The Research Of Aesthetic Course In The People’s Republic Of China (from1949to1965)

The Chinese aesthetic has long been involved in the modernization of theacademic subject, the progress which hadn’t been interrupted by the change ofpolitical environment. The Chinese modern aesthetic course is one of an importantsubject in higher education, it is not only a vital part of aesthetic knowledge, but alsoplays an important role in understanding the system of aesthetic knowledge.The purpose of this paper is to discuss the college aesthetic course in thePeople’s Republic of China(PRC), the available sources recording this topic is from1949to1965. The author strives to achieve the following aims by using historicalmethod. First, to give an review of historical development of PRC’s college aestheticcourse and to discuss the main elements. Second, to analyse the relationship betweenthe aesthetic education and the ideology associated with the aesthetic course; thepolitical power and the aesthetic scholars as well as the legalisation of aestheticknowledge; the historical factor that exercised influence on aesthetic course. Third, todescribe the knowledge system of PRC’s aesthetic textbook, investigate the relationsbetween aesthetic course and the society, the politic, the cultural. In the last stage, tosummarize the development of PRC’s aesthetic course in order to give further help tonowadays.The paper contains the following sections.The introduction mainly concerns why selecting the title, the academic value andthe aim of this research.Section one describes the legality of aesthetic course in college curriculumreform at beginning of the PRC. This section specifically begins with two letters, andthen analyses the government’s attitude towards Mr Zhu Guang-qian’s aeasheticcourse. By reviewing the regulations of Peking Military Control Commission, theBoard of Higher Education of the North China and the Ministry of Education, it couldbe concluded that there is no aesthetic course in college curriculum at the beginningof the PRC. Furthermore, by chosing the documents of Zhu Guang-qian, Zong Bai-hua, Deng Yi-zhe and Li Chang-zhi’s aesthetic courses, we could conclude thatthe tradition of the aesthetic course had disappeared at the beginning of the PRC.Section two discusses the Soviet Union’s experiences in the development of thePRC’s aesthetic course, such as using the Soviet Union’s curriculum, translating theirteaching documents, inviting their experts, and sending our experts for academicexchange.Section three will investigate the society, political and culture background at thebeginning of the PRC, on this basis, the author will explain the change of statusduring the re-establish of aesthetic course, as well as the PRC’s educational policy onthe curriculum and content of the aesthetic course. Moreover, this section willmacroscopically discuss the aesthetic curriculum in the revised arts teaching schemewhich set down by the educational department, and appreciates the colleges’ actualperformance against the aesthetic curriculum.Section four is based on the study of Chinese aesthetician, discusses the aestheticcourse documents in seven universities, and explains the historical context up to thedevelopment of aesthetic course. The aesthetician and their aesthetic coursedocuments as follows: Zhou Yang, Zhu Guang-qian, Zong Bai-hua, Ma Cai, DengYi-zhe, Gan Lin and Yang Xin in Peking University; Deng Yi-zhe and Cai Yi inTsinghua University; �'.Скаржинская, Ma Qi and Zong Bai-hua in RenminUniversity of China, Li Chang-zhi, Huang Yao-mian, Zhu Guang-qian, Cai Yi, LiZe-hou in Peking Normal University, Jiang Kong-yang in Fudan University, ZhouLaixiang and Di Qi-cong in Shandong University, Liu Gang-ji in Wuhan University.Section five discusses the reorganization of the aesthetic scholars in the PRC,they not only included Zhu Guang-qian, Zong Bai-hua, Deng Yi-zhe, Ma Cai, Cai Yi,Li Chang-zhi who had been taught aesthetic course in Republic of China, but alsoincludes several new scholars such as Huang Yao-mian, Ma Qi, Li Ze-hou, Yang Xin,Gan Lin, Jiang Kong-yang, Liu Gang-ji, Zhou Lai-xiang, Di Qi-cong. In the followingpassages, the author will choose Zhu Guang-qian, Zong Bai-hua and Deng Yi-zhe as acase to study, analyses the aesthetic scholars’“ideological remoulding” and thetransition of the aesthetic theory. Furthermore, the author will explain the aesthetic teachers’ teaching organization, give an evaluation of the aesthetic teaching andresearch division in Peking University and Renmin University’s achievements ontraining aesthetic teachers and accumulating the aesthetic materials.Section six investigates the Education Department’s plan for the aesthetic textbook, discusses the translation of Soviet’s aesthetic text book in the role of developingthe Marxist-Leninism aesthetic knowledge system, explains the contribution of thePRC’s aesthetic text book to the advancement of Marxist-Leninism aestheticknowledge system in the field of the concept of aesthetics, the history of WesternAesthetics and the history of Chinese Aesthetics.In conclusion, the author sums up the historical experience of the PRC’saesthetic course.