China Academy of Art (CAA) held its Inauguration Ceremony for New Students of 2023 at its Xiangshan Campus at 7:28 p.m. on October 13. Jin Yibin, Chairman of the Committee of Academy Affairs, presented the representative of the new cohort with the school badge as well as cultural gifts such as paper, ink, brushes, and paper scrolls, and President Gao Shiming delivered an address at the ceremony. Members of the Academy’s leadership team, Liu Zheng, Fang Peixin, Shen Hao, Fu Qiaoling, Xu Guoqiang, and Yu Xuhong, as well as the heads of the CAA departments attended the event. The Vice Chairman of the Committee of Academy Affairs Sun Xudong hosted the ceremony.

In his speech titled “Assignments from China Academy of Art”, President Gao posed this question to newcomer students: “What are you expected to learn as a student at CAA?”. He also called upon fellow travelers on the “Journey of CAA” to have the drive and confidence to apply art to everything in life, and urged them to gain inspiration from the everyday world, question, and find their own causes. Students should acquire the ability to discern beauty in the ordinary and the essence of all things, the quality that ensures one’s cultural sophistication and aesthetic taste, the capacity to reinvent and surpass oneself, and the relentless, unwavering desire to rise above the mundane.

Geng Chaoqiang, Chief Professor at Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, UCAS and Executive Dean of its School of Fundamental Physics and Mathematical Sciences; Fu Wuwei, faculty representative and Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities; Yu Mo, faculty representative from the School of Foundation Studies; Jin Yuxian, representative of current students and postgraduate from the School of Calligraphy; and Chen Hanyun, representative of new students and a student from the School of Foundation Studies also delivered a speech.

The ceremony ended with the teaching and student bodies singing the school song. The event was followed by the evening program “We’re on Fire!” and a series of exciting performances that were well received by the audience.