文 / 周 豐

第七屆寧波國(guó)際大學(xué)生節(jié)系列活動(dòng)中，康斯坦丁指導(dǎo)外籍大學(xué)生畫牡丹。Kostyantyn (far left) teaches international students to paint peonies at the 7th Ningbo International University Students Festival.

“沒想到，這朵紅牡丹在戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中的烏克蘭開了，開在少年稚嫩童真的畫筆下?！?/p>

今年5月底，寧波紅牡丹書畫國(guó)際交流社（以下簡(jiǎn)稱“國(guó)際交流社”）創(chuàng)始人姜紅升發(fā)了一條微信朋友圈，言語中充滿驕傲。原來，他的得意門生—來自烏克蘭的康斯坦丁（Kostyantyn Shestopalov）為了迎接六一國(guó)際兒童節(jié)，在家鄉(xiāng)敖德薩自辦的中國(guó)文化海外課堂（寧波紅牡丹烏克蘭分社）上，教授親友鄰里們繪畫中國(guó)牡丹花，以此表達(dá)和平之意以及對(duì)美好生活的追求。“愿和平友愛，長(zhǎng)住人間?！苯t升在微信朋友圈中寫道。這一刻，他的心和萬里之外的弟子連在了一起。

二度登門拜師練就一手好字畫

2012年，姜紅升在寧波創(chuàng)辦了國(guó)際交流社，他希望當(dāng)這些外國(guó)友人離開中國(guó)時(shí)，會(huì)對(duì)中國(guó)文化有新的認(rèn)識(shí)。漸漸地，國(guó)際交流社成了外籍友人在寧波的大本營(yíng)，來自五洲四海的人們學(xué)習(xí)中華民俗文化、分享在華經(jīng)歷。

2014年5月底，寧波軌道交通1號(hào)線一期開通試運(yùn)營(yíng)，康斯坦丁作為官方邀請(qǐng)的外賓之一，體驗(yàn)了干凈又先進(jìn)的中國(guó)地鐵。隨后，康斯坦丁和其他外賓來到姜紅升的國(guó)際交流社，體驗(yàn)中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)書畫的創(chuàng)作過程，了解中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)文化審美觀念。

本以為只是一次普通邂逅，但令姜紅升意外的是，第二天，康斯坦丁竟獨(dú)自登門拜訪，并請(qǐng)求拜師學(xué)畫?！敖徽勚?，我了解到他曾在臺(tái)灣工作過四年，雖然酷愛畫畫，但其間并沒有找到一家專門研習(xí)中國(guó)書畫的場(chǎng)館，最后反而是我的國(guó)際交流社讓他‘如獲至寶’。”姜紅升回憶道。

往后的每周一和周五，只要有時(shí)間，康斯坦丁都會(huì)帶上家人和同鄉(xiāng)來到國(guó)際交流社學(xué)習(xí)繪畫牡丹，還練就了一手好篆書。據(jù)姜紅升回憶，只要是康斯坦丁自己創(chuàng)作的牡丹花，都會(huì)用小篆體附上“富強(qiáng)”二字，寄托著希望自己祖國(guó)也能像這朵花一樣欣欣向榮的心愿。

把中國(guó)美好的精神財(cái)富帶回家鄉(xiāng)

2016年4月28日，康斯坦丁走進(jìn)寧波鄞州高級(jí)中學(xué)，指導(dǎo)學(xué)生們畫牡丹。Kostyantyn teaches students to paint peonies at Yinzhou Senior High School in Ningbo on April 28, 2016.

2021年8月，康斯坦丁即將結(jié)束在中國(guó)的生活回到烏克蘭，此時(shí)他已經(jīng)在姜紅升門下學(xué)習(xí)了7年的中國(guó)書畫技藝。臨行前，姜紅升給他頒發(fā)了“中國(guó)書畫國(guó)際傳播教師資格證”，這意味著他已經(jīng)“出師”，可以開辦國(guó)際交流社的海外分社。

“制作這本資格證是康斯坦丁提出的想法，他非常希望把牡丹美好、幸福、圓滿的寓意和形象帶回家鄉(xiāng)，為此還編制了教學(xué)手冊(cè)。”姜紅升透露，早在2016年，康斯坦丁就曾走進(jìn)寧波鄞州高級(jí)中學(xué)，指導(dǎo)中國(guó)學(xué)生畫牡丹，掌握了不少教學(xué)技巧。“一個(gè)外國(guó)老師教授中國(guó)孩子學(xué)畫中國(guó)畫，聽起來是不是也非常有趣？但這也說明他的繪畫才能已經(jīng)得到了大家的認(rèn)可?！苯t升說。

回國(guó)前，康斯坦丁在國(guó)際交流社的留言本上寫下一段話，大意為“現(xiàn)在全球都可以找到中國(guó)制造，我更希望把中國(guó)牡丹畫這種特有的藝術(shù)瑰寶帶回烏克蘭，那將讓我的國(guó)家擁有一種永恒的精神財(cái)富?！被貒?guó)后，康斯坦丁迅速創(chuàng)辦了寧波紅牡丹烏克蘭分社，目前共舉辦了8次書畫課活動(dòng)，已經(jīng)教授的學(xué)員超過300人。

從康斯坦丁發(fā)在微信朋友圈的照片中可以看到，他的繪畫課上有不少老人和孩子參與其中，大家用毛筆在宣紙上畫出一朵朵栩栩如生的牡丹花。

“康斯坦丁使用在中國(guó)學(xué)到的‘五步教學(xué)法’，可以讓零基礎(chǔ)、從未用過毛筆的外籍友人花費(fèi)兩小時(shí)就能畫出一朵牡丹花?！苯t升表示。

文武雙全的他曾獲“西湖友誼獎(jiǎng)”

在和姜紅升的交談中，筆者了解到，康斯坦丁可謂是“文武雙全”，不僅是一個(gè)文藝青年，還是成果豐碩的科技工作者。

2013年，康斯坦丁來到寧波，開始在浙大寧波理工學(xué)院從事博士后研究工作。作為首位外籍留甬博士后，他先后在熱（包括廢熱、太陽能等）驅(qū)動(dòng)的制冷技術(shù)研究、采用納米顆粒和納米油提升蒸汽壓縮式制冷系統(tǒng)效率技術(shù)、太陽能液體除濕制冷和空調(diào)系統(tǒng)耦合的系統(tǒng)研究等領(lǐng)域發(fā)表多篇SCI論文，并帶領(lǐng)團(tuán)隊(duì)積極參與國(guó)際競(jìng)賽，大力促進(jìn)中國(guó)學(xué)校與烏克蘭院校的國(guó)際合作。

根據(jù)浙大寧波理工學(xué)院官網(wǎng)報(bào)道，該校機(jī)能學(xué)院“三江學(xué)者”特聘教授陳光明是康斯坦丁的合作導(dǎo)師。陳光明曾這樣形容這位來自烏克蘭的外籍博士后：“開放直爽，富有邏輯，非常勤奮，而且熱愛工作?！?/p>

2018年10月31日，浙江省政府授予了康斯坦丁“西湖友誼獎(jiǎng)”。據(jù)悉，“西湖友誼獎(jiǎng)”是浙江省政府為表彰外國(guó)專家在浙江經(jīng)濟(jì)社會(huì)發(fā)展和人才培養(yǎng)中作出突出貢獻(xiàn)者而設(shè)立的最高榮譽(yù)。

Blooming Peonies: Messages of Peace

By Zhou Feng

“Unexpectedly, this red peony blooms in Ukraine during the war, under the innocent brush of a young boy.” In late May, Jiang Hongsheng, the founder of Ningbo Red Peony Calligraphy and Painting International Exchange Club, proudly posted a picture in his WeChat “Moments”. It showed that Kostyantyn Shestopalov,his favorite student from Ukraine, taught his relatives, friends and neighbors at the Chinese Culture Overseas Classroom (Ningbo Red Peony, Ukraine Branch) in his hometown Odessa on the eve of the International Children’s Day. They painted Chinese peony flowers to express their yearning for peace and a better life.

In 2012, Jiang founded an international exchange club in Ningbo in the hope that before foreign friends leave China, they will have a new understanding of Chinese culture. Gradually,the International Exchange Club has become the base camp for international friends in Ningbo, where people from all over the world learn Chinese folk culture and share their experiences in China.

In May 2014, thefirst phase of Ningbo Rail Transit Line 1 opened for trial operation. As one of the officially invited foreign guests, Kostyantyn experienced the clean and advanced Chinese subway. After that, the foreign guests came to Jiang’s International Exchange Club to experience the process of traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy and understand the aesthetics of traditional Chinese culture. It was meant for an ordinary encounter among strangers, but to Jiang’s surprise, Kostyantyn came to visit alone the next day and asked to learn painting. “During the conversation, I learned that he had worked in Taiwan province for four years. Although he loved painting, he never found a venue for learning Chinese painting and calligraphy. In the end, it was my club that brought him a ‘treasure’. ”

Every Monday and Friday, as long as Kostyantyn was free, he would bring his family and compatriots to the club to learn how to paint peonies, and he also practiced writing seal script. As Jiang recollects, as Kostyantyn painted peony flowers, he attached the word “Prosperity” in Chinese small seal script, expecting that his motherland would be as prosperous as this flower.

In August 2021, Kostyantyn returned to Ukraine. By then,he had been learning Chinese painting and calligraphy skills for seven years. Before leaving, Jiang awarded him the Certificate of a Qualified Teacher for International Communication of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, which meant that he could open an overseas branch of the International Exchange Club. “It was Kostyantyn’s idea. He wanted to bring the beautiful, happy and fortunate meaning and image of the peony back to his hometown,and he also wrote a teaching manual for this purpose.” Jiang reveals that as early as 2016, Kostyantyn went to Yinzhou Senior High School in Ningbo to instruct Chinese students to draw peonies and mastered a lot of teaching skills.

Before leaving China, Kostyantyn wrote in the message book of the International Exchange Club, “‘Made in China’ can be found all over the world, but I prefer to bring this unique art of China to Ukraine as an eternal spiritual wealth.” Kostyantyn quickly established the Ningbo Red Peony Ukraine Branch, which has since operated eight calligraphy and painting courses with more than 300 students. The photos that Kostyantyn posted on WeChat show many elderly people and children in his painting class using a brush to draw lifelike peony flowers on rice paper.

Kostyantyn is not only an artistic youth, but also a fruitful scientist. In 2013, he came to Ningbo to do postdoctoral research at NingboTech University. As the first foreign postdoctoral fellow in Ningbo, he conducted research on refrigeration technology driven by heat, using nanoparticles and nano-oil to improve the efficiency of vapor compression refrigeration systems, and systematic research on the coupling of solar liquid dehumidification refrigeration and air conditioning systems.

On October 31, 2018, the Zhejiang Provincial Government awarded Kostyantyn the “West Lake Friendship Award”, the highest honor established in recognition of foreign experts’outstanding contributions to Zhejiang’s economic and social development and talent training.