Ways of professional and innovative integration in the field of professional art education in China

Van Tszin Lecturer; Institute of Fine Arts; Xinjiang Pedagogical University 102 Xinilu St., Urumqi, China, 830054 wangjing1@rambler.ru

Introduction

Due to the advent of the era of globalization and informatization, any boundaries, including between different fields of art and art education, are gradually being erased, and cultural exchanges and cooperation in various forms and formats are becoming the norm. Integration leads to innovation in art, a change in the traditional ways of creating art and teaching, and the training of talents with interdisciplinary abilities and innovative thinking. Thanks to it, artists can better respond to rapidly changing social needs and create works relevant to their time. An example of this is the experience of modern China, where the system of training artists, musicians, dancers and other representatives of artistic and creative specialties is actively developing within the framework of the concept of "professional and innovative integration". The latter includes the idea of cooperation between representatives of different disciplines, fields of knowledge in both artistic creation and teaching. The purpose of this path is to break down traditional disciplinary boundaries and promote artistic innovation, development, that is, innovation, but based on the achievements of international practice that are optimal for local conditions.

China's experience in the field of professional art education is being fruitfully studied in Russian science, including through Russian-speaking researchers from China, who introduce the reader to various previously unknown, unpublished aspects of this phenomenon. Most often, scientists consider the mechanisms of integrating elements of national culture into the pedagogy of art ^{[1; 2; 3]}. The issues of Russian-Chinese integration in the field of art pedagogy are of interest. ^{[4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9]}. However, the integrative approach to the professional and personal development of future representatives of creative professions in the conditions of secondary and higher art education in modern China, as well as the concept of "integration" in such training are not sufficiently disclosed.

In this light, higher and secondary art education in modern China should be considered as the object of research, and the subject is the theoretical understanding and practical application of "integration" as a methodological principle for building multi–level artist training in Chinese universities and colleges based on the idea of synthesizing continuity, traditions, modern trends and innovations. The goal is as follows: to determine the options for applying the concept of "professional and innovative integration" in the artistic and creative training of future specialists in the system of secondary and higher professional art education in China. The tasks facing the author of the article are to study the aspects of the concept of integration through the prism of artistic and creative training; to characterize the approaches to integration and its interpretation that have developed in various educational institutions of China at different levels. The theoretical and methodological basis of the research was made up of works dealing with the phenomenon of integration in education, in particular, belonging to Russian scientists: E.T. Ardashirov ^[10], E.O. Galitskikh ^[11], V.N. Maksimova ^[12], O.A. Shvikovsky ^[13] and others. The novelty of the research is due to the fact that it complements the corpus of works devoted to the study of the concepts of "integration" and "innovation" in art pedagogy by summarizing and analyzing the experience of the two largest institutions of secondary and higher art education in modern China.

Shenzhen School of Art: from integration to innovation

During the fifth collective training session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese Secretary General Xi Jinping pointed out the need to improve the country's policy of opening national education to the world through "engagement" and "exit", that is, China's entry into the global educational arena, positioning and dissemination of Chinese experience and achievements ^[14]. Art is an important part of cultural exchange between the republic and other countries, as well as an important channel of "soft power". This requires the theorists and practitioners of art pedagogy in the country to establish cooperation with foreign educational systems and individual institutions, which allows, from the point of view of the Chinese people, to create innovations. So, there is "a need to rebuild the existing education system and pedagogical technologies in terms of introducing an innovative component" ^{[15, p. 176]}.

In China, attention to art education has increased in recent years. More and more Chinese applicants are striving to get it. Some of them go abroad, wanting to learn the basics of classical academic education in the field of arts. Many enroll in leading international art schools such as the Curtis Institute of Music in the USA, the Juilliard School in the USA and the Hamburg Conservatory of Music in Germany. Applicants who are interested in learning the basics of visual literacy prefer to go to European academies of arts, as well as to Russia. However, most Chinese remain in the country, seeking to enter the country's famous art universities and colleges, such as the Central Conservatory of Music, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the Chinese Conservatory of Music, the Beijing Academy of Dance, the Shanghai Theater Academy, the PLA Academy of Arts, the Chinese Academy of Arts and the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. The average percentage in them in 2024 already exceeded 80% ^[15].

A special place among Chinese educational institutions engaged in secondary vocational training in the field of arts is occupied by the Shenzhen School of Art, which adheres to the concept of "from integration to innovation." The educational institution has been engaged in professional training of future musicians and dancers, as well as artists and designers for forty years. Currently, the Shenzhen School of Art is one of the most attractive educational institutions for Chinese applicants. So, in 2019, before the epidemic of coronavirus infection, the number of applicants exceeded a thousand people. The competition was eleven people per place, and the total score was 95% ^[16]. The management and teaching staff of the Art School adheres to the idea of developing and supporting talents through cooperation with other educational institutions, institutions, organizing exhibitions and regular events. The latter are focused on cultural exchange with other countries and are organized through the mediation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China. Based on its concept and the support of the government, the Art School has become a pilot project to create an open and integrated communication platform that uses leading Chinese and foreign resources in the field of art education. The Shenzhen School's training system is also a communication platform and resource base that is open to all Chinese art professional colleges and provides an opportunity to get in touch with leading foreign art education institutions. As a result, in the professional community of China, the method of exporting abroad the Chinese model of vocational education in the field of arts began to be called the "Shenzhen Model of Art" ^[16].

The Shenzhen School uses teaching methods and technologies, develops textbooks and teaching practices so as to take the best from both its traditions and foreign achievements. The history of this educational institution is a process of transformation influenced by the integration of external experience. Initially, the school trained only specialists in the field of Chinese classical dance. However, new specialties were gradually added, namely Chinese opera dance and Chinese martial arts. These specialties were taught in unity with the basic methods of teaching Western ballet. Thus, the range of educational programs and teaching methods has changed over time, complemented by what was in demand in the art world and in the country's education system, including through foreign experience.

In 2012, the Shenzhen School began to cooperate with leading foreign institutions of art education at various levels, jointly developing educational materials and setting standards for evaluating curricula. We are talking about the Cleveland Institute of Music in the USA, the Royal College of Art Birmingham in the UK, the Royal Conservatory of Music in the Netherlands, the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp in Belgium, the Parma Conservatory in Italy, the East-West International Dance Alliance in Giessen in Germany, the Yogyakarta Academy of Arts in Indonesia and the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, etc. The formats of such interaction can be different and range from joint participation in projects to conducting classes. For example, teachers of choreography at the Cleveland Institute of Music have been conducting online master classes since 2017. American educators introduce students to their "body rhythm" learning system. The Shenzhen School of Art is the only educational institution in China where you can learn about this system. Already in 2012, representatives of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague (Netherlands) began conducting master classes at the Shenzhen School of Art in real time. Together, teachers and students from China and The Hague staged an "Ode to the Yellow River." Due to the proximity, the school cooperates with the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, but so far at the level of collaboration on major cultural events. The first step was the concert "Twenty Years of Glory", held in Shenzhen and Hong Kong in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to China, where students and teachers of both universities performed together.

According to the teachers of the educational institution and its director Huang Qicheng, such an approach allows for a "transformation" in students' thinking, as it allows them to stimulate their creative initiative and independence on the way to innovative solutions ^[17]. Students learn to learn, think, and find solutions. The school, following its concept, gives students the opportunity to express themselves in various fields of culture and art, including through participation in leading international competitions. By 2025, piano students had won the Chopin International Piano Competition, the Leeds International Piano Competition, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and the Tchaikovsky International Music Competition. The graduates of the school included performing musicians and composers Chen Sa, Zhang Haochen and Zuo Zhang, choreographers Liu Chengliang and He Junbo, director Huang Zenghongchen, actor Li Yitong, influencers Zhang Yuxuan, Zhou Jiaer, and others.

The Shenzhen School of Art develops academic exchanges and discussions in various ways, opening communication channels between a large number of art universities and creative teams at home and abroad. Realizing the idea of "exit", representatives of the educational institution travel to other countries as part of their delegations. One of the most fruitful areas of international cooperation has been the work of Chinese teachers and students with partners from Germany and Belgium to organize a series of international events in the field of dance art. They not only performed in Europe, but also conducted many dance workshops for foreign students. So, during these exchanges, advanced concepts of modern Western dance with traditional Chinese culture were synthesized. The best practices were implemented in teaching at the school itself and in secondary vocational schools in different parts of China. Also, together with European colleagues, projects of educational materials on modern dance for secondary professional art education in China were developed. The textbooks are currently being prepared for publication.

Over the past ten years, the School of Arts has held several large-scale cultural exchange events. They were launched in 2014 during the "Soul of Piano and Dance" festival, followed by the "Piano and Dance Season" in 2018, and then the "Dreams Begin Here" exhibition of professional education in the field of art in 2021. In 2022, the concert "The Heart of Art is the Party" was held. These events allowed the educational institution to gain experience through cooperation and actively explore new ways for external exchange and joint development of professional education in the field of art.

The concept of the National Exhibition of Achievements in the field of Cultural and Artistic Professional Education, exchange and cooperation in the field of education in 2023, entitled "Art connects the world, creates bridges of communication", is based on the idea of "integration". The exhibition was held at the school and the Shenzhen Polytechnic Theater under the leadership of the Department of Science and Education of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China. Over the course of several days, works of fine art made by teachers and students on the topic of exchange between the countries were presented. In parallel, a seminar was held on cooperation in the field of economics and culture, as well as master classes attended by representatives of different countries. The master classes were conducted mostly by the School of Art.

It was important for the organizers to show that the art world of Shenzhen is currently integrating Chinese and Western cultures, combining classical and modern, music and dance, music and drama, science and art. It was also positioned that Chinese vocational education had become open, inclusive and gathered talents for the professional community in the field of art throughout the country and even around the world. The art School played the fourth part of the Yellow River piano concert in the exhibition program, combining nine pianos, each of which was played by a performer from China and other countries. The dance "Butterflies in Love", which was shown by teachers and students, demonstrated the possibilities of synthesizing Chinese classical dance and ballet, oriental and Western instruments. The dancers were accompanied by an orchestra composed of musicians from various music schools, including foreign ones. Dance groups from Germany, Italy, Belgium and other countries also demonstrated their achievements. The Shenzhen School of Art, in turn, invited employees of art vocational schools from different regions of China, who performed folk songs and the Beijing opera.

The Shenzhen School of Art also acted as the initiator and the base for the implementation of the Technology + project. The idea arose after the publication in 2022 of the new Law on Vocational Education and the "Guidelines for promoting the qualitative development of vocational education in the field of culture and art in the new era", which noted that vocational education in the field of culture and art should meet the development of cultural enterprises, industries and the requirements of tourism ^[18]. The emphasis was placed on the integration of production and education, cooperation between educational institutions and enterprises. To this end, the school, located in Shenzhen, the city of technological innovation, has introduced "Technology+" into teaching practice and has become a leader in using 5G technology to conduct digital learning research. So, in the concert hall of the campus, teachers and students were able to participate in real-time classes at any university or college in the world using the remote YAMAHA piano system. As part of the project, the school collaborated with the Perth Music Group, which was named the Yinzhangmen Informationized Music Education System Based on Digital Technologies.

Since 2021, the Shenzhen School has become a platform for testing new approaches in the field of teacher training. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China appointed the director of this educational institution, Huang Qicheng, Deputy director of the National Committee for the Management of the Culture and Art Industry and the Education Management Committee, as well as head of the group to develop a "Professional profile" and "Learning Standards" for secondary vocational schools. Based on the studio training programs prepared by choreographer Huang Qichen and pianist Dan Zhaoyi, a "dual engine" mechanism was formed that demonstrates, guides, stimulates and develops the professional growth of students who, as a rule, hold senior positions in professional associations at the national, provincial and municipal levels.

School of Architecture and Environmental Art of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute: interdisciplinary integration

In the field of higher art education in China, unlike secondary education, there is not a single universally recognized leader or an exemplary educational institution in the field of the implementation of the concept under consideration. Universities, unlike institutions of secondary vocational education, have greater autonomy, therefore they are free to choose different paths. One of the most popular of them is "interdisciplinary integration" ^[19]. An example of this is the School of Architecture and Environmental Art of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. On the basis of the university, a professional group was formed to study the environment of cities and settlements, whose task is to offer solutions to combine the capabilities of the specialties "Environmental Design" and "Architecture", "Landscape Architecture". This interdisciplinary collaboration between the three specialties expands the professional horizons of students and teachers, and stimulates the emergence of new approaches to teaching and research. Thus, future architects have the opportunity to change their orientation by working in the field of eco-design. Specialists in landscape architecture combine knowledge in the fields of agriculture, forestry, and engineering. The specialty "Environmental Design" offers ideas for the ecological design of the environment and system space through participation in the group. All this makes it possible to level the boundaries between specialties, showing students the prospects for integration.

The experience of the School of Architecture and Environmental Art of the Sichuan Institute of Fine Arts is significant in terms of the professional integration of the roles of artists, architects and designers. Moreover, today the so-called "pure art" and "design" are no longer opposing fields. The educational institution was founded in 2018 on the basis of the college of the Sichuan Institute of Fine Arts. The guiding idea of its formation was the unification of the specialty "Environmental Design", originally taught there, "Architecture" and "Landscape Architecture", which were previously taught at the Faculty of Architecture. As a result, the aforementioned professional group was formed, which is now part of the School of Architecture and Environmental Art. The combination of the three majors reversed the situation in which the school's original majors in engineering and humanities were relatively independent, opening up new perspectives and opportunities for their development.

It is important to note that "integration" in Chinese art education is also a "fusion of traditions", when artistic creativity combines traditional elements of art and modern technical means, which at the same time are important ways of such a connection. This approach not only preserves the essence of traditional art, but also gives it a new vitality. For example, the addition of modern stage designs and multimedia technologies to traditional opera productions is breathing new life into this ancient art form. Professional integration in the field under consideration includes such a concept as "integration of art and science." The idea is to combine art with engineering technology, which contributes to the emergence of new creative teaching methods and models.

The specialty "Environmental Design", which has been taught at the university since 1990, is also an example of the transformation of the educational process through the integration of new approaches and learning goals. So, initially the specialty was "interior design", and then "interior design + landscape design". As a result of the accumulation of educational and pedagogical, as well as practical results, the heads of the educational institution and the teaching staff came to the conclusion that it is necessary for the region to develop the specialty "Environmental Design". Over time, the way it was taught also changed. So, in 2017, the "1+1+X" studio training model was introduced, and the following year the unification of the three specialties began, which made us think about the features and differences in the development of each of these areas.

As a result, training began to take place according to a new model, which was called the "multidimensional inverted pyramid 1357", where "1" – basic general training in three specialties; "3" – vocational training in three specialties (landscape architecture, architecture and environmental design); "5" – advanced skills training corresponding to five disciplines and specialties related to the environment of settlements (landscape architecture, urban design, architectural design, landscape design, interior design); "7" – adaptive training based on industry classification (urban planning, urban design, landscape planning and design, architectural design, landscape design, interior design and furniture design) ^{[20, p. 24]}. At the same time, a vertically and horizontally organized "course tree" and its corresponding training modules were created, which integrated professional knowledge by specialty to form a vertically end-to-end, but relatively independent range of knowledge. Internal integration has been expanded through related disciplines such as fine arts, art, design, urban studies, and architecture; external integration is an expansion through science and technology, economics, social studies, culture, and politics, which has formed a vertical knowledge system. The integration of horizontal learning knowledge has become a synthesis according to the scheme "art + digital technologies + green technologies" at all stages of learning ^{[20, p. 24]}.

Interdisciplinary basic and specialized courses, basic courses, and the practical application of integrated courses began to develop at the points of intersection of verticals (knowledge) and horizontals (learning modules). As a result, a cross-integrated curriculum, the Multidimensional Inverted Pyramid, was developed. Thus, students of all specialties began to undergo compulsory training with teachers from three faculties within the framework of educational models and in the format of studio training. The organizational structure of the training, in which three teachers in different specialties work together, combines basic courses, exchange of professional courses and exchange of studio courses.

In 2020, in response to a request from the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China for comprehensive measures to stimulate liberal arts based on the specialty "Environmental Design", the "integration of arts and engineering towards cross-border innovation" began ^{[20, p. 24]}. This meant that environmental design methods that combined art, engineering, and science were at the forefront. As a result, a special training module called "Artistic juxtaposition of three elements" was proposed. Fine art was conceived as a professional foundation, but it incorporated elements of digital technology and ecology, not only in the form of educational modules, but also in curriculum systems. As an example, we can consider the Environmental Design Experiment studio for fourth-year students, whose goal was to study spatial design methods and integrate them with the concepts of the modern art process and technology.

Conclusions and generalizations

Thus, the author of the study came to the conclusion that secondary vocational art education in China represents an advanced learning model that meets international standards. The Shenzhen School of Art can be considered as a pioneer in the innovative development of art vocational education, a leader in international cooperation and exchanges, and a model of cooperation in global art vocational education for other Chinese colleges. Here, "integration" and "innovation" mean both the introduction of foreign experience and the transmission of national achievements to the world, as well as the interaction between professionals from different countries and the enrichment of the educational process and its transformation. All these efforts are aimed at making students capable of initiative in acquiring knowledge and making creative decisions, especially innovative ones. The educational institution relies on creating optimal conditions for the contact of different cultures, in which representatives of creative professions draw inspiration and absorb artistic elements, creating works with multicultural characteristics. This fusion of different cultures not only enriches artistic expression, but also deepens people's understanding and respect for different cultures.