The history of the Center for Aesthetics and Arts dated back to May 1998, when the Section of Art Teaching and Research was established. Currently the center has a staff of 8, of which 6 are in service and 2 have retired.

In 1996, the State Education Commission issued the document “Strengthening the Art education in Institutes of Higher Education”, emphasizing the importance of improving the overall quality of college students and strengthening art education. In line with this, the then Beijing Medical University (BMU) established the Section of Art Teaching and Research in May 1998. The following courses were successively offered: Singing Art, History of Chinese and Western Music, Art Appreciation and Calligraphy Art Class. Art societies were also established, including chorus, dance group, electro-acoustic band, calligraphy and painting club.

In April 2000, Beijing Medical University was merged into Peking University. Since then, more attention has been paid to art education, and the strengthening of the teaching team and the curricula. As a result, more teachers joined the team and more courses were offered. Our center also started to recruit art students from all over the country together with Peking University, forming a high-level art troupe.

In September 2017, in accordance with the new deployment of the university, the Section of Art teaching and Research was incorporated into the School of Fundamental Education, which started the new attempt to combine art education with humanities education.

Our center combines art popularization and professional education, gives equal importance to both classroom teaching and practice, and offers courses to all medical students. By ways of classroom teaching, after-school training and stage performance, we try to enrich students’ art knowledge, cultivate students’ love and pursuit of art, improve students’ aesthetic taste and artistic appreciation, and encourage students to pursue a higher life purpose and value, so as to produce outstanding art talents for the building of campus culture. In terms of curriculum building, the center attaches great importance to classroom teaching, keep improving the quality of teachers. It has developed a collective auditing system, organized the displays of teaching achievements, promoted the exchange between teachers, enhanced teachers’ cultivation and teaching through organized training trips. It also encourages teachers to start new courses according to their own characteristics and professional interests. At present, the center offers such courses as Music knowledge and Singing of Chinese and Foreign Popular Songs, Vocal Music Skill Training, Appreciation of European and American Classical and Pop music, Opera Appreciation, Body Art and Temperament Cultivation, Basic Training in Popular Jazz Dance, Introduction to Piano Playing and Singing, Brief History of Chinese and Foreign Music and Appreciation of Famous Works, etc.

From this new starting point, all the teachers of the center will continue to study and explore, keep the excellent cultural tradition of Peking University, give full play to the multi-disciplinary humanistic advantages School of Medical Humanities, and contribute to the building of a first-class university, the improvement of the overall quality and artistic quality of our medical students, and the creation of a colorful campus culture.