An aesthetic education forum hosted by Peking University for the fourth time was held on May 11, bringing together artists, scholars and students to explore how high art can thrive on campus.

This year's theme, "Popularizing High Art and Embedding Culture on Campus", commemorated 25 years of collaboration with the China National Opera House. The partnership has produced over 40 performances and reached tens of thousands of audience members, establishing a model for combining academic rigor with artistic excellence.

Highlights included a student visit to the opera house for the original opera Hoh Xil (Kekexili) and a commemorative concert of classical opera excerpts at the Peking University Hall, blending Chinese and international masterpieces. The events reflected a broader vision: making art accessible, immersive, and educational for a new generation.

Recent national guidelines emphasize immersive aesthetic education, encouraging programs that allow students to experience, appreciate, and practice the arts. Peking University's forum embodies this mission, offering a full cycle from encountering beauty to practicing it, while integrating art with scholarship.

Innovative programs, such as "world literary classics on stage", combine multilingual literary analysis with live performance, giving students a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary aesthetic experience. The forum demonstrates how a university can be both an idea laboratory and a stage for creativity, nurturing students' intellectual and artistic growth alike.