Chinese Calligraphy in Singapore 书法在新加坡

Some people say that there is no history of development of Chinese calligraphy in Singapore; this is because it has never been developed here. What we have here are some activities on learning and promotion of Chinese calligraphy. So we shall talk about the Chinese calligraphy in Singapore.

Generally speaking, Chinese calligraphy in Singapore can be divided into two periods, before and after the independence of Singapore.

The Chinese started to immigrate to Singapore in large number since 1820s. In China, due to the failure of the political reform proposed by Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, a number of famous artists came to Singapore to work and stay. These artists mostly worked in arts/calligraphy related organisations and education sector as teaching staff or administrators. With the influence of these artists, famous schools such as Chung Cheng, Tuan Meng and Dunman became the breeding grounds for learners of Chinese calligraphy.

The setting up of the Nanyang Fine Arts College (the predecessor of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, NAFA) provided the first opportunity for the development of Chinese calligraphy in Singapore. However, up to today, NAFA is not able to set up a professional Department of Chinese Calligraphy. During this period, while Singapore was famous for evolving the Nanyang Style of Painting, it had not been able to develop a Nanyang Style of Chinese Calligraphy. Singapore missed its first chance of developing Chinese calligraphy.

The decline of the Chinese education after the independence of Singapore in 1965 is an undeniable fact. The registration of ‘The Singapore Chinese Calligraphy and Art Research Society’ by a group of students from Chung Cheng High School as a civil organisation, provided another chance of developing Chinese calligraphy in Singapore. As its name implied, the Society was to be research based. However, as a civil organisation, its activities and method of organising activities follow the same ways of the other arts societies. The fact that it changed its name to ‘The Chinese Calligraphy Society of Singapore’ in 1979 confirmed that it is not to be research and development oriented. This is a second time that Singapore missed the opportunity of developing Chinese calligraphy.

In 1990s, there was a number of calligraphy societies registered in Singapore, a situation that can be described as letting a hundred flowers blossom. However, none of these new organisations is research and development based. This is the third time that Singapore missed the opportunity of developing Chinese calligraphy.

There are no statistical figures to show whether the number of learners of Chinese calligraphy has increased or maintained over the last hundred years. However, with the rise of China and a number of Chinese calligraphers follow their immigrant family coming to Singapore, one should expect the number of learners will maintain or even increase. The standard of learning Chinese calligraphy will also be improved. However, there is no proper system of Chinese calligraphy education here, and there is also no suitable platform for systematic study and research on calligraphy education, theories, aesthetic and philosophy. Therefore, it is not optimistic that Chinese calligraphy will be developed in foreseeable future, let alone the chance of developing a Nanyang Style of Chinese calligraphy.

.

有人说新加坡没有书法发展史，只有‘书法在新加坡’，因为书法来就没有在这里发展过，有的是书法学习的活动与推广。那我们就谈一谈书法在新加坡的概况吧。

一般上，书法在新加坡可以分为独立前与独立后两个时期。

华人大规模移居新加坡，始于十九世纪廿年代。由于康梁变法失败，许多艺术界人士纷纷到南洋谋生、定居，这些人多数在新加坡从事艺术书法组织与教育界工作。当时的著名学府如中正中学、端蒙中学、德明中学，在南来艺术与书法家的影响下，成为培养书法爱好者的温床。

1938年在新加坡创立的南洋美术专科学校（南洋美术学院的前身），本来应该是书法在新加坡发展的一个契机，可惜该学院直到今天还没有成立一个专业的书法系。在这个时期，新加坡能够以发展‘南洋画派’闻名，却没法发展‘南洋书风’。这是新加坡书法界失去的第一个契机。

新加坡在1965年独立后，华文教育式微，那是个不争的现实。1968年由一群中正中学的学生成立的‘新加坡中华书画研究会’，以研究为名字，本来是新加坡书法发展的另一个契机。但是该会作为一个注册的民间艺术团体，所走的显然是一般民间团体活动的路线与方式，后来该会的中文会名一再改变，最后定为‘新加坡书法家协会’，就更加确定了该会要走的是民间团体路线，而不是书法发展路线。这是新加坡失去发展书法的第二个契机。

20世纪的90年代，新加坡出现好几个书法民间团体，呈现了百花齐放的局面; 可惜的是，没有一个团体走书法发展与研究的路线。这是新加坡失去书法发展的第三个契机。

百年多的书法在新加坡，学习书法的人数有没有增减，并没有正式的统计。但是，由于中国的崛起，加上最近有一些中国书法家随着家人来新加坡定居，相信学习书法的人会维持或增加，书法学习的素质也会提高。可是，由于新加坡本身没有一套完整的书法教育系统，也没有一个平台来对书法教育、理论、美学与哲学有系统的研究，所以要发展新加坡书法，以目前情况来看，前景的确是不容乐观，更不用说‘南洋书风’了。