Crown Prince Learning Chinese Characters, Wan Li & Tang Zhuo, 170 x 220 cm, Oil on Canvas, 2019               

      王仁博士（朝鲜半岛三国时期汉人百济国儒学博士。）百济古尔王五十一年（晋太康六年，公元285年）为百济使者阿直歧所荐，到日本献《论语》10卷、《千字文》1卷。作为儒学大师被聘为皇太子菟道稚郎子之师。一般认为王仁渡日为汉字与孔子思想传入日本的开始。王仁渡日前,日本尚无文字、典籍，亦无学校教育。王仁渡日给日本带去文字和儒经，促使宫廷办起学问所，极大地推动了日本儒学和教育的发展。

      画面展现的就是王仁博士和皇太子菟道稚郎子在宇治川旁边小径上漫步交流、讨论《论语》的情景。宇治川是皇太子曾经生活和学习过的地方，位于日本京都府宇治市，1200年前此地修建了宇治上神社，大概900年前供奉了菟道稚郎子，宇治上神社是日本京都著名的世界文化遗产。

   Master Wani (a leaned Han Confucian scholar of the Baekje Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period of the Korean Peninsula) recommended by Achiki, he Baekje emissary, to bring ten volumes of the Analects and one volume of the Thousand-Character Writing to Japan in the fifty-first year of the reign of King Goi of Baekje (the sixth year of Tai Kang in the Jin dynasty, 285 AD). As a Confucian master, he was designated to be the teacher of Crown Prince Uji no Wakiiratsuko. It is generally believed that Wani’s crossing the sea to Japan was the beginning of the introduction of Chinese characters and Confucian thought to Japan. Before Wani’s arrival, there was no writing, classics, or schooling. Wani brought Chinese characters and Confucian classics to Japan and prompted the court to set up schools, which greatly contributed to the development of Confucianism and education in Japan.

   The painting shows Master Wani and Crown Prince Uji no Wakiiratsuko strolling along the path beside the Uji River, exchanging ideas and discussing the Analects. The Uji River, where the Crown Prince lived and studied, is located in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, where Ujigami Shrine was built 1200 years ago and where Uji no Wakiiratsuko was enshrined about 900 years ago. By the way, the Ujigami Shrine is a famous World Heritage Site in Kyoto, Japan. 

“文化互译，沟通世界”