Ambassadors from different countries will play a game of matching Chinese characters, titled “Chinese Characters – A Living Culture,” together with Chinese cultural scholar Yu Dan, which will be held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on Friday, Oct. 30.
The cultural event is co-hosted by the Beijing Institute of Culture Innovation and Communication, a research institute at Beijing Normal University, and Dongdao Design.
According to the Global Times, the event will be held to explore the possibility of creatively sustaining Chinese characters in a new context, especially by exploring the methods of showing the beauty and cultural connotation of Chinese characters by means of the art of design.
The report said that since Chinese characters are not only the carriers of a language but also embody the richness and sophistication of the Chinese culture, promoting the knowledge about Chinese characters is important to let other people know about the culture that embody the Chinese writing.
"Chinese Characters - A Living Culture" is part of the effort to advance and promote knowledge of Chinese characters among the international cultural elite by playing on the characters and making the whole thing interesting, the report added.
During the game, the ambassadors will create different characters as they will be given the chance to choose freely between different Chinese radicals, which will be paired with the radical character, and match them. Yu will then explain the meaning behind each character.
An exhibition will also be held to showcase the excellent design of Chinese characters written on scrolls to show the Chinese traditional cultural elements and the innovative development of the characters.
Young artists can also participate in a global Chinese character design competition that will also be announced during the event.
Sinologist Joel Bellassen and other scholars and designers are expected to attend the event.