Author: admin

The Relationship Between Chinese Calligraphy and Painting
by
Y. Chi
Chinese calligraphy is an art fundamental to traditional Chinese culture. Chinese calligraphy is closely related to Chinese painting in its development, and its history is as long as that of China itself. Chinese calligraphy expresses thoughts through the beauty of each stroke1 and conveys moral integrity, character, emotions, and esthetic feelings through its presentation and style.2 Calligraphy is not only a practical technique for writing Chinese characters but also a distinct form of Chinese art and a branch of learning.
Chinese calligraphy and painting are closely related. Chinese painting and calligraphy can be distinguished from other arts in that they emphasize motion.3 Chinese painting shares many of the same techniques as Chinese calligraphy, including the use of a brush dipped in black or colored ink. Its sophisticated techniques allow for intricate visuals on rice paper for typically black-and-white works expressing purity, self-reflection, and human nature, among others.4
Combining the art of calligraphy with that of painting produces calligraphy painting. When painting does not quite fully convey the artist’s thoughts or feelings, the artist may add a poem through calligraphy. On the other hand, a specific poem can be the main subject, with painting to fill it with a lyrical mood.5 This suggests that painting, poetry, and calligraphy are deeply related to one another in Chinese culture. And with the artist’s seal, the spirit of Chinese painting is presented in its complete form.6 These three arts combine to express the artist’s feelings more completely than one alone.
The paper discusses the history of Chinese calligraphy and that of Chinese painting, which can be divided into several periods, by focusing on how they are related to each other.

I Analysed Thousands of Australian Tech Job Ads – Here’s What I Learned About the Future of Work

In 2019, most Australian IT graduates walked into broad “technology graduate programs” where employers expected a solid foundation in coding and a willingness to learn on the job. Fast forward to 2025, and the landscape looks dramatically different. As part of a research project, I analysed two large datasets of graduate and entry-level job ads spanning this period. What I found reflects a seismic shift in what it means to be “job-ready” in the tech industry, and it has serious implications for students, universities, and anyone preparing for a career in the field of technology.

One of the biggest findings was the reduction of generalist IT roles. In 2019, broad programs labelled simply as “IT Graduate” dominated the graduate market. But by 2025, these positions had largely disappeared, replaced by sharply defined roles in software engineering, data, AI, and research. The most striking growth came from AI. What barely existed six years ago now accounts for almost one-fifth of all graduate tech roles. Employers are no longer looking for “general tech talent”, they want domain-specific expertise from day one.

This shift is mirrored in the technical skills demanded. Legacy tools such as VBA, SAS, and SPSS, once staples of early-career analytics roles, have all been eliminated from the 2025 listings. In their place, the new digital toolkit centres on cloud infrastructure (AWS, Docker), TypeScript, machine learning frameworks, and even specialised AI skills like deep learning, NLP, and large language models. This means that across all domains, the technical bar has risen. Employers expect fluency in modern tech stacks that most universities still don’t teach comprehensively.

Yet the most surprising result wasn’t about technical skills at all. It was the explosion of soft skill requirements. In 2019, only teamwork and communication appeared consistently in graduate job ads. By 2025, nearly 90–95% of postings explicitly demanded soft skills such as decision-making, problem-solving, teamwork, communication, interpersonal skills, and adaptability, often all in the same ad. Employers are not just looking for technical talent, they are looking for people who can apply that technical talent collaboratively and strategically in real-world settings.

This points to a deeper issue: a growing mismatch between what universities teach and what the industry expects. Many degrees still emphasise siloed assignments, outdated tools, and theoretical learning. Meanwhile, employers want graduates who can contribute to real codebases, work in teams, use cloud platforms, deploy models, and communicate technical ideas to diverse stakeholders. No wonder graduates are struggling; the market has moved faster than the curriculum.

So, what does this mean for students entering the tech field? The new IT graduate is expected to have both technical depth (domain-aligned tools and frameworks) and applied soft skills (evidenced through projects, teamwork, internships, or real-world experience). Generic claims about being “a good communicator” no longer cut it; employers want demonstrations, not declarations.

For universities, the message is even clearer: without curriculum renewal and stronger industry integration, the next generation of graduates risks being left behind.

The future of work in tech is already here-specialised, collaborative, and unapologetically fast-moving. And based on the data, tomorrow’s graduates will need to be better prepared than ever.

GUOYANG (GARY) ZHENG