A cultural feast centered on Chinese character art commenced in Russia on October 17. The Russian Exhibition of Award-winning Works from the "Future 'Character' Creators" 2025 Youth Chinese Character Digital and Intelligent Art Competition and the "One Character Makes You Fall in Love with China" Huxiang Culture Themed Exhibition were held simultaneously at the "Chinese Culture and Art Festival On the Shores of Baikal" in Irkutsk, Russia. Using characters as their medium, the two exhibitions added a vivid footnote to the civilizational dialogue of the Belt and Road Initiative. 

Exhibition venue of the Russian Exhibition of Award-winning Works from the "Future 'Character' Creators" 2025 Youth Chinese Character Digital Art Competition. 

Launched in March this year, the "Future 'Character' Creators" 2025 Youth Chinese Character Digital and Intelligent Art Competition has received over 500 entries from young artists across more than ten countries and regions including China, Russia, the United States, Germany, Spain, Yemen, and Madagascar. The submissions include categories such as Chinese character digital art and creative design, preserving the profound cultural heritage of Chinese characters while integrating contemporary spirit with youthful perspectives. These artists vividly showcase the power of youth in mutual learning among civilizations.

At the event, many participants shared their experiences through videos. A contestant from Madagascar won an award with his work titled "和平 (heping, peace in English)," stating, "The equality and harmony conveyed by the Chinese characters are a common aspiration transcending cultures." A Russian student remarked, "I discovered that the character '爱 (ai, love in English)' contains the character '心 (xin, heart in English)'. Chinese characters teach us that love is an action that comes from the heart."

Concurrently, the "One Character Makes You Fall in Love with China" Huxiang Culture Themed Exhibition centered on the concept of "Chinese Characters + Cities, " showcasing the picture book "Tales of Chinese Characters" and a series of original works of "Changsha: A City of Mountains, Rivers, and Islands." Song Dan, curator of the exhibition and director of Hunan Song Dan Chinese Character Art Museum, has deeply integrated Chinese character art with Changsha's regional culture. He used "mountain" to depict Yuelu's profound history, "water" to outline the Xiangjiang River's endless flow, "island" to portray the youthful spirit of Orange Isle, and "city" to narrate the bustling life of the star city. Each Chinese character serves as a "calling card" that Changsha presents to the world. Many Russian visitors lingered before the Chinese character "洲 (zhou, island in English)," where the flowing rivers expressed in the Chinese character seemed to connect Lake Baikal with the Xiangjiang River. The bustling urban life embodied in the character "城 (cheng, city in English)" allowed international friends to tangibly feel the warmth and soul of Changsha. 

Building upon Europe's first Chinese character art experience base that was established in 2019 through collaboration between the Song Dan Chinese Character Art Museum and the Irkutsk National Research Technical University, this thematic exhibition was entirely curated, installed, and guided by a multinational team of Gen Z volunteers from China, Russia, South Korea, and other countries. This initiative pioneered a new model of international communication: foreigners guiding foreigners through exhibitions, with foreigners sharing stories with foreigners.

The head of the International Exchange Center at the Song Dan Chinese Character Art Museum noted that the museum has established six overseas Chinese character art bases in countries including the United States, Russia, and Croatia, with three additional bases built domestically. Moving forward, the museum will continue to leverage Chinese characters as its “light cavalry” to promote more “Changsha-themed” Chinese character artworks to go global. This initiative aims not only to tell China's stories well through Chinese characters but also to vividly showcase the charm of Changsha.
 
As the organizer of the "Future 'Character' Creators" 2025 Youth Chinese Character Digital and Intelligent Art Competition, the Hunan Provincial Library of Juveniles and Children has always been committed to advancing international exchanges in youth reading and arts education. For this event, the Hunan Song Dan Chinese Character Art Museum and the Irkutsk National Research Technical University have partnered with multiple cultural institutions and universities to establish a collaborative exchange mechanism for resources sharing.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: Chinanews