Jianghu Spirit Themed Art Competition
– Wuxia (Chinese Chivalry & Martial Arts)

Reported by:
Michael Ng Sr3A

     The Wushu Club is bringing wuxia back into style with the wushu-themed “Jianghu Spirit” (江湖志) art competition, which ran from the 7th to the 12th of June 2021.

     The competition was split into two categories: Junior and Senior. Throughout the submission period, students could take part by uploading their artwork onto a Google Form. A description of the artwork and its design concept were to be included with submissions. There was no limit on the number of pieces one could submit.

     Art Teachers Ms Tiong Lay Ling and Ms Liew Pei Wen acted as judges. The scoring criteria was divided into four categories: content (30%), creativity and design (30%), colour usage (30%), and presentation (10%).

     On the 30th of June, the winners of the competition were announced on the Club’s Facebook and Instagram pages. Three excellence awards were given out for each category with no particular rankings. Below are the list of winners:

     All pieces, winning or not, were uploaded onto the Club’s social media pages, along with the teachers’ comments. One can find all the pieces here:

   • Winning entries: facebook.com/kcwushuclub/posts/1772450619601327

   • Other entries: facebook.com/kcwushuclub/posts/1772464549599934

     We interviewed the President of the Organising Committee, the judging teachers, and two winners from each category to collect their thoughts on this competition.

Tackling Force With Grace – President’s Thoughts

     From a layman perspective, wushu and fine arts were seemingly unrelated, so it made little sense for a wushu-themed art competition to be held. Organising Committee President Wong Qian Yui disputed that sentiment, stating that wushu was more than the serious, routine exercise that most people perceive it as. Rather, the art form prioritised aesthetics and variety, with one of its main principles being to “tackle force with grace”.

     This competition not only aimed to promote the diversity of the traditional martial art, but was also to showcase the Club’s adaptability and resilience in the face of the pandemic. Plus, differing mediums could invoke diverse artistic clashes and beauties, so the Club was willing to hold this non-conventional competition to open up new possibilities.

     Although participant numbers were low, Qian Yui felt satisfied with this competition because those who did take part put great effort into their pieces and enriched their holidays. As a Junior student, this was her first time organising a competition, so she was more than eager to explore new methods and learn along the way.

     In future events, she vowed to broaden the range of participants so that more students could showcase their talents. Finally, she thanked the participants, her advisory teachers, and the organising committee for having made this competition possible.

Art for Art’s Sake – Teachers’ Thoughts

     Ms Tiong Lay Ling and Ms Liew Pei Wen believed that art competitions should be a platform for encouraging hobbyist artists and a space for them to learn from each other’s strengths and weaknesses. They pointed out that the Wushu Club’s choice to not give out standard first-second-third place awards helped validate the participants’ performances as everyone has a different artistic style. “Rankings shouldn’t ‘murder’ the participants’ passions,” they stated.

     The teachers had not expected much initially, but were pleased to see sincerity in each and every artwork submitted. They appreciated both hand-drawn and digital submissions, as each came with their own specialties. Hand-drawn artwork had more authenticity and natural, unreplicated elements; whereas digital artwork lent more room for originality and creativity.

     When asked whether more clubs should hold competitions similar to this, they agreed, stating that the bittersweet process of creating art is what calms the mind and promotes self-cultivation. Art is also beneficial in which it encourages creativity and independent thinking, cultivating appreciative attitudes towards beauty to those who invest in it.

Be Inspired! – Junior Winners’ Thoughts

     With her imagination running wild, laziness towards writing, and watercolours surrounding her, what was Tan Elise to do rather than take part? After being dissatisfied with the ending of a show, Elise decided to take matters into her own hands by drawing her own imagined ending. Her piece was about two lovers living in parallel worlds, each retaining memories of the other but never being able to meet again physically.

     She got notified of her win via a friend’s message and felt shocked yet happy at the result. She said she was only lucky to have won this year, and encouraged everyone else to try again next year.

 Elise’s winning piece

     On the other hand, Sui Sue Sien took part because of her status as a former Wushu Club member. She originally wanted to incorporate Chinese opera elements after being inspired by the movie “Farewell My Concubine”, but decided to set martial morality (武德) as her main theme instead. Funnily enough, she ended up adding some Chinese opera elements to the artwork anyway!

     Sue Sien was quite skeptical of her win given that she felt that her artwork was bad, but she was thankful for the teachers’ comments and the simplification of her artwork description during posting anyway. She thought that the other contestants’ were really creative in their presentations.

 Sue Sien’s winning piece

Nuance, Or Bust – Senior Winners’ Thoughts

     Friendship is magic, so Summer Liew Yi Qin participated in this competition to support her friend. Through her piece, she wanted to convey how parents are cool and to show appreciation towards them since, as an edgy teenager, she doesn’t do that enough. Design wise, it was heavily inspired by a car-racing game featuring mafias.

     She was very happy about her win and thought that the contest was pretty refreshing and well organised, though it could have used some better promotion. She was also grateful for the teacher who graded her work as she was pretty sincere in her wording.

 Summer’s winning piece

     Meanwhile, Lian Siang was bored at home and found that art competitions close to him were minimal so he thought, why not? His piece included classic wuxia themes of righteousness, mutual reliance, and recklessness, painting a scene of a classic revenge story. The main character was heavily based on Mulan. The small white fox beside her and the desert and Yellow Crane Tower background helped give more depth to the piece.

     He’s not awfully familiar with wuxia himself, so he had to make up lots of elements. The main character’s outfit was a mish-mash of various referenced outfits, for instance. Her name was also pieced together with random obscure characters, giving it an instant “wuxia” feel.

     For his first time taking part in an inner-school competition, he was pretty happy for his win. He thanked the Wushu Club for giving him this platform to showcase his talents, and the teachers for providing valuable feedback.

 Lian Siang’s winning piece