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Oracle bone script appeared around 3,300 years ago, when people inscribed what they saw and heard onto animal bones. It wasn’t until the late Qing dynasty that scholars discovered these marks on medicinal bones and realized that they weren’t random scratches, but the earliest form of the Chinese writing system.
Bronze script, or jinwen, appeared around 3,000 years ago, first carved onto pottery and later cast into bronze. The different materials influenced the lines and forms of the characters.
Before Emperor Qin Shi Huang unified the written script, these ancient characters were collectively called Da Zhuan (Large Seal Script). People drew all kinds of characters to record daily life.
This workshop invites you to explore the hidden secrets of character origins, engraving your insights, feelings, or even long-held names onto stone. You will learn hand-carving techniques—a craft once common on the streets of Taiwan, now mostly replaced by machines. Let’s rediscover it together with carving tools in hand.
@whispersofstone_’s works are rooted in Taiwan and travel the world. Drawing inspiration from Da Zhuan, they carry the millennia-old art of seal carving into contemporary life.
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Workshop Instructor
Lydia Chang Yachu (b. 1991) grew up fishing in streams with her dad and brothers, enjoying time in nature. She was fascinated by a small fish fossil her father once found in a stone. While traveling around the world, she would always pick up stones, but none ever felt as special as her dad’s.
Her elementary art teacher introduced her to various printmaking techniques and ceramics, sparking a deep interest in carving and sculpture. She also developed a love for calligraphy and sketching.
As an adult, she went to the UK to study architecture at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art, and later worked at architectural firms, living in London for nine years. She then collaborated with friends to build a blue house at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, hosting many body-exploration experiences. Later, she briefly taught in the Department of Architecture at Shih Chien University and, together with teachers and students, went to Moung, Cambodia, to build a wooden classroom. The experience was incredibly enriching both architecturally and personally—a truly unforgettable journey.
In 2024, she visited Ubud, Bali for the first time, made some local friends, and discovered a new worldview: that in contemporary life, some people live in such close spiritual and practical harmony with nature.
At the beginning of 2025, after her body was too exhausted, she took a year off—a rollercoaster of experiences she had never imagined. Through practicing yoga and meditation in her room, she gradually restored balance and courageously put herself back together, one day at a time. One day, she suddenly found an ink pad in a drawer, probably bought in her childhood. She picked up a stone from her desk and carved a “heart” into it.
By December 2025, after four months of stone carving, she held her first small workshop at Ameng in Taipei, then took her stones to Ubud, Bali, where she met many beautiful people and carved stamps for them. Back in Taiwan, she held stone-collecting and carving workshops with Nandao Lily in Luye’s Butterfly Valley. These have been magical, unimaginable experiences. She continues to let the stones guide her adventures.
(Participation in the workshop requires the purchase of a TPABF ticket.)
