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Aesthetic Classroom Under the Natural Canopy

“Summer Night

Summer night/I bask in the gentle breeze beneath the clouds/Amidst the symphony of mosquito bites/Cicada chirps/And frog croaks/I drift into a peaceful slumber.”

Zeng Xuanni, a Class 2021 student of the Department of Industrial Design in AADTHU has been an active participant in five rural aesthetic education support initiatives.

This poetic excerpt, penned by a young girl named Xiao Shan during her first poetry session in Ziyang, Hunan Province, exemplifies raw talent, imagination, sincerity, and purity.

Aesthetic Education Team Teaches in Countryside

“These children, mostly from rural areas, may not possess the same privileges as their urban counterparts, but the nature they’re immersed in every day serves as their most invaluable muse,” Zeng observes, “Nature’s tangible beauty creates an innate aesthetic classroom.” During winter and summer breaks, she ventures into the countryside as either a participant or organizer to foster aesthetic education. Despite the lack of multimedia and sophisticated teaching aids, the poetry classes remain unhindered. With open hearts and boundless minds, coupled with interactive and enlightening sessions, children’s ingenious verses flow like crystal-clear mountain springs. In their eyes, the night signifies the sun’s return of all things to the earth, while rain represents the heavens’ emotional outpour, moved by a girl’s sorrow. Indeed, rural life offers a boundless blue sky, a stark contrast to the urban “four-corner sky” confined by towering structures, providing aesthetic nourishment seldom found in cities.

Children’s After-School Frolics by the Lake

The team’s curriculum focuses on guiding children through “factual aesthetic education,” enabling them to experience, contemplate, and transform the beauty in their lives. In the rural setting, these college students and children transcend traditional educator-educated roles to jointly discover and create beauty.