One
Aesthetic education, also known as aesthetic education. That is, by cultivating people's ability to recognize beauty, experience beauty, feel beauty, appreciate beauty and create beauty, we have the ideal of beauty, the sentiment of beauty, the character of beauty and the quality of beauty. "True aesthetic education is an education that is formed after the aesthetic principles are infiltrated into the teaching of various subjects."
China's population is the largest in the world, and China's students are also the largest in the world. In the cause of China's education, we must speak out loudly and strengthen aesthetic education, which is also a great benefit and great contribution to all mankind.
Beauty is an important source of pure morality and rich spirit. A life without the nourishment of beauty is bound to be monotonous and dry. Confucius believed that education is "happy in poetry" and "made in pleasure", which contains the importance of aesthetic education. On August 30, 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping specifically emphasized this issue when replying to eight veteran professors of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. The text carries the Tao, the text conveys affection, and the text is planted with virtue. Culture is the blood of the nation and the spiritual homeland of the people. The great development and prosperity of socialist culture come from the people, from the era of great changes, and from the passion and ripples of the whole nation's spirit. A great nation must create a magnificent epic.
Two
China is making great strides toward modernization, and in particular, it needs to make great strides to strengthen aesthetic education.
In 1793, Schiller of Germany pointed out that modern large-scale industrial society has caused contradictions and divisions in human nature. The strict division of labor and the distinction between occupations in modern society have not only produced serious divisions between society and the individual, but also the individuals themselves have also produced divisions in human nature. Modern man is divided in terms of material and spiritual, reality and ideal, objective and subjective, and is no longer in a state of perfection and harmony like the ancient Greeks. Therefore, Schiller strongly advocated overcoming this division of human nature through aesthetic education. Schiller believes that there are two opposite requirements in the human body, one is the "perceptual impulse" that the sensibility needs to govern, and the other is the "rational impulse" that is idle by the objective law. Both of these impulses are human nature, and perfect human nature should be a harmonious unity of the two. It is only in modern industrial society that human nature has been divided. Therefore, Schiller pointed out that a third impulse, the "game impulse", needs to be used as a bridge to organically unify the two. Because the "game impulse" is a free and conscious activity of man, it can overcome the "perceptual impulse" and impose restrictions on man from the necessity of nature; It is also possible to overcome the "rational impulse" and impose limitations on man from the point of view of moral necessity; to give man a truly perfect humanity. Of course, the "game" that Schiller refers to here does not refer to a real-life game, but to a free and conscious activity as opposed to compulsion, an aesthetic game or an artistic game. Schiller strongly advocated the cultivation of ideal people, perfect people, and people with comprehensive and harmonious development through aesthetic education.
Schiller's exposition is also of great practical significance to this day.
Modernization has generally improved people's material living standards, but the spiritual world has lacked care. Modern people are crowded in a high-paced, seductive modern life, and people's hearts are floating, and there is no moment of peace. Desire is devouring ideals, change is shaking beliefs, and hearts, spirits, and beliefs are being materialized and abandoned. Everyone seems to have a modern disease of "obsessing over things".
If the whole era is caught in the sound and color of the dog, the pursuit of material life beyond the spiritual life, an era will not find a way forward.
If cultural self-confidence is a more basic, broader, and deeper self-confidence, cultural emptiness is a more serious, dangerous, and heavier emptiness.
Schiller said, "Joy is the strong clockwork that keeps the eternal cycle of nature going on." In the world's big clock, joy is the driving force that drives the gears. "What is truly beautiful must be consistent with nature on the one hand, and with ideals on the other."
Three
I have been the director of the State Administration of Religion for nearly 15 years, and I agree with Mr. Cai Yuanpei's early proposal to "replace religion with aesthetic education."
Cai Yuanpei compares religion with aesthetic education, believing that religion has obvious limitations: "First, aesthetic education is free, while religion is compulsory; Aesthetic education is progressive, while religion is conservative; Third, aesthetic education is universal, and religion is bounded. Therefore, Cai Yuanpei advocates "using beauty to cultivate religion", "to identify the drawbacks of stimulating feelings, and to specialize in the art of cultivating feelings, it is easy to give up religion and cultivate with pure beauty." In Cai Yuanpei's view, the use of aesthetic education instead of religion makes the feelings of the Chinese people not polluted and stimulated, so that they are pure and pure by art, and meet the inherent needs of the development of human nature.
Aesthetic education, cultivate and improve people's ability to feel beauty, the ability to appreciate beauty, the ability to express beauty, the ability to create beauty, the ability to pursue the fun and ideal state of life. Aesthetic education extensively and deeply affects people's emotions, imaginations, thoughts, wills and character, cultivates noble sentiments, and strives to create all beautiful things.
Four
Why does Confucius emphasize "being happy in poetry, standing in etiquette, and becoming happy"?
"Flourishing in poetry", isn't "poetry" the "Book of Poetry"? Xing means to rise, to begin, to exalt. Confucius's "Eight Nobles" said: "The giver Shangye! The poems have been completed. It shows that in the life of the country and society, if a person wants to express his thoughts, treat people and things, and cultivate his speech in all aspects, he should start from studying the "Book of Poetry", and only by understanding such perceptual language can he have a feeling of "beauty", can he "paint the aftermath", and cultivate himself with virtue. Today we use the "Chinese Dream" to inspire people's hearts, in a sense, the "flourishing in poetry" of the whole nation.
"Standing in courtesy". The "Rites" are the rules, rituals, and systems of society. The Analects say, "If you do not learn etiquette, you will not be able to stand." Learning etiquette and observing etiquette, from specific perceptual understanding to rational understanding, strictly abiding by the rules of etiquette, in order to self-denial and re-etiquette, in order to straighten out one's body, is to establish also. Today, we strengthen system construction and emphasize institutional self-confidence, which in a sense is the "standing on the courtesy" of the new era.
"Success is fun". Zi Yue: "People are not kind, such as happy Ho." Confucius believed that if a person is not kind, then the music he plays will not be pleasant. More importantly, "Music" has no scriptures, but lies in the creation of people, a sublimation based on the sensibility of "Poetry" and the rationality of "Rites", and the product of the mutual integration of the two into "people" and "benevolence". "Happy in poetry" and "standing in etiquette" are of course important, but "success" lies in "happiness". In today's view, "music" is not only the "music" of music and the "music" of happiness, but also the universal nobility of morality, the bursting of vitality, the exaltation of spirit, the continuous realization of the people's pursuit of a better life, and the "happiness" of "enjoying the world and enjoying the face".
Five
Record a newspaper interview with me entitled "Li Xing Le Sheng on the Road to the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation", as follows:
"Don't underestimate the music teacher!" Some time ago, at the music lecture of his alma mater, Guizhou University, Ye Xiaowen's relaxed and humorous language ushered in a burst of applause on the spot. Decades ago, Ye Xiaowen studied at Guiyang No. 1 Middle School, where he worked for a full range of middle school wind orchestras, and he was selected as the band's cellist. Ye Xiaowen, who has always loved music, studied cello for a few years when he was a child, and after the age of sixty, he re-studied for three years and performed solo performances at home and abroad. Much like many young people pursuing their musical dreams, Ye Xiaowen often gets up early every morning before going to work to practice the piano for an hour, afraid that the sound will affect his neighbors, he has to go to the basement to practice. Ye Xiaowen's love for music can be seen here. He once quoted the Book of Rites and Music as saying, "Whoever hears, he who gives birth to the heart also." Emotions are in the middle, so the shape is in the sound. Sound is written, called sound. In his view, whether it is a leading cadre or a student, they should have an aesthetic life and an artistic life. Among the many musical categories, Ye Xiaowen has a unique love for symphony, and the "Book of Etiquette" has clouds: "The earth is in harmony, the weather is falling, the yin and yang are in harmony, the heavens and the earth are swinging, the drums are thundering, the wind and rain are fighting, the movement is four hours, the warmth is the sun and the moon, and the hundreds are prosperous." In this way, the sum of heaven and earth is also the sum of the musicians. In Ye Xiaowen's view, this sentence is the most appropriate for symphony. Although he was very busy, Ye Xiaowen would still take time out of writing, playing the piano and other things. He said that he was busy and happy, "enjoying work, single-mindedly, busy and happy; enjoying life, a tea and a book, idle and happy; enjoying the heavens, a lifetime of love, love and happiness; enjoying music, a piano and a rhyme, intoxicated and happy." Looking at the world, cultural inheritance, the popularization of elegant culture, and the cultivation of high-quality culture are often the cultural atmosphere required by a nation to continuously emerge high-quality and innovative talents. In his view, today, if the Chinese nation wants to cultivate high-quality and innovative talents, especially master-level talents, it is necessary to vigorously promote elegant culture and deeply explore and carry forward the essence of human classical culture. Ye Xiaowen said, "Today, when it is time to promote the great development and prosperity of socialist culture, I have found the cello I played in my youth, not only to restore a hobby, but also to find and experience the feeling of cultural self-confidence and self-improvement." I have experienced that culture is prosperous, and everyone can do it; self-confidence and self-improvement can achieve anything. Ye Xiaowen hopes to promote elegant music into the public and send a strong voice to the society with vivid music demonstration and noble public welfare as the pursuit: elegant music should become the art of the masses in China, become an important force to promote the prosperity and development of culture and art, and improve the cultural literacy of the whole people. He also hoped to make a contribution to promoting the return and transcendence of Chinese culture that "flourishes in poetry, stands in etiquette, and becomes happy" and promotes the "prosperity of ceremonies" that accompanies the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Ye Xiaowen hopes that more people love music. In his view, music is indispensable to individuals, nations, and nations. Music can enhance individual aesthetic ability and cultivation; it can enhance and unite the national spiritual strength; it can enhance the comprehensive strength of the country, which is the "soft power" of national culture.
Six
There is a "Starry Amateur Symphony Orchestra", and I am the orchestra leader and cellist. The members are all from all walks of life, but the people who love music, with the theme of "music lights up life", have gone to more than 100 colleges and universities across the country in the past 6 years, and performed more than 160 public welfare performances for college students. As the world's top symphony orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra of the United States came to China to perform, and was also very happy to be invited to perform with us in Beijing. A college student watched our performance and wrote a poem on the spot: "I can recall the past years, help the society, and have a lot of achievements." Shaohua passed away, qingsihua hair, did not dare to forget the country. "I thought, aren't we like dandelions?" When the hair is full of white hair and matures, the seeds that become dandelions fly to all parts of the motherland and grow new dandelions.
Today, the "Mantianxing Amateur Symphony Orchestra" and the "Philharmonic Youth Symphony Orchestra", conducted by the famous young conductor Xia Xiaotang, performed a song "Ode to the Red Flag" for the 2021 Boao Aesthetic Education Forum.
I wish the 2021 Boao Aesthetic Education Action a complete success!
With beauty as the medium, beauty educates the future. Big hands holding small hands, aesthetically nurturing new teenagers.
(The author is deputy director of the Culture, Literature, History and Study Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and the leader of the Mantianxing Amateur Symphony Orchestra)
Source: China Youth Daily client