Research on the Creative Transformation of University Aesthetic Education Driven by New Quality Productive Forces

Under the accelerating development of new quality productive forces, China's demand for high-quality talents has undergone profound changes, shifting beyond singular technical skills to a demand for composite talents possessing aesthetic literacy, innovative thinking, and profound humanistic grounding. Concurrently, as the spiritual lifeblood and cultural foundation of the Chinese nation, Chinese traditional culture, with its rich aesthetic spirit and philosophical ideas (such as the "perfect harmony of beauty and goodness" and "unity of nature and man"), provides the most profound resource repository for university aesthetic education. Its creative transformation and innovative development are crucial for strengthening cultural confidence. However, current university aesthetic education still faces challenges in terms of teaching content, methods, and alignment with contemporary needs. Specifically, issues such as a relative overreliance on theoretical indoctrination, a disconnect between traditional art forms and modern aesthetic sensibilities, and insufficient utilization of digital technologies have hindered its effectiveness and appeal. This situation urgently requires deep integration with modern technology to achieve high-quality and connotative development. This paper aims to explore the core question: Is there an inherent and necessary logical connection between new quality productive forces, Chinese traditional culture, and university aesthetic education? If so, how can a systematic theoretical framework capable of effectively guiding practice be constructed?

This research seeks to clarify the interactive mechanisms and integration paths among these three elements. Its theoretical value lies in constructing a tripartite integrated model of "new quality productive forces - traditional culture - aesthetic education," enriching interdisciplinary research perspectives. Its practical significance is to provide concrete theoretical guidance and action plans for universities to optimize their aesthetic education systems and cultivate new-era talents that meet the requirements of new quality productive forces.

New Quality Productive Forces represent an advanced form of productivity primarily driven by innovation, characterized by high technology, high efficiency, and high quality, with a substantial increase in total factor productivity serving as its core indicator. They are catalyzed by revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of production factors, and in-depth industrial transformation and upgrading. This concept encompasses qualitative leaps in laborers, means of labor, objects of labor, and their optimized combination. Importantly, New Quality Productive Forces impose higher demands on laborer quality, necessitating not only strategic scientists, leading technological talents, and outstanding engineers but also high-quality human capital equipped with aesthetic literacy, innovative spirit, and interdisciplinary integration capabilities to meet the needs of disruptive technological change and industrial innovation. The rise of industries such as artificial intelligence, cultural big data, and immersive media underscores that future competitiveness will rely not only on technological advancement but also on the cultural connotation and aesthetic experience embedded within products and services. 

China’s exceptional traditional culture, as the spiritual lifeline and cultural root of the Chinese nation, contains a wealth of aesthetic education philosophies and resources. Philosophically, concepts such as "rites-music education," the pursuit of "perfect harmony," and "harmony between human and nature" constitute the spiritual core of Chinese aesthetic education, emphasizing the cultivation of character and moral sentiment. In terms of resources, cultural heritage like poetry, calligraphy, painting, music, and intangible cultural heritage, alongside material culture such as painted pottery, bronze ware, and ancient architecture, forms an extensive repository for aesthetic education. These philosophies and resources possess not only historical significance but also, through the interaction of "moralizing aesthetics" and "aestheticizing morality," endow aesthetic education with the unique value of cultivating people through culture and nurturing fundamental qualities through beauty, playing an irreplaceable role in shaping well-rounded personalities and stimulating creativity. However, for these static resources to effectively serve modern aesthetic education, they must undergo a process of screening, interpretation, and activation using contemporary methods, which is precisely where the driving force of new quality productive forces becomes essential. 

The mission of university aesthetic education has transcended the traditional transmission of artistic skills. Its fundamental task lies in "cultivating people through culture and educating them through beauty”. In the new era, university aesthetic education aims, by promoting the Chinese aesthetic spirit, to enhance students' aesthetic and humanistic literacy, nurture their moral character, temper their minds, and stimulate innovative and creative vitality. Its ultimate goal is to serve the cultivation of socialist builders and successors who are well-rounded morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and labor-wise, responding to the new requirements for comprehensive talent quality in high-quality development. To achieve this goal, it is imperative to break down the isolation between aesthetic education, professional education, and innovative entrepreneurship education, and to explore a new model that deeply integrates humanistic edification, artistic cultivation, and technological empowerment. The clear definition of these three concepts lays a theoretical foundation for discussing their intrinsic logic and integration pathways.

New Quality Productive Forces, China's exceptional traditional culture, and university aesthetic education together constitute a robust framework of interdependence and mutual reinforcement, which is pivotal for cultivating high-quality talent in the new era. This framework is not a simple linear relationship but an organic ecosystem characterized by dynamic interaction. Its core operational logic can be deconstructed into a clear functional chain: ​New Quality Productive Forces act as the driving engine, primarily providing advanced technological tools and methodologies. These include digitalization, intelligence, and virtual reality technologies, which offer fundamental support for the preservation, innovation, and dissemination of traditional culture. For instance, high-precision 3D scanning and virtual reality technologies used in cultural heritage preservation, like those employed at the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, exemplify this role by giving fragile cultural relics a "digital life". Concurrently, these technologies create new models and formats for the innovative development of traditional culture.

​Traditional culture serves as the spiritual root and value soul​ of this framework. It provides university aesthetic education with profound philosophical wisdom, rich artistic resources, and a unique aesthetic spirit. Concepts such as the perfect harmony of beauty and goodness, the unity of nature and man, and the educational tradition of rites and music constitute the core of Chinese aesthetic spirit. These elements inject profound cultural connotation and distinctive value orientation into aesthetic education. When these traditional resources undergo creative transformation and innovative development empowered by new quality productive forces—such as using AI for ancient poetry creation or integrating traditional patterns into modern design—they provide high-quality, resonant content for university aesthetic education, moving beyond simple skill training to achieve the fundamental task of cultivating well-rounded individuals.

​University aesthetic education functions as the key hub, acting as a vital bridge for transformation and integration. Its mission is to internalize the spiritual essence of excellent traditional culture, which has been revitalized by technological empowerment, and transform it into the core nourishment for talent development. This involves systematically integrating transformed traditional cultural resources into the talent development system through optimized curriculum design (e.g., courses on digital heritage or smart museum management), innovative teaching methods (e.g., immersive VR aesthetic experiences), and diverse practical activities. Its goal is to enhance students' aesthetic literacy, innovative thinking, and cultural confidence, ultimately cultivating composite talents with humanistic grounding needed for the new quality productivity era. Aesthetically educated individuals, equipped with cultural confidence and innovative capabilities, in turn provide enduring intellectual support and momentum for the development of new quality productive forces.

This dynamic interaction ultimately forms a virtuous cycle that fuels national modernization. Specifically, the development demands of new quality productive forces guide the innovative direction of aesthetic education, prompting reforms in its content and methods. The creative transformation and innovative development of excellent traditional culture provide high-quality content and distinctive value support for aesthetic education. The upgraded aesthetic education, in turn, cultivates high-quality composite talents with aesthetic literacy, innovative spirit, and cultural confidence for the new era. These talents, engaged in social practice, will drive further technological innovation and industrial upgrading, continuously injecting new momentum into the development of new quality productive forces. This cycle embodies the coordinated development of material and spiritual civilization, showcasing the distinctive Chinese approach and wisdom in leveraging cultural resources to foster talent and innovation.

In conclusion, this study systematically elucidates the intrinsic logical connection and operational mechanisms among new quality productive forces, Chinese traditional culture, and university aesthetic education, constructing a tripartite integration model of "driving force–content support–talent cultivation." The research demonstrates that new quality productive forces, as the engine of innovation, provide technological empowerment for the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional culture. Traditional culture, as the spiritual root, injects profound philosophical wisdom and aesthetic resources into aesthetic education, enriching its content and value connotation. University aesthetic education, in turn, serves as a key hub, internalizing culturally enriched and technologically empowered resources to cultivate composite talents with aesthetic literacy, innovative capabilities, and cultural confidence required for the new era. This dynamic and circular interaction model effectively addresses the challenges of cultural discount, narrative homogeneity, and structural imbalances in current practices, providing a feasible path for enhancing the quality and efficacy of aesthetic education.

Looking forward, future research could further explore specific implementation pathways and effectiveness evaluation under different disciplinary backgrounds and university types. Moreover, as artificial intelligence, big data, and other technologies continue to evolve, the application of human-computer collaboration in personalized aesthetic education and the ethical norms of technology application will also be important directions for future study. It is believed that, driven by new quality productive forces, the deep integration of traditional culture and aesthetic education will not only cultivate well-rounded talents with cultural heritage and innovative spirit but also tell China’s stories well in the context of global cultural interaction, contributing Chinese wisdom and solutions to the advancement of human civilization.