Haji Noor Deen, Master of Chinese
and Arabic Calligraphy

Date: Monday, May 7, 2012
Time: 4:00 - 5:30pm
Location: UC San Diego, IR/PS, Room 3201
Open to: Public

The Chinese and Arabic calligraphic traditions are often compared as the two of the world's finest manifestations of the written word, but never likened. Little known outside of China, the sini style of Chinese Islamic calligraphy bridges the two traditions.

With his energetic command of the sini script (literally "Chinese" in Arabic), Master Calligrapher Haji Noor Deen (Mi Guang Jiang) is almost single-handedly responsible for revitalizing the centuries-old art of Chinese Muslim calligraphy and bringing it to the attention of a contemporary international audience. In this artist’s talk, Haji Noor Deen will discuss the history and meaning of Islamic calligraphy in China and demonstrate various calligraphic styles.

Born in 1963 in Yucheng, Shandong Province, China, Haji Noor Deen has been a practitioner of calligraphy since he was 18. Schooled first in mosques in his homeland, and then for eight years in Egypt, Haji Noor Deen is both an artist and scholar who continues to study with the finest Islamic calligraphy masters world-wide and is a prominent teacher in his own right. He is versed in the traditions of both Chinese and Arabic calligraphy separately, as well as the specific heritage of sini calligraphy – an art form developed by the Hui Chinese Muslims that dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

In 1997 Haji Noor Deen was awarded the Certificate of Arabic Calligrapher in Egypt, becoming the first Chinese person to be honored with this prestigious award. In 2000 Noor Deen initiated and taught the first regular and systemic Arabic Calligraphy course at the Zhengzhou Islamic College in China, where he continues to profess today. He exhibits and lectures around the world in both secular and religious settings and has his work is in such prestigious collections as the British Museum, the San Francisco Asian Art Museum, the National Museum of Scotland, and the Harvard University Art Museum.
 

Registration is required for this event. Please register by clicking on the green "Register" button above.

For more information, please contact 21china@ucsd.edu

This event is co-sponsored by UC San Diego's Department of Literature and Chinese Studies Program.