Central Academy of Fine Arts
art academy in the People's Republic of China
The Central Academy of Fine Arts or CAFA is an art academy under the direct charge of the Ministry of Education of China. The Manila Bulletin calls the school "China's most prestigious and renowned art academy." It is considered one of the most selective schools in the country and turns away more than 90% of its applicants each year.
Overview
The history of the National Art School in Beiping (国立北平艺术专科学校) dates back to the founding of the National School of Fine Arts in Beijing in 1918, advocated by the educator Cai Yuanpei. It was the first national school of fine arts in China and also the beginning of Chinese modern education of fine arts. The academy was founded in April 1950, as a result of the merger between the National Art School in Beiping and the department of fine arts at the third campus of North China University. The former principals of CAFA include Xu Beihong, Jiang Feng, Wu Zuoren, Gu Yuan, Jin Shangyi, Pan Gongkai, and Fan Di'an. Lin Mao has been the president since 2023. The current director of academic commission is Jin Shangyi.
The design programme of CAFA was renewed in 1995 in the name of the Department of Art Design, after a break of some 40 years, and became the School of Design in October 2002. For preparing and training the students as future professionals in design with creative thinking and practical capabilities, the School of Design offers undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. degrees in programs ranging from visual communication design, product design, fashion design, photography, digital media to design theory and history.
“Central Academy of Fine Arts” enters the record as art academy in the People's Republic of China. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Central, Academy and Fine can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q837873. VIAF identifies the subject as 168582566. The Library of Congress control number is n82147232. Authority coordinates are 39.985, 116.463. 1 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1918, 1950, 2023 and 1995.
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This entry incorporates text from “Central Academy of Fine Arts” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.