao Bei" (嵩高靈廟碑). I brought my homework, which I had done at the Yanj Jiu Yuan hotel, to the class so Master Yuan could see the actual calligraphy works instead of photos. In the class, my classmates included 雲禎, 麗如, 小安, 素芳, and 麗文.

After the calligraphy class, we ordered delivery pizza, followed by a qin yaji. I played "Shen Ren Chang" (神人暢), "Shi Shang Liu Quan" (石上流泉), and "Ping Sha Luo Yan" (平沙落雁). Master Yuan played "Yu Ge" (漁歌). We had some discussions on fingering techniques, such as the directions of Nao vibratos, the extent of zhuang and big zhuang movements, and sliding techniques.

That evening, we went to a Sichuan restaurant where the food was very spicy, and followed it with Dohua (豆花) dessert. What a day!

After the day, I wrote:

凡是為人 必有局限
參差路道 殊途同歸
似是而非 似非實是
瀟瀟灑灑 自自在在
琴書養生 心無所爭



Master Yuan gave me a set of four Guqin CDs. I feel very blessed that he also gave me a very nice calligraphy brush named '梅花三弄,' which is made of goat hair.



On Wednesday, May 8th, Master Yuan took us to his Yang Ming Mountain retreat, the Bu Zai Dao Yuan (不在道院). This was my first visit there.

在不在道院
練嵩高靈廟
臨中道人之


與袁老師一起練習吸收陽氣


謝謝小安拍照
謝謝小安拍照



不在道院的清明琴齋
袁老師監製的古琴都很不錯。
The guqin supervised by Master Yuan at Qingming Qinzhai in Bu Zai Dao Yuan are all very good.

On the second-to-last day, Xiao An (袁安瑞) invited us to their apartment for tea. Their apartment was adorned with calligraphy by Xiao An and Master Yuan, creating a very elegant interior décor.



The intricate and delicate Chinese characters of 壽 (longevity), embroidered by a 21-year-old Russian girl named Xiaohai 小海 (袁海瑞) who is also learning calligraphy with Master Yuan, are truly admirable.