Exploring Chinese and Canadian Educational Practitioners’ Perceptions of Chinese Calligraphy: A Cross-Cultural Study

As part of the Reciprocal Learning Program (RLP) activities, in March 2019, a group of Canadian pre-service teachers visited several public schools in China and experienced cultural lessons, including calligraphy writing. Understanding how they and the Chinese educational practitioners view this Chinese fine art as well as the impact of reciprocal learning on their perceptions may facilitate mutual understandings and yield insightful thoughts for future communications. Taking a qualitative multiple-case study approach, this chapter recruited five Chinese and Canadian educational practitioners as participants and collected data from semi-structured interviews, teachers’ reflective journals, and casual conversations. It revealed that the Chinese educational practitioners tended to view calligraphy as a wholesome practice leading to positive personal traits and emphasize its cultural heritage function. Contrastively, Canadian pre-service teachers perceived it as a means of understanding Chinese culture and a way to express personal beliefs and identity. Through reciprocal learning, they all acquired a deeper understanding of cultural differences, and their intercultural communication and sensitivity were enhanced accordingly. This chapter has implications on the design of cross-cultural learning programs and sheds renewed light on calligraphy learning and teaching in the information age through emphasizing its multiple values.