In the workshop, experts from different disciplines in China and Germany will contribute their expertise on the origin, characteristics, and history of Chinese characters. They include Prof. Cui Xiliang and Prof. Zhu Tianshu from the University of Languages and Culture in Beijing, Prof. Dr. Lothar Ledderose from Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, and Prof. Dr. Andreas Guder from Freie Universität Berlin.

The exhibition will feature works by four Chinese calligraphers and internationally acclaimed experts for Chinese calligraphy and art, Yan Gongda 言恭达, Cui Xiliang 崔希亮, Zhu Tianshu 朱天曙, and Chen Hongjie 陈洪捷. Their works demonstrate many facets of Chinese characters and their significance for Chinese culture. In addition, works by the Slovak artist Peter Kocák 渝霖 and the German artist Andreas Schmid 施岸笛 willl enrich the exhibition with a European perspective.

The workshop and exhibition are being organized to mark the 100th anniversary of the Chinese May Fourth Movement. On May 4, 1919, students and intellectuals in China assembled in protest, setting off a broad mass movement, the so-called May Fourth Movement. Those involved in this New Culture Movement questioned many things in traditional society, which led to a lively debate about how to deal with the Chinese characters, which had had such a formative influence on their own cultural tradition. The demands ranged from simplification to Latinization or even abolition of the characters. Against the background of the radical demands of the reform movement 100 years ago, the workshop and the exhibition will focus on the significance of the Hanji letters in Chinese culture as a means of communication and an art form.