Professor Fan Yuzhou, a renowned Chinese calligrapher and world-leading authority on ancient Chinese history and cultures  visited Macquarie last week from Nanjing University to discuss staff and student exchange, joint publication, research and online learning opportunities.

Dr Shirley Chan, Head of Chinese Studies from the Department of International Studies said the Department was delighted to have such an influential Chinese scholar visit the University and hoped the visit provided the groundwork for future collaboration and engagement with Nanjing.

“Nanjing University is one of China’s leading universities and Professor Fan’s expertise in ancient Chinese culture and texts is well matched to our research interests in ancient Chinese culture,” said Dr Chan. “His visit is timely given we will host an international conference on Ancient Philosophy and Ancient Chinese texts later this.”

Professor Fan said he was excited to learn about our Chinese Studies program and hopes Macquarie will become a strong research platform in ancient Chinese culture and art.

“I have had the opportunity to pursue ideas with Dr Chan and hope we can jointly look at future projects such as comparative studies on ancient civilizations in the East and West and assist Macquarie to establish its own collection of Chinese art,” said Professor Fan.

During his visit Professor Fan presented the Vice-Chancellor Professor S Bruce Dowton with three pieces of his calligraphic work written in ancient Chinese text, and took the opportunity to meet with Chinese Studies students to demonstrate his mastery of calligraphy.

“The students were delighted to observe Professor Fan’s elegant work,” said Dr Chan. “In order to continue to inspire our students, Professor Fan is planning to hold an exhibition of Chinese calligraphy on campus in the future.”

Learn more about Chinese Studies at Macquarie.