Exploration of the Role of Aesthetic Education in Rural Cultural Revitalization
-Taking the Rural Aesthetic Education Practice in Zhushan Village, Zhong County in Chongqing as an Example
Abstract
With the arrival of the era of post-globalization, the role of aesthetic education in rural cultural revitalization has become increasingly prominent in regard of the importance of certain areas and the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy. This paper focuses on the example of aesthetic education practice in Zhushan Village, Mozi Township, Zhong County in Chongqing, analyzes the realistic dilemmas faced by rural areas, the demonstration of the value of aesthetic education for rural revitalization, and the role of aesthetic education in rural revitalization. This paper also puts forward promoting the development and prosperity of rural culture through the strategies including beautification in daily life, customized curriculum, platform construction, and organizational optimization.
Keywords
Rural Cultural Revitalization; Aesthetic Education; Modernization; Social Cohesion
1. Introduction
Rural revitalization is closely related to the advancement of the overall goal of socialist modernization. The implementation of the rural revitalization strategy aims to comprehensively enhance the overall development of economy, culture, ecology and society in rural areas. As a flexible form of education, aesthetic education is of great significance in enhancing the cultural literacy of rural residents and promoting the inheritance and innovation of rural culture. This paper focuses on the practice of aesthetic education in Zhushan Village, Mozi Township, Zhong County in Chongqing, and tries to demonstrate the possibility of aesthetic education prompting rural cultural revitalization by exploring the realistic dilemmas faced by rural areas, the embodiment of the value of aesthetic education in cultural revitalization of Zhushan Village as well as the approaches to its realization, which reflects the importance of aesthetic education in building up spiritual culture and social cohesion.
2. The realistic dilemmas faced by rural areas
Located in Mozi Township, Zhong County in Chongqing, Zhushan Village is a typical traditional Chinese village. It is lack of significant geographic advantages and profound historical and cultural resources, which is a key sample that does not possess the conditions of a featured sample. The current situation of Zhushan Village reflects the common challenge faced by many Chinese villages, which is that the reality is crystal clear while the future in the distance is unforeseeable. How to achieve the revitalization of such an "ordinary" village is a huge task presented to the participants of the rural development project.
As shown in many successful cases of rural revitalization, the key to promoting the development of rural areas also lies in stimulating the internal vitality and autonomy. The sustainable development of rural areas also depends on its self-renewal ability, which requires that the development strategy not only meets the actual needs of rural residents, but also encourages them to actively participate in every aspect of rural construction so that they all have a role to play in the future of Zhushan Village. Culture plays an indispensable part during this process, especially in the face of challenges such as the weakening of rural residents' sense of native identity and the balance between rural cultural preservation and development. Cultural activities and education are beneficial to the development of rural residents' pride in native culture, activating their sense of responsibility and creativity for rural development, leading to the enhancement of rural cohesion and vitality.
3. Embodiment of the value of aesthetic education for rural cultural revitalization
As mentioned above, Zhushan Village is now going through the impacts of modernization, which have led to a gradual cultural rupture, making it difficult for rural residents to adapt to their native way of life that has been passed down for generations. In the 18th century, Schiller, a German philosopher, said in his book On the Aesthetic Education of Man that in addition to "rational impulse" and "sensual impulse", there is a third impulse called "game impulse", which can also be understood as "aesthetic" (Schiller, 2016). In his view, having created a huge amount of material wealth, the industrialized and mechanized society has also changed the relationship between humans and society, and disunited the integrity of human nature. Aesthetics is conducive to restoring people's nature and achieving a state of complete unity, relieving the psychological trauma people go through in the process of modernization. Therefore, on some level, it seems that aesthetic education has the potential to help people adapt to the changes brought about by modernization and restore their inner harmony and balance.
In ancient China, "ritual" and "music" complemented each other in building up social culture and personal character. As a place where traditional Chinese culture is relatively well-preserved, in order to achieve the renewal of traditional culture in rural areas, we could adopt the wisdom of ancient people and assist in the establishment of "new rituals" in rural areas through aesthetic education, so as to build up a spiritual and cultural system that is in harmony with the modern rural lifestyle.
4. Exploration of the role of aesthetic education in rural cultural revitalization
4.1 Beautification in daily life: enhancing the aesthetic experience of rural life
The core of rural cultural revitalization is about rural residents, who are the inheritor and promoter of culture. It proves to be a significant task for rural aesthetic education to enhance the personal aesthetic literacy of rural residents and encourage them to approach daily life from an aesthetic perspective In the past, the classes of aesthetic education were usually set up in schools, however, the rural cultural revitalization involves people from different ages and places, it is obviously difficult to conduct the education practice simply relying on the school system. In this regard, the traditional restrictions on space and approaches of aesthetic education need to be broken. The space of aesthetic education should be extended into family and reality, making it truly integrated into the lives of rural residents and reaching a sustained, in-depth and effective cultural impact. For example, in the aesthetic education practice in Zhushan Village, the teaching faculty beautified the environment and improved public facilities through targeted renovation, which enhanced the overall image of Zhushan Village. It allowed rural residents to develop their perception and appreciation of beauty in daily life, which is conducive to the establishment of rural spiritual and cultural system.
4.2 Curriculum customization: development of aesthetic education curriculum based on native characteristics
Distinguishing from the city's single curriculum standard for aesthetic education, rural aesthetic education should be conducted according to local conditions. The curriculum should be formulated based on local customs, history and culture, natural resources and characteristic industries (Chunyan Zhu & Shiqi Lai, 2020). In the practice in Zhushan Village, the teaching faculty formulated a series of teaching programs for local "left-behind children". For example, by collecting the interesting sounds the children heard in the village and re-editing the collected sounds with them to make up "song of the village", the image of Zhushan Village that each child "heard" was visualized and vividly presented. Meanwhile, the teaching faculty utilized local natural resources, such as bamboo and straw, to make artistic life products along with the rural residents. These practical activities not only engage rural residents in aesthetic education, but also allow them to experience the joy and value of creativity. Through curriculum development, the teaching faculty took into full consideration the personalities of the participants and the advantageous resources of the village, effectively activating the interest of rural residents in exploring native culture and enhancing their sense of identity and belonging to Zhushan Village. This provides a program that distinguishes itself from the conventional urban paradigm of aesthetic education, while offering innovative ideas and approaches for the actual practice of rural cultural revitalization.
4.3 Improvement of the platform: establishment of rural platforms for aesthetic education resources
The effective promotion and implementation of aesthetic education requires the establishment of relevant mechanisms to ensure that participants of the rural revitalization program pay attention to the construction of platforms for rural aesthetic education to expand its channels to participate in rural life. In this regard, Zhushan Village perfected the supporting mechanisms for rural aesthetic education through practices like building rural art museums. In addition, rural aesthetic education requires an interdisciplinary and cross-field vision. The participation of diverse teams from the government, universities, private third-party organizations and rural grassroots organizations is conducive to the improvement of the rural aesthetic education system. In this regard, Zhushan Village has already formulated a plan for university teachers and students to participate in social aesthetic education under multi-party cooperation, which has become a demonstration base for the Party's aesthetic education activities. It has enabled Zhushan Village to acquire easier access to aesthetic resources and provided a solid foundation for its cultural revitalization.
4.4 Organizational optimization: extensive consultation, joint contribution, shared benefits and co-governance among rural residents
Developing a sense of rural subjectivity is an important part of rural aesthetic education, which leads to requirements for the organizational model. A participatory organizational model was adopted in the aesthetic education practice in Zhushan Village to encourage rural residents to play a more active role in the development of rural culture. Through extensive consultation, joint contribution, shared benefits and co-governance, rural residents are no longer passive recipients but have become active participants and decision-makers in the revitalization of rural culture.
5. Conclusion
Aesthetic education plays an important role in the revitalization of rural culture, which is beneficial to the enrichment of people's mind, as well as their emotional enlightenment and aesthetic awareness. It is also insignificant for reconciling the conflicts of rural modernization, which is conducive to reshaping the spiritual and cultural system that is in line with the modern rural life. This paper takes the example of Zhushan Village's aesthetic education practice, and proposes that the participants of rural aesthetic education should conduct their work based on the reality of rural areas and promote the development and prosperity of rural culture through beautification in daily life, customized curriculum, improved platforms, and organizational optimization.
References
Chunyan Zhu, Shiqi Lai. Exploration of the Role of Rural Aesthetic Education in the New Era Based on the Aestheticization Theory of Daily Life [J] Journal of Aesthetic Education, 2020, 11(01): 58-62.
Schiller F. On the aesthetic education of man[M]. Penguin UK, 2016. Translated by Yuneng Zhang. Nanjing: Yilin Press. 2009.