Master stroke

Prof Tan Siah Kwee
Arts
BA / Class of 1972
Institute of Education
Dip Ed / Class of 1973
National Institute of Education
Further Professional Dip Ed / Class of 1995
Nanyang Distinguished Alumni Award 2020

A national Chinese calligraphy competition held early last year drew more than 600 participants – an encouraging number for a relatively esoteric art form.

According to Prof Tan Siah Kwee of the Chinese Calligraphy Society of Singapore, the Chinese calligraphy scene in Singapore was not quite this lively in the 1970s. Back then, it was a challenge to even find the right brushes to write with.

He had set up the Society in 1968 when China was still closed off from the rest of the world. It was a struggle to keep interest in the art alive, he says, adding that he was uncertain about whether Chinese calligraphy would have a future here.

So in an effort to keep the art form alive in Singapore, Prof Tan and the Society members decided to reach out to artists in places that had a strong calligraphy presence such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia. “At the time, the first thing we needed to do was to get people to not hate calligraphy,” he recalls.

He pressed on, and it is thanks to him that we now have the International Centre for Chinese Calligraphy, the Singapore Calligraphy Centre, and the Singapore Senior Citizen Calligraphy University Centre – the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.

Born in Guangdong, China, Prof Tan moved to Singapore in the 1950s, where his interest in the language and literature of his homeland led him to a career in education. “Kids back then did not like studying Chinese because it was difficult and English was the mainstream,” he says.

Prof Tan was named among the “22 Most Inspiring Chinese Teachers” by Lianhe Zaobao in 2000. When he retired from the service in 2004, he committed fully to the call of the brush.

His efforts to promote Chinese calligraphy have even reached as far as France, where he received the 2002 Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award. And in 2014, Prof Tan became the first Singaporean to receive the Brilliance of China: Choice for Chinese Culture Promoter of the Year Award from CCTV and the China Ministry of Culture.

Today, Prof Tan is thrilled to see people of all ages becoming interested in his beloved craft and is most eager for parents to encourage this hobby in their children. “We don’t teach Chinese poems or classical Chinese in school anymore, so learning calligraphy is a good way to get familiar with them."

It also comes down to having the right guidance. “I learned calligraphy in primary and secondary school for a total of 12 years, but I didn’t write very well at the time! That is why teachers are important. They keep encouraging us.”

Click here to read about other Nanyang Alumni Award recipients.

This article first appeared in the first issue of U, the NTU alumni magazine.