文 / 周 丰

第七届宁波国际大学生节系列活动中，康斯坦丁指导外籍大学生画牡丹。Kostyantyn (far left) teaches international students to paint peonies at the 7th Ningbo International University Students Festival.

“没想到，这朵红牡丹在战争中的乌克兰开了，开在少年稚嫩童真的画笔下。”

今年5月底，宁波红牡丹书画国际交流社（以下简称“国际交流社”）创始人姜红升发了一条微信朋友圈，言语中充满骄傲。原来，他的得意门生—来自乌克兰的康斯坦丁（Kostyantyn Shestopalov）为了迎接六一国际儿童节，在家乡敖德萨自办的中国文化海外课堂（宁波红牡丹乌克兰分社）上，教授亲友邻里们绘画中国牡丹花，以此表达和平之意以及对美好生活的追求。“愿和平友爱，长住人间。”姜红升在微信朋友圈中写道。这一刻，他的心和万里之外的弟子连在了一起。

二度登门拜师练就一手好字画

2012年，姜红升在宁波创办了国际交流社，他希望当这些外国友人离开中国时，会对中国文化有新的认识。渐渐地，国际交流社成了外籍友人在宁波的大本营，来自五洲四海的人们学习中华民俗文化、分享在华经历。

2014年5月底，宁波轨道交通1号线一期开通试运营，康斯坦丁作为官方邀请的外宾之一，体验了干净又先进的中国地铁。随后，康斯坦丁和其他外宾来到姜红升的国际交流社，体验中国传统书画的创作过程，了解中国传统文化审美观念。

本以为只是一次普通邂逅，但令姜红升意外的是，第二天，康斯坦丁竟独自登门拜访，并请求拜师学画。“交谈中，我了解到他曾在台湾工作过四年，虽然酷爱画画，但其间并没有找到一家专门研习中国书画的场馆，最后反而是我的国际交流社让他‘如获至宝’。”姜红升回忆道。

往后的每周一和周五，只要有时间，康斯坦丁都会带上家人和同乡来到国际交流社学习绘画牡丹，还练就了一手好篆书。据姜红升回忆，只要是康斯坦丁自己创作的牡丹花，都会用小篆体附上“富强”二字，寄托着希望自己祖国也能像这朵花一样欣欣向荣的心愿。

把中国美好的精神财富带回家乡

2016年4月28日，康斯坦丁走进宁波鄞州高级中学，指导学生们画牡丹。Kostyantyn teaches students to paint peonies at Yinzhou Senior High School in Ningbo on April 28, 2016.

2021年8月，康斯坦丁即将结束在中国的生活回到乌克兰，此时他已经在姜红升门下学习了7年的中国书画技艺。临行前，姜红升给他颁发了“中国书画国际传播教师资格证”，这意味着他已经“出师”，可以开办国际交流社的海外分社。

“制作这本资格证是康斯坦丁提出的想法，他非常希望把牡丹美好、幸福、圆满的寓意和形象带回家乡，为此还编制了教学手册。”姜红升透露，早在2016年，康斯坦丁就曾走进宁波鄞州高级中学，指导中国学生画牡丹，掌握了不少教学技巧。“一个外国老师教授中国孩子学画中国画，听起来是不是也非常有趣？但这也说明他的绘画才能已经得到了大家的认可。”姜红升说。

回国前，康斯坦丁在国际交流社的留言本上写下一段话，大意为“现在全球都可以找到中国制造，我更希望把中国牡丹画这种特有的艺术瑰宝带回乌克兰，那将让我的国家拥有一种永恒的精神财富。”回国后，康斯坦丁迅速创办了宁波红牡丹乌克兰分社，目前共举办了8次书画课活动，已经教授的学员超过300人。

从康斯坦丁发在微信朋友圈的照片中可以看到，他的绘画课上有不少老人和孩子参与其中，大家用毛笔在宣纸上画出一朵朵栩栩如生的牡丹花。

“康斯坦丁使用在中国学到的‘五步教学法’，可以让零基础、从未用过毛笔的外籍友人花费两小时就能画出一朵牡丹花。”姜红升表示。

文武双全的他曾获“西湖友谊奖”

在和姜红升的交谈中，笔者了解到，康斯坦丁可谓是“文武双全”，不仅是一个文艺青年，还是成果丰硕的科技工作者。

2013年，康斯坦丁来到宁波，开始在浙大宁波理工学院从事博士后研究工作。作为首位外籍留甬博士后，他先后在热（包括废热、太阳能等）驱动的制冷技术研究、采用纳米颗粒和纳米油提升蒸汽压缩式制冷系统效率技术、太阳能液体除湿制冷和空调系统耦合的系统研究等领域发表多篇SCI论文，并带领团队积极参与国际竞赛，大力促进中国学校与乌克兰院校的国际合作。

根据浙大宁波理工学院官网报道，该校机能学院“三江学者”特聘教授陈光明是康斯坦丁的合作导师。陈光明曾这样形容这位来自乌克兰的外籍博士后：“开放直爽，富有逻辑，非常勤奋，而且热爱工作。”

2018年10月31日，浙江省政府授予了康斯坦丁“西湖友谊奖”。据悉，“西湖友谊奖”是浙江省政府为表彰外国专家在浙江经济社会发展和人才培养中作出突出贡献者而设立的最高荣誉。

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.