On the Role of Aesthetic Education in the Reconstruction of Chinese University Spirit

University spirit is the spiritual pillar and guiding ideology for the survival and development of college students. With the establishment of Beijing Normal University and Tsinghua University in the early 20th century, the three pillars of Chinese University Spirit tradition -- humanistic spirit, scientific spirit, patriotism and responsibility spirit, have also been established. Due to historical reasons, the tradition of university spirit has been broken in the 1950s and 1970s. Since the reform and opening up 40 years ago, facing the increasingly fierce international exchange and competition, the inheritance and reconstruction of university spirit is urgent. At present, the utilitarian value orientation is prevailing, and the independent and free humanistic thought and the spiritual pursuit of critical transcendence in the university spirit are gradually lost. The main reason is that the important role of aesthetic education in moral and intellectual education is ignored, that is, there is a lack of aesthetic education in universities. In fact, the three basic characteristics of aesthetic activities, namely, non utility, transcendence and spiritual freedom, are basically consistent with the connotation of university spirit. Therefore, popularizing and improving the level and quality of university aesthetic education in the new era plays an important role in the reconstruction of university spirit in the new period.