Chunlei Lu, Brock University professor

Dean of Confucius Institute of Brock University

 

The Art of Mr. Dichen Zhang and Chinese-Western Cultures

 

It was just a few years ago that I heard that the eminent Chinese painter, Mr. Dichen Zhang had moved to our Niagara Region in Canada, home to the world famous Niagara Falls.  I immediately realized that his coming was to our great fortune because his presence here would surely help promote the cultural exchange between Canada and China.  I soon thereafter got in touch with his family and went to see his Gallery.  I started to acquaint myself with his works and got to know the artist on a more personal level.  Not long after I developed a strong friendship with him.  And, our two families have become quite close.  He and I discovered that we hold similar views on life and living, the arts, and the relationship between Chinese and Western culture.

Since the early-1980s, Mr. Zhang has made many outstanding contributions to the promotion of Chinese culture.  His artistic works have been extensively exhibited and added to collections throughout the world, including in Austria, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan and England.  Albums of his works have been published in China and Canada, and distributed world-wide.  He has generously donated art works to raise funds for victims of earthquakes in China.  His paintings have also been given to many government agencies, civil organizations and community groups.  His students include people of various nationalities living in several countries.  Recently, Mr. Zhang participated in the Niagara Folk Arts Festival which is one of Canada’s largest multi-cultural events.  At the festival, he did a live demonstration of Chinese writing which was projected on a large screen to allow hundreds of people of diverse backgrounds to come to appreciate the art of Chinese brush calligraphy.  He also received an invitation from Brock University to display his paintings and calligraphy in April 2009.  This was almost certainly the first time that a Chinese painter had ever had an exhibition of his/her works at Brock University.  Without question, his artistry and active involvement in such events has been of enormous benefit to the promotion of Chinese culture and multicultural exchange.  In recognition of Mr. Zhang’s exceptional talents and outstanding contributions in this regard, he was made Honorary President of the Chinese Culture Association of Regional Niagara.

One might ask why it is essential to promote Chinese culture.  To me, cultural diversity is of extreme importance to the long-term sustainable development of humanity as a whole.  It is precisely as the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) makes plain in the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity: “Cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for nature.” (UNESCO, 2001, Article 1)[i]. Thus, it is extremely essential to maintain cultural diversity, promote indigenous cultures and encourage exchange between cultures for the sustainable development of a truly multicultural society.  This is of particular significance in this era of rapid globalization.  Today, there are numerous different definitions of the concept called culture.  I understand culture to be a system of shared values, beliefs, customs, behaviour and knowledge upheld by a society or a societal subgroup.  Art is generally regarded as the one of the most highly valued aspects of a culture (high culture).  Mr. Zhang’s highly refined artistry in Chinese painting can be seen as a powerful means to share and publicize China’s high culture.

As many readers may be aware, since the forced invasion and defeat of China by the West in mid-1800s, at least three main schools of thought with regards to how to address Western cultural influences in China have emerged: 1) maintain traditional Chinese culture (traditionalists); 2) utter Westernization (Westernizers); 3) integrate Western culture into Chinese traditional culture (integrationists).  To China’s great fortune, it is this last school of thought that has been embraced by most Chinese people.  For this reason, China today has a simplified writing system and uses the vernacular in popular writing (except for classical Chinese).  Further to this, we have also witnessed the integration of both Western and Chinese medicine, the emergence of martial arts, and the growing popularity of contemporary Chinese art, etc.  In addition to these advancements, China has become one of the world’s most powerful nations in politics and in economics.  Thus, it is of extreme importance that China’s traditional culture be preserved in order to maintain its unique character and to enrich the diversity of world culture as a whole. 

In a related vein, John W. Berry the renowned Western specialist in cross-cultural psychology has proposed a new theory of acculturation (Berry, 2001)[ii].  This theory suggests for possible outcomes of acculturation: 1) assimilation (individuals do not wish to maintain their cultural heritage but would rather take on all of the characteristics of the new culture);  2) marginalization (individuals do not want anything to do with either the new culture or the old culture);  3) separation (individuals want to separate themselves from the new or dominant culture while maintaining their cultural heritage); and 4) integration (individuals want to maintain their identity with home culture, also simultaneously want to take on some characteristics of the new culture).  In my mind, based on his work in crossing cultural barriers, Mr. Dichen Zhang has achieved a deep comprehension of the cultural integration of East and West.  This cultural integration has naturally penetrated into his  own artwork.  Many of his recent works cannot be labeled as purely of an Eastern or Western idiom.  This is especially the case with the works he has created since immigrating to Canada in 1995.  Many of these cross-cultural works could be said to fall into the category defined by Homi Bhabha (1994)[iii] as the third space.  This is a space that is not yours or mine, but the one that we integrate now in a fusion of horizon (Gadamer, 1994)[iv].  Mr. Zhang has integrated Eastern and Western approaches to express his subtle appreciation and love of nature in his arts. His wonderfully active inner world and profound understanding of the nature of life emerge in his paintings in ways that are deeply moving for his audience.

A number of scholars throughout the world have pointed out the limitations of, and numerous problems engendered by, the products of Western culture such as science, technology, individualism, as well as conflict between human and nature and between human and society. Many of them have attempted to promote the wisdom embodied in Chinese culture such as human-nature oneness, harmony between man and society and collectivism (to name a few) as a means to a sustainable and more peaceful world. In fact, much of Mr. Zhang’s art reflects traditional Chinese wisdom.  He has, through his dedication to his work, made a significant impact on the development of cultural integration and the making of a more harmonious world.

There is no doubt that Chinese people take great pride in their five thousand years of cultural tradition. China’s civilization, including its philosophy, traditional Chinese medicine, martial arts, and creative artistic tradition, evidently represent the longest continuous and unbroken cultural tradition and civilization in human history.  Of particular significance is the Chinese perspective on the universe, environment, and human nature that are noticeably at variance from other cultural traditions. This distinction, when compared to Western culture, is particularly pronounced and unique.  Chinese tradition is distinguished by a subtle blending of philosophical and cultural perspectives and values, symbols and practices informed by the three legged stool of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism. The promotion of Chinese culture is not only simply to enrich global cultural diversity, but also to offer the wisdom of human-nature oneness and harmony from Chinese culture to help all the world’s peoples better cope with the increasing crises our world is facing within these modern times. For these reasons, Mr. Zhang’s work, rooted in traditional Chinese culture and informed by the East-West integration, goes far beyond his contributions to the arts.  Mr. Dichen Zhang’s work provides all humanity with the possibility of a new way of thinking about future cultural development in a shared horizon (Smith, 1999)[v].