Calligraphy exhibition a homage to 19th-century Sino-Korean cultural exchanges

In 1856, a man named Kim Chong-hui died in exile in mountainous Pukchong, a county in today's North Korea. Before that he had been banished to Cheju for years after being implicated in a plot against the Korean emperor.

Today, few people know that Kim was also an established calligrapher who made important contributions to Sino-Korean cultural exchanges.

Born into a family of bureaucrats and intellectuals, Kim accompanied his father to Beijing in 1809 and met several leading Chinese scholars of the time. He established a close bond with them, and the exchanges helped him introduce back home the academic approaches to epigraphy then dominating Chinese intellectual circles.

Kim, inspired by the lishu calligraphic style of China, formed the ch'usa style of his own which influenced several generations of Korean calligraphers.

A selection of Kim's calligraphic works are now on show at the National Art Museum of China through Aug 23, paying homage to his role in bridging Chinese and Korean scholars and artists.