8 July 2020
On the afternoon of 7 July, the headmasters of the six affiliated schools of Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) gathered in the Foxi Building to hold the first headmasters’ salon in a relaxed atmosphere with the purpose of communication and mutual understanding. STA leaders attending the salon included Party Secretary Xie Wei, Deputy Party Secretary Hu Min and Deputy Party Secretary and Vice President Zhang Weiling. The headmasters attending the salon included Qian Ping’an, headmaster of the affiliated Opera School, Li Ying, headmaster of the affiliated Dance School, Xiao Ying, headmaster of the affiliated Senior High School, Sun Weimin, headmaster of the affiliated Jing'an School, Zhou Yi, headmaster of the affiliatedNew World Experimental Primary School, and Yang Huilin, headmaster of the affiliated Minhang School. Heads of functional departments of STA such as the Office of the CPC Committee/Office of the President and the Organization Department were also present. Deputy Party Secretary of STA Zhang Weiling presided over the salon.
STA now has six affiliated schools. In addition to the Opera School and the Dance School which are two attached secondary vocational schools and the Senior High School Affiliated to STA which was renamed in 2004, the Minhang School Affiliated to STA was established in 2015 as a three-party cooperation between theMinhang District Education Bureau, the Pujiang Sub-district and STA, and the Jing'an School Affiliated to STA characterized by theatre educationwas inaugurated in 2018, and the New World Experimental Primary Schoolcharacterized by ballet art educationalso become a member of the "big family" of STA affiliated schools in 2020. Since then, the levels of education at STA affiliated schools haverealized the full coverage from primary school, junior high school to senior high school.
The six headmasters introduced the situation of their respective schools from different angles covering the philosophy of education, talent training, teaching staff, curriculum and artistic features of their respective schools as well as their cooperation with STA. During the meeting, the headmasters enthusiastically exchanged views on matter of common interest.
Party Secretary Xie Wei gave full recognition to the passion, creativity and sense of responsibility of the headmasters of the affiliated schools, and believed that the development of the affiliated schools is fully hopeful. When it came to the understanding of "art", he quoted a sentence in General-Secretary Xi Jinping's reply letter to teachers and students of Fudan University, i.e. "only with belief in heartcan onetravel far", and shared his understanding that “art =heart+academic+skill”, that is, "have belief in heart, learn to grow, develop specialized skills", and basic education plays an important role to this end. He pointed out that STA and its affiliated schools should further strengthen cooperation and exchange and build a platform so that university, secondary and primary schools and secondary vocational schools can fully embody the integrated advantages in the field of aesthetic education.
