The journal Aesthetic Education

publishing seven issues in 1920

became the organ of the Aesthetic Movement advocated by Cai Yuanpei starting in 1917. The movement was part of the New Culture Movement in 1910s and 1920s China. Intellectuals felt that

with the science education promoted since the late Qing

China had not solved its basic problem; only through cultural education could individuals be transformed

while spiritually healthy individuals were the bases of a strong nation. Cai maintained that moral education in schools should resort to aesthetic education instead of religion. The mission statement of the journal claimed that "By way of the 'education in the fine arts

’we would like to construct 'a new outlook on life’(xin renshengguan)

save the depressed youth in general

and reform the education that overemphasizes intellectualism. we hope that aesthetics will replace the mysticism of religions." The founders of Aesthetic Education were members of the Chinese Association of Aesthetic Education

which was founded in 1919 by art and music teachers of schools all over the country

including Shanghai Normal College of Professional Training (Shanghai Zhuanko Shifan Xuexiao) and The Patriotic Girls' School (Aiguo Niuxue). The editors of the journal included Wu Mengfei

Zhou Xiang

Ouyang Yuqian

and Feng Zikai

who had great influence on the fine arts education in the generations to come. This article emphasizes the transcultural connections between the Chinese Aesthetic Education Movement and its Japanese and German counterparts on the one hand and points out its confluences with the Outlook on Life Movement led by Liang Qichao and Cai Yuanpei.