— Professor Li Shoukui’s Dialogue on Chinese Characters with Young Scholars at Wuhan Institute of Technology
(By: Liu Xiaoyu, Wu Qian, Zhou Qianqian, Tao Min, Chen Kuixiang, Li Qi)On March 11, Professor Li Shoukui, President of the Chinese Society for the Study of Chinese Characters and a scholar from Tsinghua University, visited Wuhan Institute of Technology.
On that day, the Turing Lecture Hall was packed to capacity. The 3301 Smart Classroom was filled with the aroma of tea, and the 308 meeting room of the Faculty of Arts buzzed with intellectual exchanges. Young minds gathered for a heartfelt encounter with Chinese characters spanning three millennia.
“Oracle bone inscriptions are part of my hometown heritage”
By 7:30 a.m., a queue had formed outside the Turing Academic Lecture Hall. The first 150 students in attendance received souvenirs featuring ancient Chinese characters, designed by the team working on the NSSFC: China Academic Translation Project – Deciphering Ancient Chinese Characters: Introduction to Reconstruction.
Before the lecture, Professor Li shared a small anecdote. The previous evening, Professors Zhang Yanmei and Chen Lizhu had taken him to Chucai Garden on Moshan by East Lake. There stand 12 stone pillars carved with texts from the Warring States-period Chu silk manuscripts, a field Professor Li has researched for decades. He joked: “The two professors hurried me there. Their goal was not to admire the blossoms, but to see those cultural stone pillars.”
The lecture then began. Starting with the fundamental question “What are Chinese characters?”, Professor Li led faculty and students through the 3,000-year evolution of the script. Drawing specific examples from oracle bone and bronze inscriptions, he illustrated how the writing system shifted from pictorial depictions to abstract symbols. “Every simplification was a choice,” Professor Li noted. “Chinese characters were not designed by a single authority; they were selected over three thousand years of constant use.”
He unpacked nine defining features of Chinese characters: the identity of characters and words, enduring stability, phonetic alternation, and their function as a shared written language, among others. He emphasized that Chinese writing is the only surviving classical logographic system among the world’s three great ancient writing traditions. Its ability to transcend regional dialects and function across time helped Chinese civilization overcome geographic and temporal divides, shaping the historic tendency toward unity after division. “Chinese characters carry not just language, but the logic and philosophy of Chinese culture.” Citing Rao Zongyi, he explained that the interconnected triad of writing, literature, and calligraphy represents one of Chinese civilization’s most compelling charms.
During the Q&A session, a student from Anyang in Henan Province rose to speak: “I am from Anyang, where oracle bone inscriptions were first discovered. Learning about oracle bone script systematically in class fills me with immense pride.” The audience broke into applause. Professor Li smiled and replied: “Curiosity is the finest teacher. It warms my heart to see this pride in you.”
“I cannot truly write”
After the lecture, Professor Li visited the 3301 Smart Classroom, where the mini-exhibition Your Works, Our Studies, showcasing his publications, was underway.
Students at the tea station had prepared tea in advance. Four small teacups bore the characters for 知足 (contentment), 舍得 (letting go), 静心 (calmness), and 自在 (freedom). These phrases echo the spirit of tea ceremony, quiet reminders visible with every sip. Later, students added 平安 (peace), forming a set of five cups they named the “Five Blessings Cups”. Nearby stood another set of tea bowls carved with auspicious characters interpreted in Professor Li’s works — 福 (blessing), 家 (home), 美 (beauty), 好 (goodness). Every oracle bone script, bronze inscription, and bamboo-slip script was carefully verified and cross-referenced, with a tiny seal reading 古文字 (ancient Chinese characters) etched beside each bowl.
As she poured tea, student Wang Wei explained: “Professor Li writes that the beauty of Chinese characters, like tea, requires slow appreciation. We hoped visitors could glimpse three thousand years of Chinese writing in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.”
Thirty-plus mouse pads lined the exhibition space, each printed with quotes from Professor Li’s books paired with oracle bone, bronze and small seal characters, marked with source references: Twelve Lectures on the Interpretation of Chinese Characters, Lecture 7; One Hundred and Fifty Explanations of Chinese Characters, Lecture 84; Why Chinese Characters Are Beautiful, Lecture 25, and more. Student Wu Jicong handed Professor Li one pad bearing the line: “A person ought to stand firm and upright, just like the character 人 (person).”
Then came the presentations. Ms. Liu Chan shared progress on a French translation project; Liu Xiaoyu recounted her journey “from admiration to practice” in Chinese characters, introducing a custom seal engraved with 高山仰止 (standing in awe of great virtue) as a personal reminder of her academic pursuit. Yang Zhouxuan displayed calligraphy of ancient scripts; Wu Jicong explored the etymology of 飨 (feast) and 卿 (minister). Pang Yangyang presented English-Chinese translation practice, while Zhou Qianqian reported research on commonly used Chinese characters. Each presentation grew out of students’ close reading of Professor Li’s books and hands-on creative work.
The entire cohort of 2024 International Chinese Education students presented the outcomes of their original textbook project, Ancient Chinese Characters Powering Direct Character-Word-Sentence Learning, developed with faculty. Each student delivered a one-minute talk on how a single character can serve as the first lesson for overseas learners of Chinese. Seated in the front row, Professor Li listened carefully to every speaker and offered thoughtful feedback and encouragement.
At the mid-session tea break, students gathered around Professor Li to ask for autographs. He took their notebooks and wrote inscriptions one by one. When a student handed him a scroll, he put brush to paper and penned five characters:
“I cannot truly write.”
Many in the room were stunned. Here was a scholar who had devoted his life to Chinese characters, interpreting ancient scripts for countless audiences and safeguarding this cultural heritage—yet his brush bore this humble phrase. The deepest reverence for writing, it turned out, is not to enshrine it on a pedestal, but to stay grounded and humble, always aware of how much remains to be learned.
From the Study to the Field
In the afternoon panel discussion, postgraduate students from the 2023, 2024 and 2025 cohorts of English Translation — Niu Mengjie, Lu Jiao, Xiao Siguo, Yao Yihe, Li Qi and Chen Kuixiang — shared their translation practice and reflections. Li Qi’s presentation, titled One Character, One Passage, One Person, explored his reading of Professor Li’s works and depicted the scholar as modest, gentle, and with bright eyes behind the lectern.
Chen Kuixiang, a postgraduate student in English Translation, began taking the course Chinese Language and Culture with Professor Zhang last autumn. She wrote in her assignment: “At the very first class, I wondered: Can these characters really be so fascinating to spark such passion in our professor?” Half a year later, she writes seal script, creates ancient-script-themed “imperial passport” booklets, and lingers for long hours before the Warring States bamboo slip exhibits at the Hubei Provincial Museum. She posted on her social media: “Today’s academic star-chasing mission, completed.”
Another student reflected in her sharing: “Without this course, I might never have known that the oracle bone form of 人 (human being) depicts a human standing upright, distinguishing humanity from beasts. Two figures walking one behind another form 从 (follow); two figures standing back to back form 北 (back). These are not merely changes in character shapes; they are like glimpses of human comings and goings through the world.”
After the event, one student commented: “I attended all three sessions and did not feel tired at all.”
The Next Link in Cultural Inheritance
Before leaving Wuhan the next day, Professor Li visited the Hubei Provincial Museum, where he took a photograph in front of the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips, texts he had helped collate and decipher.
From the Chu silk manuscript stone pillars by East Lake, to the Warring States bamboo slips preserved in the provincial museum; from the cross-millennia academic dialogue in the lecture hall, to the ancient-script mouse pads and Five Blessings Cups crafted by young learners in the smart classroom. This rendezvous with Chinese characters makes plain that cultural inheritance is no empty slogan.
It lives in every poster that students carried to set up the pop-up exhibition early in the morning, every carefully polished slide deck, that humble brush inscription “I cannot truly write”, and the spark of light lighting up so many pairs of eyes as they listened to stories of Chinese characters.
As Professor Li observed in his lecture: “Chinese characters are the genetic code of Chinese civilization. Passing them on and innovating upon them is our generation’s duty.” This responsibility is moving from private studies to public engagement, from mentors to students, from the incised marks on oracle bones three thousand years ago to the warmth along the rim of teacups today.
That young lady in the lecture hall who said “Oracle bone inscriptions are part of my hometown heritage”, the graduate student who received Professor Li’s autograph, the volunteers at the tea station pouring cup after cup — they may not realize it yet. Still, each has become a small yet steadfast link in the chain of Chinese cultural inheritance.
Chinese characters have traveled across millennia. From incisions on oracle bones to the strokes we write today. They have never grown old, nor have they stopped their journey.
Will you become the next link?
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