China Academy of Art

Golden light shimmers on the clear ripples of West Lake; verdant layers cover Xiangshan, dotted with white egrets.

The predecessor of the China Academy of Art was the National Academy of Art. In 1928, Cai Yuanpei, then head of the national education administration known as Daxueyuan, chose a site beside West Lake in Hangzhou and founded China’s first comprehensive national higher art institution, the National Academy of Art, opening a new chapter in Chinese higher fine arts education. As the country’s first national higher fine arts institution with the most complete disciplines and comprehensive scale, the China Academy of Art has moved several times and changed its name over more than ninety years: National Academy of Art, National Hangzhou Art College, National Art College, East China Branch of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, and China Academy of Art. Throughout this history, two clear academic traditions have intertwined: “integrating Chinese and Western art,” represented by the first president, Lin Fengmian, and “creating anew from tradition,” represented by Pan Tianshou. Viewing scholarship as a public resource, they challenged and encouraged each other while proceeding compatibly, creating an open environment for artistic innovation and healthy development of the humanities. This became the academy’s most important tradition and defining characteristic.

As a research and teaching university, the China Academy of Art has always stood at the artistic forefront of its times. With a profound historical mission and responsibility to revitalize national art, it upholds the motto “Strive with Vigor, Dwell in Reverence, Integrate Knowledge and Travel Far” and advocates the academic philosophy of “pluralistic interaction and harmony in diversity.” It creates an educational environment connecting “character and learning, art and theory, past and present, and China and the world.” Its two core tasks are “building a world-class fine arts discipline distinguished by Eastern studies, and establishing a new humanities education system centered on artistic creation and committed to public aesthetic education.” It renews its campuses, carries forward its ideals, expands disciplines and reorganizes schools and departments. Its practical teaching system emphasizes “learning through hands-on work and nurturing the mind through reading” and “the people’s heart and the shared beauty of all.” It promotes the spirit of the philosopher-craftsperson, develops its university vision and cultivates outstanding people of both virtue and artistic excellence who connect character and learning, art and theory, past and present, and China and the world.

The academy is jointly developed by the Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Its achievements in discipline and program development rank first among China’s arts institutions. Both the academy and its fine arts discipline have been selected for two consecutive rounds of national “Double First-Class” first-class discipline development. In the fourth national discipline evaluation, fine arts and design received A+ ratings, tied for first nationwide; art theory received A-; and drama and film studies received B+. In the fifth national discipline evaluation, it performed excellently, maintaining stability while progressing. Under the “Double Ten-Thousand” initiative, 26 of its 29 undergraduate programs admitting students are national first-class undergraduate program development sites, and 2 are provincial first-class undergraduate program development sites. It has three postdoctoral research stations, in fine arts, design and art theory.

A member of the first group of National Civilized Campuses, the academy covers over 1230 mu across Hangzhou and Shanghai. It has five campuses: Nanshan, Xiangshan, Zhangjiang, Liangzhu and Xianghu. Completed in 2003, Nanshan Campus offers a modern interpretation of an ink-painting academy, while Xiangshan Campus, opened in 2007, gave form to the vision of an artistic home. Liangzhu Campus opened in 2021. These ingeniously designed campuses have become new landmarks of Hangzhou, a historic and cultural city. The academy has over 10000 students and approximately one thousand faculty and staff.

Climbing the peaks of art and taking on the mission of the times, the China Academy of Art will always follow General Secretary Xi Jinping’s instruction to “accelerate its development into a world-class academy of fine arts reflecting the highest standards of Chinese cultural and artistic research and teaching.” It upholds “a pioneering journey of Chinese art, a central site of fine arts education and a contemporary declaration of the academy’s spirit.” It will continue developing a world-class art academy, promote the Chinese spirit within the global artistic landscape, and build new heights of literature, art and scholarship in the new era. It will work tirelessly to cultivate socialist builders and successors with all-round moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and practical development, contributing further to Zhejiang’s pursuit of a pioneering role in socialist modernization, the comprehensive building of a modern socialist country and the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation!