Turning And Reconstruction:the History Of Chinese Aesthetic Education Ideas In The First Half Of The 20th Century

Despite the vital role in traditional Chinese society as an important way of ethical enlightenment and cultural inheritance,the function and value of aesthetic education have been systematically played down for a long time under the cover of religious and ethical discourse.Since the 20 th century,the value of aesthetic education in the field of science and humanities has been rediscovered and reflected thanks to the active advocacy of a group of advanced intellectuals such as Cai Yuanpei,and the concept has also experienced continuous debate.If we cannot understand this history,it will be difficult to understand the concept of aesthetic education itself,let alone to transform the change of the concept world into an effective design of modern aesthetic education concept and practice.Therefore,this paper is selected from 1901 to 1949 when the concept system was more continuous and compatible.It takes the concept history as the description and presentation method and the new culture history as the research orientation to investigate the occurrence,change and reconstruction of the aesthetic education concept in the process of social development with the aim to clarify the following questions – where does the idea of modern aesthetic education come from? What are the interactions of factors that make aesthetic education a stable and valuable category in a series of educational development processes? How to transform the concept of aesthetic education into effective educational design and practice? The answer will help us better understand the connotation and extension of the concept of aesthetic education and its value and significance in modern education through the observation of time narrative.On the basis of literature analysis,this paper argues that the word "aesthetic education" was not used in ancient China etymologically,and the joint appearance of the two characters "beauty" and "education" in ancient documents is incidental and independent,so it has not become a real Chinese word.As a definite term,"aesthetic education" was translated from Japanese into German by Cai Yuanpei in 1901.From then on,"aesthetic education" entered people's cognitive system in the semantic way of Chinese,and began the process of constructing its modern concept.In this process,it has experienced the transformation from traditional idea to modern idea and the reconstruction of educational idea.The significance of the turning can be reflected in the following aspects: one is to change the way of its conception system of the present.In the 20 th century,Cai Yuanpei began to have the discourse system of subjectivity and the independent value system,which is no longer attached to the category of religion,ethics and other others as in the tradition.;Second,under the influence of the advanced science in modern times,the methodology system of aesthetic education concept has changed from the philosophical introspection and speculative method to the scientific and psychological method.Third,the concept of aesthetic education has gradually evolved into practical,popular and socialized factors from the traditional aesthetic pursuit of transcend reality,aristocracy and individual affected by pragmatism,democratic concept,social and political changes and cultural changes in modern times.Under the impetus of the new educational reform,it has become the content of educational policy and entered the field of education,making the concept of "everyone can be aesthetic" an important feature and practical premise of modern aesthetic education.With the wide spread and acceptance of the concept of aesthetic education,the reconstruction of aesthetic education to modern education has become a common concern of aesthetic educators,artists,educators and others.This kind of construction is not single,but multi-dimensional,that is,in the family education,school education,social education in different levels of thinking and reconstruction,making the modern aesthetic education in time,space and objects of the whole people,the whole life,the whole scene of radiation.Eventually,it has become the modern and contemporary aesthetic education concept and practice of the basic model.The purpose of this paper is not only to clearly explain the reasons or manifestations of the modern rise of the concept of aesthetic education,but also to pay attention to the cultural diversity,debates and conflicts presented by the people with aesthetic education ideas,as well as the common traditions and differences of some issues.In the process of this explanation,we try to combine two kinds of opposite but complementary research approaches: one is internal research,which focuses on solving the problem of the change of aesthetic education concept inside;The other is the external research with the idea of bringing the idealist's thinking and practice and their living times and the integrity of the cultural tradition together,expands the theme of aesthetic education the boundary.The study is more an aesthetic education concept history as the footnotes of the exploration of cultural history or social history than the history of aesthetic education concept research.