On March 30th, the Confucius Institute at Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, Russia, hosted the third training class for traditional seal cutting. Participants in the event were students from the Confucius Institute, from the university and local lovers of Chinese culture.

Chinese seal-cutting has a long history of over 2000 years. It was listed onto the Catalogue of Immaterial Cultural Heritages issued by the UNESCO in 2009.

One carving knife, one pencil and one eraser or even one potato are all needed to finish a fine seal and mark something exclusive to oneself. The student named Nikita Iwanov said excitedly, “Finally I have my own seal!”The most impressive was that some students have brought potatoes for carving. Potato is one of the staples in Russia and are seen everywhere during the long winter in the country. What would it be like when the most popular food in Russia meets the traditional Chinese seal-cutting?

“When carving knife meets potato”

The class was well received. Progressing gradually in a manner that integrated pleasure into teaching, it enabled the students to have a quick mastery of basic seal-cutting, make simple seals and better understand the traditional Chinese culture of seal-cutting. In addition, the Confucius Institute at the university offered a series of training courses for traditional Chinese culture, which ignited the local enthusiasm to study Chinese culture. With an enrollment of more than 1000 students, the Confucius Institute is widely acknowledged locally for the teaching of Chinese and the popularizing of Chinese culture.

The Finished Works

    Chinese report：“当刻刀遇上土豆”——乌拉尔联邦大学孔子学院办篆刻班