On the afternoon of September 17, 2021, Xinya College launched an exhibition of paintings by students from the course "Basics of Chinese Traditional Bird-and-Flower Painting". The theme of the exhibition was "Learning from Traditional Culture", the first exhibition of its kind that the College has held. The exhibition was curated by Gan Yang, Dean of Xinya College, with Zhao Tianye, a teacher from Hangzhou Chinese Painting Academy, as the art director. A total of 26 works by 13 students were displayed. The opening ceremony attracted many students at Xinya College. Other attendees on invitation included Chen Zhihao, Director of the Science and Technology Innovation Center of the Youth League Committee of the university, and Shen Hui, Senior Director of general education of its Office of Academic Affairs. The ceremony was presided over by Jin Siyu from Xinya College.

As the teacher of the firstsession of "Basics of Chinese Traditional Bird-and-Flower Painting" class at Xinya College, Zhao Tianye expressed her gratitude to teachers and students at Xinya College. She said that some works exhibited this time were copies of theScroll of Hundred Flowers from the Song Dynasty by the students in class, and others were created by the students themselves. Ms. Zhao saw the progress and gains for students both from the course and beyond, and felt pleased.

Chen Zhihao acknowledged the "Aesthetic Education Process" for students and expressed his expectation for cherishing the experience of "advancing towards beauty". Shen Hui said: "Aesthetic education has a subliminal influence on students. Some mandatory requirements may not bring good results. You should be trained to see the progress you make as you are nourished silently in such an environment."

At the end of the opening ceremony, Dean Gan Yang said that the revival of traditional culture is an important part of that of the Chinese civilization proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping. To carry forward traditional culture, we must first learn to pass it on. Only on that basis can we talk about innovation and transformation. It is the original intention of Xinya College to launch such courses as "Basics of Chinese Traditional Bird-and-Flower Painting". Xinya has always attached great importance to art education. In recent years, we have also made some explorations and attempts in this regard. He also hopes that the explorations will contribute to the advancement of art education across the university.

After the opening ceremony, teachers and students visited the exhibition together.

Text by Shao Jie

Photographed by Zhang Wenjing

Edited by Zhang Jingfang