For too long, the story of Chinese calligraphy has featured emperors, scholars, and monks—all male. Where were the women? 

This was the central question at the April 4 “Writing and Women Calligraphers in East Asia” workshop convened by Professor Cheng-hua Wang and Hui-wen Lu *03, visiting professor from the Graduate Institute of Art History, National Taiwan University. 

Situating women in the practice of calligraphy goes well beyond identifying their names and works; it requires investigating engendered hierarchies of labor and cultural value and rethinking the very framework through which calligraphy is studied. In four panels that filled the day, participants of the workshop did just that. “Calligraphy inscribes meaning into form,” said Lu. “We are reshaping the field itself when we uncover women figures within it.” 

“Calligraphy inscribes meaning into form. We are reshaping the field itself when we uncover women figures within it.” 

—Professor Hui-Wen Lu

In addition to the invited attendees who filled the lecture hall, approximately 100 participants joined via Zoom.

Sponsored by the Department of Art & Archaeology, the East Asian Studies Program, and the Tang Center for East Asian Art, the conference spanned East Asia in scope, including China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. “Especially meaningful for me,” said Wang, “is that Taiwan, where Professor Lu and I come from, appears on the map of studies on calligraphy.”

As part of a panel titled “Contemporary Practices” moderated by Princeton University Art Museum curator Zoe S. Kwok *13, Lu introduced the work of a new generation of women calligraphers in her presentation “Walking Their Own Paths: Women Calligraphers in Contemporary Taiwan and Beyond.” This group of calligraphy innovators are “inscribing not just characters, but also voice,” said Lu. 

“What impressed me most about the workshop was the introduction to the works of contemporary artists and the intersectional issues surrounding women and writing,” said Wang. “The predominantly male tradition of writing in pre-modern China has been transformed, challenged, or even discarded by these practitioners,” she said. 

“What impressed me most about the workshop was the introduction to the works of contemporary artists and the intersectional issues surrounding women and writing. The predominantly male tradition of writing in pre-modern China has been transformed, challenged, or even discarded by these practitioners.” 

— Professor Cheng-hua Wang

Artist Tomoko Kawao, for example, develops calligraphic characters specific to women she interviews, whereas Shirin Neshat uses Persian calligraphy as a form of resistance. Lu also cited Peng Wei, who visited Princeton in 2023 to demonstrate her brushstroke techniques, and Cui Fei, who took to the podium after Lu. 

In her presentation “Nature and Calligraphy,” Cui showed five series of her work, all entwining nature with calligraphy. Though nature had always been a central theme of her work, moving to the U.S. made clear to Cui how influential the ancient Chinese concept of nature had been in forming her worldview. She sees this ancient view as carrying universal significance and contemporary value. In the original series, Manuscript of Nature, Cui used natural materials such as leaves, tendrils, and thorns to draft a symbolic message from nature. 

Her Tracing the Origin series features grape tendrils that represent the forms of Chinese characters. “The tendrils sometimes cannot be easily identified in the finished work, symbolizing how Chinese written characters have become detached from their origin,” her website explains. “My intent is to use these transformations to reflect our relationship with nature, which has also become increasingly detached.” 

The Passage of Time series depicts Cui’s personal history, accounted for by thorns, which each represent a day in her life. Cui used seeds in a nine-page book to reproduce the ancient text of the Tao Te Ching for a series by the same name, “suggesting that this ancient wisdom, like seeds, can bring new possibilities for healing to our broken relationship with nature and with each other.” 

Finally, the Vermicular Calligraphy series again produce the impression of Chinese calligraphy, but this time through the actions of nature herself, as in tree trunks inscribed by beetles.

Wang characterized Cui’s work as pushing the boundaries of writing and problematizing the issue of gender. “Her presence enlivened the event and made it even more relevant to contemporary conversations, with her presentation beautifully complementing the scholarly papers,” Lu agreed. 

In addition, A&A Professor of Japanese Art Rachel Saunders moderated the panel “Writing and Mediums,” with presenters Melissa McCormick *00 (Harvard University) and Aida Yuen Wong (Brandeis University). Presenters also included Amy McNair (University of Kansas) and Hui-shu Lee (University of California, Los Angeles) as part of a panel titled “Shifting Perspectives,” and Princeton East Asian Studies Professor Ksenia Chizhova and Doris Sung (University of Alabama) on the panel “Nation Building and Cultural Diplomacy.”

“I was able to see how every paper explored and reframed calligraphy through an interdisciplinary lens,” said A&A graduate student Shing-Kwan Chan.  “Just as rewarding were the informal conversations that spilled into the corridors and meal breaks, where I met speakers and fellow participants whose insights deepened the day’s formal discussions.”

“The Princeton School”

Over the spring semester, Lu and Wang have been co-teaching the seminar ART 525 “Seminar on Chinese Calligraphy,” which examines the studies of Chinese calligraphic paradigms, focusing on the period from the 7th to the 14th centuries. Offering a course on calligraphy was an obvious choice for Wang, as was the ideal instructor to co-teach it with her.  “As someone who specializes in Chinese painting and prints, it made perfect sense for me to partner with a specialist in Chinese calligraphy,” said Wang. “Professor Lu’s name naturally came to mind—second to none.” This was a welcome opportunity for Lu, who, having earned her Ph.D. from Princeton’s art & archaeology department in 2003, looked forward to returning to her alma mater as the teacher. “In fact,” she said, “this was one of the very first seminars I took with Professor Wen C. Fong when I was a Ph.D. student here in the late 1990s.”  

“Princeton is not only a pioneer in the teaching of advanced courses on Chinese calligraphy in the English-speaking academic world, but it also houses an outstanding collection of Chinese calligraphy.” 

— Professor Cheng-hua Wang

As a Ph.D. student, Lu’s first presentation at a major conference was at Princeton’s last convening on the topic of calligraphy, “Character and Context in Chinese Calligraphy,” held in 1999. As she opened this year’s workshop, Wang noted the preeminent role Princeton has played in elevating the study of calligraphy.  “The number of universities in the U.S. that have offered courses on the history of Chinese calligraphy could be counted on one hand,” she said. “Princeton is not only a pioneer in the teaching of advanced courses on Chinese calligraphy in the English-speaking academic world, but it also houses an outstanding collection of Chinese calligraphy.”  Princeton and the Metropolitan Museum of Art hold the two best calligraphy collections outside of China, Japan, and Taiwan. 

Just as important, she explained, was Princeton’s cultivation of the lineage of Chinese calligraphy scholars.  On all counts, credit can be traced back to the late Professor Wen C. Fong, who earned his doctorate from Princeton’s Department of Art & Archaeology in 1958 and taught in the department until his retirement in 1999.  Poignantly, Lu was his last student. 

“Professor Fong was a towering figure in the field of Chinese art, and he played a pivotal role in developing the study of Chinese calligraphy in the West,” said Lu. During his tenure, he helped establish at Princeton the nation’s first Ph.D. program in Chinese art and archaeology and defined the foundational vocabulary and methods of scholarly analysis for calligraphy history, firmly positioning calligraphy at the core of Chinese literati art. 

Today, Princeton graduates and their students constitute an impressive group of faculty teaching East Asian art history in the United States. Several other members of Princeton’s cross-generational cohort were in attendance at the conference, including: Executive Director of the Tang Center for East Asian Art Dora Ching *11, Nancy and Peter Lee Curator of Asian Art at the Princeton University Art Museum Zoe Kwok *13, retired Nancy and Peter Lee Curator of Asian Art Cary Liu ’78 *97, Professor of Japanese Art and Culture at Harvard University Melissa McCormick *00, Alfreda Murck *95, Curator of Chinese Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Jason Zhixin Sun *96, P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Professor Emeritus of Chinese and Japanese Art Andrew Watsky *94, and Luther W. Brady Curator of Japanese Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Xiaojin Wu *11. Connie Fong, wife of the late Professor Fong and an avid art lover herself, was also in attendance. 

“It can be said that the ‘Princeton school’ pioneered a modern, art-historical approach to the study of Chinese calligraphy,” said Lu. “I am very proud to be part of that lineage and deeply honored to have been invited back to Princeton to help train the next generation of scholars.” 

The emerging generation of scholars, A&A graduate students Shing-Kwan Chan, Josephine O’Neil, and Yuchen Wang, helped facilitate the conference.   “I felt genuinely privileged to witness—and play a small supporting role as the session timekeeper—in this next chapter of its legacy,” said Chan.

“I'm very glad to see that the younger generation of students is not only interested in the study of Chinese calligraphy, but is also approaching it through cross-cultural, cross-media, and interdisciplinary perspectives, making the field more exciting and dynamic than ever before,” Said Lu. “I hope that my brief return will leave a meaningful and lasting impact.”