The opening of a two-day conference on Chinese calligraphy and its place in our modern life was held at the lecture hall of the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall (NTDMH) on Dec/2. It was organized by Calligraphy Laboratory and the Department of Chinese to promote theories and practices of Calligraphy. Conference presenters and participants included over 50 calligraphy artists from Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. The first day program was held at NTDMH, whereas the venue for that of the second day was at the Ching Sheng International Conference Hall at Tamkang.

On the first day, a presentation was delivered on the current development of calligraphy in Japan by an eminent Japanese scholar, Kayahara. Professor Okazaki from Waseda University provided instantaneous interpretation, while Chao Yaly, the Dean of TKU College of Liberal Arts moderated the ensuing discussion.

There were more presentations on the second day given and hosted by several professors from the Department of Chinese. There was also a special presentation on the E-pen software program developed by Calligraphy Laboratory, delivered by Chen Chun-wen, a lecturer from the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering. ( ~Ying-hsueh Hu )