First, Confucius first put forward the idea of aesthetic education.

Confucius mentioned in his educational thought that "as for Tao, morality, benevolence and skill" and "to thrive on poetry, to stand on ceremony and to be happy". It is interpreted as "taking Tao as the ambition, taking morality as the foundation, relying on benevolence, and re-creating the six arts of ceremony, music, shooting, imperial, calligraphy and mathematics." From this point of view, Confucius attached great importance to the role of music education, emphasizing the use of music education to cultivate sentiment, which can be regarded as the bud of China's aesthetic education thought.

2. Wang Guowei was the first to introduce the concept of aesthetic education into China.

Wang Guowei is not only the founder of modern aesthetics in China, but also the pioneer of modern aesthetic education in China, and has formed a series of theoretical achievements in aesthetic education. He believes that the content of education should be divided into three parts: intellectual education, moral education (that is, will) and aesthetic education (that is, emotion), and aesthetic education can make people realize the purest happiness. In addition, Wang Guowei also pays attention to the influence of art on people and the aesthetic education of primary school students, hoping that emotional education can arouse the consciousness of saving the country. ?

Thirdly, Cai Yuanpei proposed "replacing religion with aesthetic education".

Cai Yuanpei, a master of China's modern aesthetic education thought, proposed "replacing religion with aesthetic education". Aesthetic education plays an important role in his "five educations". He believes that aesthetic education includes family aesthetic education, school aesthetic education and social aesthetic education. Aesthetic education is progressive and free, and should replace compulsory and conservative religious education. Even put forward the slogan of "saving the country by science and saving the country by aesthetic education", which shows that its emphasis on aesthetic education has a far-reaching impact on the development of culture and art in later generations.