2023 한국-홍콩 서예 교류전 (Science and Art)

한국의 신라 왕조는 중국의 당나라와 깊은 관계를 맺었다. 당시 많은 한국 유학생들이 중국으로 유학을 떠났는데, 그 중 가장 유명한 유학생은 최치원이다. 최치원은 거의 18년 동안 중국에 머물렀으며 중국 양저우에서 4년간 군사 및 정치 행정 업무를 처리했다. 동아시아의 많은 역사적 문헌과 비석에는 그의 문학 작품과 중국에서의 발자취에 대한 기록이 남아 있다.

2023 한국-홍콩 서예 교류전은 ‘캘리그라피 커넥션 프로젝트’에서 시작되었다. 이번 전시는 저명한 학자들과 다양한 학과를 전공하는 학생들을 초청해 그들이 최치원 관련 한국문집과 석비에서 영감을 받아 제작한 서예 작품을 전시한다. 학생들의 작품 대부분은 지명을 포함해 최치원이 중국에서 남긴 발자취를 표현했다.

또한 이번 전시회에서는 홍콩성시대학교가 주최한 시의 번역상에서 수상한 번역 작품도 전시될 예정이다. 올해 번역상의 주제는 최치원의 시였고, 홍콩성시대학교의 학생과 중-고등학생들이 번역상에 참여했다. 영문 번역을 통해 언어의 경계를 넘어 더 많은 사람들이 최치원의 시 속에 담긴 생각과 감정을 이해할 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

최치원의 문학은 비석에 기록되어 있는데, 그 중 국보로 지정되어 있는 비석도 있다. 한 학생은 고전 한문으로 쓰여진 최치원의 문학 작품을 현대 한문으로 번역하고, 다른 학생은 풍화되어 훼손된 비석의 서체를 재현하는 시도를 했다.

이번 전시회를 통해 최치원의 지혜를 현대사회에 되새기고, 한국과 중국이 1000년 넘게 이어온 인문학 교류를 이어갈 수 있는 것으로 기대된다.

The Silla Kingdom of Korea had long enjoyed close ties with the Tang dynasty of China. Many Korean students studied abroad in China at that time and the most celebrated one was Choe Chiwon. He stayed in China for almost 18 years and was dispatched to Yang Zhou in China to assist in military and political administration for four years. Many historical East Asian texts and stone steles still have records of his literary works and footprints in China.

“Science and Art Calligraphy Exhibition 2023” originates from the Calligraphy Connections Project. This exhibition invites renowned scholars and students from different disciplines to create calligraphy artworks works which are inspired by the rarely used Collection of Korean Anthologies (which are now archived in the Library of the City University of Hong Kong) and stone steles about Choe Chi-won. Most students’ calligraphy artworks were chosen to reflect Choe Chiwon’s footprints in China and Korea.

In addition, this exhibition will showcase the award-winning translation works of the JC Poetic Translation Awards 2023 which was organized by the Department of Linguistics and Translation, City University of Hong Kong. The poem for translation awards this year is authored by Choe Chi-won and attracted many students from the City University of Hong Kong and secondary school students in Hong Kong to participate. It is hoped that the translation works will transcend the language boundaries so that more audiences can appreciate the beauty of ancient Korean poems. Bo Mu from the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (City University of Hong Kong) has taken a step further and applied text-mining techniques to visualize the differences between poems authored by Choe Chi-won (from Korea) and Li Bai (from China). He finds that Choe Chiwon’s poems are mainly themed on “鄉” (Hometown) and “雲” (Cloud). This is not surprising given that Choe Chiwon left his hometown for China for many years and his literary name was “孤雲” (Lonely Cloud; Hanguel: 고운). Li Bai’s poems, on the other hand, are themed on “我” (myself). A more detailed explanation will be provided in the exhibition.

Choe Chiwon’s literature was also recorded on stone steles, such as the Epitaph of the Monument for Esteemed Priest Jingam at Ssanggyesa Temple (National Treasure No. 47; Accession Number of National Museum of Korea - Bongwan 590). This stone stele was carved for Master Jingam (773-850) who died at Ssanggyesa Temple. King Munseong of Silla ordered the establishment of this stele and bestowed a name for it. The stele is presumed to have been erected in 887, and its epitaph, which was composed by Choe Chi-won, introduces the achievements of Master Jingam. Eleanor Guo from the Department of Linguistics and Translation (City University of Hong Kong) has tried translating selected paragraphs of the epitaph (in Classical Chinese) into modern Chinese so that people nowadays can understand. Richard Wong has also attempted to mimic the calligraphy on the stone stele, so that it may become easier for the audience to appreciate ancient Korean scholar’s calligraphy in ink.

It is hoped that the community can reflect on the wisdom brought by Choe Chiwon in modern society and Korean and Chinese can continue the humanities exchange which has been going on for more than 1000 years.