Research on the Path of Integrating Chinese Excellent Traditional Culture into the Ideological and Political Education System of Colleges and Universities ()
1. Introduction
In the report of the 20th Party Congress, it is pointed out that “only by combining the basic principles of Marxism with the concrete reality of China and with the excellent traditional Chinese culture, and by insisting on the use of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, can we correctly answer the major questions raised by the times and practice, and can we always maintain the vigour and vitality of Marxism” (Xi Jinping, 2022). At the Symposium on Cultural Inheritance and Development, General Secretary Xi Jinping explained in depth the significance of the “two combinations”, highlighting that the results of the “combinations” are mutual achievements, resulting in “profound chemical reactions” and creating a new organically unified cultural organism: “Let Marxism become Chinese, the excellent traditional Chinese culture become modern, and the new culture formed through the ‘combination’ become a modernised cultural form of Chinese style!” (Xi Jinping, 2023).
Excellent traditional Chinese culture has accumulated the historical crystallisation of the Chinese nation for thousands of years, with profound and broad connotations, and is a concentrated manifestation of the wisdom of the Chinese nation. Ideological and political education in colleges and universities, guided by Marxism, is committed to cultivating builders and successors of the socialist cause with firm ideals and beliefs, and has distinct political and cultural characteristics. In this context, colleges and universities, as important positions for inheriting and promoting excellent culture, have the responsibility to deeply integrate Chinese excellent traditional culture into the ideological and political education system. This initiative not only helps students establish a correct worldview, outlook on life and values, but also improves their moral and cultural qualities, and fosters the all-round development of young people in the new era. In addition, through the learning and identification of Chinese excellent traditional culture, students’ cultural pride can be strengthened, and the sense of national cultural identity can be deepened, thus effectively enhancing cultural self-confidence.
A study shows that “the comprehensive integration of excellent traditional Chinese culture into the entire process of the high-quality development of ideological and political education in universities is not only conducive to promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of excellent traditional culture but also helps to enhance the pertinence and precision of ideological and political education systematically” (Zhu & Yuan, 2023).
2. Analysis of the Current Situation of Ideological and Political Education in Colleges and Universities
2.1. Ineffectiveness of Traditional Teaching Methods
Ideological and political education in colleges and universities has long been relying on traditional educational methods and means. The singularity of educational content and the boringness of teaching methods limit the stimulation of students’ interest in learning. For example, in some courses, the teaching content is mainly theoretical explanations of ideological concepts, lacking real-life cases and interactive elements. This makes it difficult for students to relate to the knowledge, thus impeding their deep understanding of the connotation of ideological and political education. Therefore, exploring diversified teaching methods such as thematic, inquiry and interactive teaching has become a key task to promote the educational and pedagogical reform of ideological and political courses at present and for a long time to come (Hao, 2023).
2.2. Disconnection from Students’ Actual Needs
The content of ideological and political programmes in colleges and universities is often somewhat disconnected from the actual needs of students. Some colleges and universities have attempted to incorporate Chinese outstanding traditional culture into ideological and political education, but the courses still focus on the theoretical level. “A survey conducted in Fujian Province among 700 students from five universities found that, in the traditional classroom-centered teaching mode, which mainly focuses on imparting book knowledge, regarding the question ‘What problems do you think exist in the current ideological and political course teaching?’, 74.32% of college students believe that the textbooks are overly focused on theory, the content is boring, and lacks sufficient integration with reality; 67.22% think that students are not interested in the course and are only studying for exams; and 66.01% believe the issue is teacher-centered teaching methods, with low student engagement” (Shao, 2013). This deviation may lead to insufficient interest and participation of students in the courses, making it difficult to achieve the expected educational results. “Although some teachers have attempted to integrate Chinese traditional culture into the teaching process to enrich the content of Civic and Political Education, in this process, some teachers do not yet have an in-depth understanding of Chinese outstanding traditional culture and find it difficult to accurately convey its core values, which makes it difficult to realise the organic integration of Civic and Political Education and Chinese traditional culture” (Wang, 2024).
3. The Chinese Excellent Traditional Culture Contains Rich Resources of Ideological Education
Excellent traditional Chinese culture is the accumulation of thousands of years of Chinese civilisation, which includes not only literature, art and philosophy, but also spiritual wealth such as benevolence, harmony, the middle way, and the harmonious coexistence of man and nature. Chinese traditional culture emphasises ethics and morality, and advocates the values of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trust, which not only play a key role in personal moral cultivation, but also play an important role in social harmony and family harmony. As an important resource for guiding college students to grow up and become successful, Chinese traditional culture can effectively shape their ideological quality, value orientation and cultural self-confidence, and has irreplaceable educational value for their comprehensive development.
Chinese traditional culture is an important source of national identity and cultural self-confidence. “By integrating traditional culture into ideological and political education in colleges and universities, we can make Chinese excellent traditional culture become a strong support for the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics, which can help students understand and identify with Chinese culture in depth, and enhance their sense of national pride and cultural self-confidence” (Gao, 2024). When facing the impact of foreign cultures, cultural self-confidence can enable students to cope with them more calmly and maintain their cultural subjectivity. This is of great significance to the cultivation of socialist successors with Chinese characteristics and the promotion of cultural self-confidence and national rejuvenation.
4. The Practical Path of Integrating Chinese Excellent
Traditional Culture into Civic and Political Education in Colleges and Universities
4.1. Enhancing Teachers’ Cultural Literacy and Stimulating Students’ Initiative
Teachers, as the bearers of education, have a direct impact on the cultural identity of the next generation in terms of their cultural literacy. Strengthening teachers’ traditional culture education can not only help them understand the essence of traditional culture in depth and enhance their cultural self-confidence and ability to practice education, but also pass on the excellent traditional Chinese culture to students through teaching activities and cultivate students’ interest in traditional culture. To assess the current cultural literacy levels of teachers, a comprehensive evaluation system can be established. This system can include written tests on traditional culture knowledge, such as understanding of classical literature, philosophy, and historical events; practical teaching evaluations to observe how teachers incorporate traditional culture into their teaching; and self-assessment and peer-assessment components to encourage teachers to reflect on and improve their cultural knowledge and teaching methods.
In addition, enhancing teachers’ traditional cultural literacy is also an investment in their own professional development. Teachers are able to show more innovation and unique insights in the teaching of Civic and Political Education through continuous learning and practice of traditional culture. Therefore, strengthening the cultivation of teachers’ traditional cultural literacy not only contributes to the promotion of excellent traditional culture, but also improves the quality of education and cultivates more future citizens with good cultural quality.
Stimulating students’ initiative is an important way of integrating Chinese excellent traditional culture and Civic and Political Education, and is also a key link in realising cultural inheritance. As the main body of Civic and Political Education, students can truly understand and identify with the value of traditional culture and internalise it as a driving force for self-improvement only if they are deeply touched by the excellent traditional Chinese culture in their heart. Therefore, stimulating students’ initiative is particularly important in this process. In concrete practice, the realisation of stimulating students’ initiative can be carried out through diversified teaching methods. Contextual teaching, participation in community services, and class mutual-aid activities all provide students with opportunities to directly contact and experience traditional culture. For instance, in a contextual teaching activity about traditional Chinese festivals, students were required to research and present the history, customs, and cultural significance of a festival. Through this hand, on practice, they could deeply understand the profound connotation of traditional Chinese culture. Through such multi-dimensional practice, students are no longer just passive receivers of knowledge, but active practitioners and disseminators of culture. This process enables students to feel more deeply the unique charm of Chinese traditional culture, and thus promotes their individual self-development on the basis of cultural identity.
4.2. Integration of Chinese Traditional Culture into the Curriculum Development System
The integration of Chinese outstanding traditional culture into the ideological and political education of colleges and universities requires not only the enrichment of curriculum content, but also the integration of the core concepts of traditional culture into the teaching programme, so as to enhance the students’ sense of national pride and patriotism. In terms of concrete implementation, colleges and universities should build a teaching material system for ideological education based on excellent traditional Chinese culture. They can offer public compulsory or elective courses related to traditional culture and humanistic cultivation, such as “Classical Chinese Philosophy and Modern Values” and “Traditional Chinese Art and Aesthetic Education”. These courses should be designed to organically combine traditional culture with modern subject knowledge.
Colleges and universities should also make full use of regional cultural characteristics. For instance, in colleges located in areas with rich intangible cultural heritage, courses can be developed to introduce local traditional handicrafts, folk customs, and their cultural connotations. In classroom teaching, teachers can lead students to explore how these regional cultures reflect the broader values of Chinese traditional culture. Additionally, colleges and universities can organise colourful traditional cultural activities, such as cultural festivals, lectures and exhibitions. At a traditional culture festival held in [a certain university], students participated in activities like calligraphy competitions, traditional music performances, and cultural heritage exhibitions. Through these activities, students’ interest in and sense of identity with traditional culture were significantly increased.
Through these measures, the ideological education in colleges and universities will be closer to the actual situation of students and can effectively stimulate students’ interest in traditional culture. On the basis of improving students’ comprehensive quality and sense of cultural identity, it will cultivate them to become young people of the new era with a sense of responsibility. Through the in-depth understanding and inheritance of the excellent traditional Chinese culture, students will not only benefit academically, but also be able to confidently promote Chinese culture in the context of globalisation.
4.3. Creating a Campus Atmosphere That Honours Outstanding Traditional Culture
In the ideological education of contemporary colleges and universities, creating a campus atmosphere that honours the excellent traditional Chinese culture is not only a need to pass on the national culture, but also an important way to enhance students’ cultural self-confidence. Integrating the excellent traditional Chinese culture into the material culture construction of the campus helps to create a subtle educational environment.
Rich and diversified campus cultural activities are an important carrier of ideological education in colleges and universities. Combining the ideological education with Chinese traditional festivals is an effective way. For instance, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the university can organise moon-viewing parties, where students can learn about the origin and cultural significance of the festival while enjoying traditional mooncakes. This not only effectively enhances the students’ sense of cultural identity, but also improves their participation enthusiasm. Through this strong campus cultural atmosphere, the values of excellent traditional culture can influence the students’ cognition in a subtle way, and then enhance their sense of cultural identity. Through this educational environment, colleges and universities can not only help students broaden their cultural horizons beyond academics, but also stimulate their patriotic feelings and national pride. This atmosphere of reverence for excellent traditional culture can become a powerful support for enhancing the effectiveness of ideological education and laying a solid cultural foundation for the overall development of students.
5. The Channel Construction of Integrating Chinese
Excellent Traditional Culture into Civic and Political
Education in Colleges and Universities
5.1. Making Full Use of Classroom Teaching as the “Main Channel”
The construction of channels for the integration of Chinese outstanding traditional culture into the ideological education of colleges and universities should give full play to the role of the core channel of classroom teaching. The classroom, as a key position in college education, not only assumes the function of knowledge transmission, but is also an important place for transmitting values and cultural confidence. The systematic nature of classroom teaching helps to build a complete traditional culture knowledge system for students. By integrating traditional philosophy, history, culture and art and other related courses in the Civic and Political classroom, students can gradually deepen their understanding of the excellent traditional Chinese culture in the process of Civic and Political learning, and feel its unique value in the contemporary era.
The role of teachers in the classroom is also particularly important. They are not only the transmitter of knowledge, but also the disseminator of culture, so they need to have a deep traditional cultural literacy. Teachers need to incorporate the core essence of traditional cultural thinking into the teaching process, and organically combine it with the content of ideological education. For instance, when teaching about the concept of “harmony” in ideological and political courses, teachers can introduce traditional Chinese philosophical thoughts on harmony, such as the “harmony between man and nature” concept in Taoism, and discuss how it can be applied in modern-day environmental protection and social relationships. This can stimulate students’ critical thinking, and enhance their moral cultivation and cultural identity.
In addition, classroom teaching should also pay attention to the combination of theory and practice. Through the use of case studies, field study education, project-based learning and other teaching methods, students can deepen their identification with traditional culture in practice. For instance, in a project-based learning activity, students can be required to research and present on the traditional cultural heritage of a local area. This allows them to explore traditional culture in a real-world context, thus deepening their understanding and identification. Only through the full and effective use of classroom teaching as the main channel can we lay a solid foundation for the inheritance and development of Chinese outstanding traditional culture in colleges and universities.
5.2. Making Full Use of the New Media as a “Secondary Channel”
Innovative form is an important way to enhance the attractiveness of traditional culture. In the process of ideological and political education in colleges and universities, the full use of new media technology, especially virtual reality (VR) and other modern scientific and technological means, can significantly enhance the attractiveness of the ideological and political classroom to students. VR technology can be used to create virtual scenes of historical events or traditional cultural heritages, such as the Forbidden City in ancient times. Students can have an immersive experience, walking through the virtual Forbidden City, learning about its architecture, history, and cultural significance in a more interactive way.
In addition, Civic Education can also carry out online punch-card activities, short-video competitions or AI design competitions through new media platforms. For instance, an online punch-card activity can be designed, where students are required to learn a piece of traditional culture knowledge every day and share their insights. Short-video competitions can encourage students to create videos about traditional culture, such as introducing traditional festivals or handicrafts. AI design competitions can ask students to use AI technology to create works inspired by traditional culture. These activities can increase students’ participation and interactivity, and display traditional culture in a flexible and vivid form. This can not only stimulate students’ interest and initiative in learning, but also help to expand the dissemination of traditional culture and enhance its influence in contemporary society.
6. Summary
In the ideological and political education system of contemporary colleges and universities, the integration of Chinese excellent traditional culture has become an important direction of exploration to enhance the effectiveness of education. As an important carrier of the Chinese national spirit, traditional culture carries a profound value system and cultural wisdom, which plays a very important role in shaping the correct worldview, outlook on life and values of contemporary young students. However, how to effectively integrate this cultural resource into the ideological and political education system of colleges and universities requires more research and exploration.
Based on the current situation of the ideological and political education in colleges and universities and the dilemmas faced by them, this paper explores the effective paths and channel construction of integrating the excellent traditional Chinese culture into the ideological and political education system of colleges and universities, with a view to realising the organic combination of the excellent traditional Chinese culture and the ideological and political education in colleges and universities.
Teachers, as important bearers of education, should first possess a profound traditional cultural literacy. For this reason, teachers’ traditional culture education should be strengthened, and their cultural self-confidence should be enhanced, so that they can effectively convey the excellent traditional Chinese culture to students in their teaching activities, and stimulate students’ interest in traditional culture as well as their initiative in learning. At the same time, the excellent traditional Chinese culture should be integrated into the curriculum construction system, and interdisciplinary integration should be strengthened in the design of the curriculum, so as to organically combine the essence of traditional culture with modern subject knowledge, thus forming an education mode oriented to the cultivation of comprehensive quality. In addition, we should actively create a campus atmosphere that respects traditional culture and build a subtle educational environment, so that students can naturally experience the rich connotations of traditional culture in their daily lives.
In terms of channel construction, the “main channel” of classroom teaching and the “auxiliary channel” of new media should be fully utilised to promote the organic combination of Chinese outstanding traditional culture and ideological and political education in colleges and universities through a two-pronged approach. Through diversified forms of innovative educational carriers, such as thematic lectures, on- and off-campus practical activities and interactive dissemination of new media platforms, traditional culture education becomes more attractive and effective, further stimulates students’ sense of identity and responsibility towards traditional culture, and guides them to practise core values in their daily lives, so that they can cultivate new-age talents with a sense of family and nationalism and cultural self-confidence for the development of the society.