# Central Academy of Drama

The Central Academy of Drama (Chinese: 中央戏剧学院; pinyin: Zhōngyāng Xìjù Xuéyuàn) is a national public drama school in Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education. The academy is part of the Double First-Class Construction.

## Information

The school was originally established in 1938. Mao Zedong, who was the Chairman of China, personally named, designed and wrote the school emblem.
The school is the first theatre higher educational institution of the People's Republic of China. It is ranked as the best top-level drama, film, and television arts institution in China and has been selected into the country's Double First Class University Plan.
The Central Academy of Drama is a central subordinate university and is also an art college directly under the Ministry of Education. It is the highest institution of education in dramatic art among the world's leading art institutions in Chinese drama, visual arts teaching and research center.
The Central Academy of Drama is also the headquarters of the World Theatre Education Alliance (WTEA), China Alliance of Theatre Higher Educational Institutes and Asia Theatre Education Centre (ATEC). The Central Academy of Drama has engaged in the practice of drama and the visual arts for more than 50 years and is a bastion of experimental theater drama in China. The school also holds the UNESCO Chair on Theatre Education.

## Introduction

The Central Academy of Drama is a university affiliated to the central government and an art school directly under the Ministry of Education. It is the highest institution of drama art education in China. It is also a world-famous art school, a center for teaching and scientific research in Chinese drama, film and television arts, and an Asian drama education and research center. (ATEC) is currently an important base for training and practice in drama, film and television arts.
The college has trained nearly 10,000 graduates, many of whom have won the Wenhua Award, the "Five One Project" Award, the Drama Plum Blossom Award, the Drama Revitalization Award, the TV Golden Eagle Award, the Feitian Award, the Magnolia Award, the Film Golden Rooster Award, Hundred Flowers Award, Huabiao Award, Golden Horse Award and international film awards such as Golden Bear Award, Golden Lion Award, Oscar Award nomination, etc., and has achieved remarkable achievements.
The Central Academy of Drama currently has departments of drama literature, stage art, directing, performance, film and television, and art management. In 1996, the college enrolled its first professional class in cultural and artistic undertaking management, which was affiliated to the Department of Drama and Literature. This major is the predecessor of the Department of Arts Management. Mainly trains drama producers and stage management personnel. There are 15 students in the first batch of this class, including Xu Chen, Guan Bo and others.
On September 21, 2017, the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China announced the first round of world-class universities and first-class discipline construction universities and construction disciplines list, among which the drama and film and television studies of the Central Academy of Drama were successfully selected. On February 11, 2022, the Ministry of Education announced the second round of double first-class list, and the drama and film and television majors of the Central Academy of Drama were once again selected.
In recent years, there has been a saying, "Central Academy of Drama produces actors, Beijing Film Academy produces stars, and Shanghai Theatre Academy produces Internet celebrities."

## Faculty

As of October 2022, the college has 3,301 full-time teachers and 76 external teachers; among the full-time teachers, there are 112 "double-qualified" teachers, accounting for 37.21% of the full-time teachers; there are 173 full-time teachers with senior professional titles, The proportion of full-time teachers is 57.48%; there are 277 full-time teachers with postgraduate degrees (master's and doctoral degrees), accounting for 92.03% of full-time teachers; a total of 20 teachers have been selected as Beijing's famous teaching teachers, and 1 national-level outstanding teaching team. There are 3 outstanding teaching teams in Beijing and 3 outstanding educational teams in Beijing.

## Discipline construction

As of October 2022, the school has 2 postdoctoral research stations, 2 first-level discipline doctoral degree authorization points, 2 first-level discipline master's degree authorization points, 3 professional master's degree authorization areas, and 1 world-class discipline construction discipline, a second-level national key discipline.

## Collection resources

According to data from the school's official website in May 2023, the library of the Central Academy of Drama has collected more than 600,000 Chinese and foreign books, more than 300 kinds of Chinese and foreign current periodicals, nearly 20 kinds of digital resources and self-built special resource libraries, and more than 10,000 special audio and video resources.
There are more than 5,000 records from the Republic of China period, more than 60,000 thread-bound ancient books and books from the Republic of China period, and more than 200,000 stage stills and performance instructions. The library has two buildings in Changping Campus and Dongcheng Campus, with a total construction area of approximately 11,000 square meters and 374 reading seats. The library has a lending library, a newspaper reading room, a reference book reading room, an image data reading room, an ancient book library, a library of the Republic of China, a Chinese opera library, a dense library, an audio-visual viewing room, and an information sharing space.

## History

The Central Academy of Drama, formed by the merger of two schools, was final established in April 1950, with Ouyang Yuqian as its first president, and was named by Mao Zedong.
It inherited the drama department of Lu Xun Art Academy in Yan'an (founded in 1938), the art school of North China University, and the National Drama College in Nanjing (founded in 1935).
In January 1950, the Government Affairs Council of the Central People's Government officially approved the renaming of the National Academy of Drama to the "Central Academy of Drama". On April 2, the founding meeting of the Central Academy of Drama was held. In the early days of the college's establishment, in order to adapt to the dual tasks of teaching and performance creation at that time, the college first offered one-year general courses for training, and successively launched two-year undergraduate courses; trained professional cadres at provincial and military levels and above to improve professional standards. , established the opera department, drama department, stage art department, as well as general subjects, dance sports cadre training class, Cui Chengxi dance research class, etc.
Starting in the summer of 1953, various departments of the college began recruiting undergraduate students from all over the country. To this end, the college has made major adjustments to the professional setting and teaching system, abolished the Opera Department, and established the Performance Department, the Directing Department, the Stage Art Department, and the Drama Literature Department on the basis of the original Drama Department, physical education, vocal music and other teaching and research groups.
Many famous actors, actresses and directors have graduated from the Academy including Zhang Ziyi, Jiang Wen, Gong Li, Zhao Jinmai and Li Landi.
As of October 2022, the school has 16 undergraduate teaching units (including the Basic Teaching Department, the Ideological and Political Theory Teaching and Research Department, and the Humanities Department), 11 undergraduate majors, and 27 undergraduate major directions (excluding international projects).

## Rankings and reputation

The Central Academy of Drama is regarded as the most prestigious drama school in China and ranked 2nd in Asia and 32nd in the world by the 2021 QS World University Rankings in Performing Arts.

## Notable alumni

Note that class year indicates the entrance year, not graduating year.

### Acting Department

* Class of 1950: Jin Yaqin
* Class of 1954: Zheng Zhenyao
* Class of 1959: Yan Shunkai
* Class of 1960: Wen Xingyu
* Class of 1974: Chen Baoguo, Guo Lianwen
* Class of 1979: Chen Daoming
* Class of 1980: Jiang Wen, Lü Liping, Yue Hong
* Class of 1982: Ni Dahong
* Class of 1984: Zhang Hanyu, Wu Xiubo
* Class of 1985: Gong Li, Jia Hongsheng, Wei Zi, Chen Wei
* Class of 1986: Chen Zhihui
* Class of 1987: Hu Jun, Xu Fan
* Class of 1988: Guo Tao, Wu Xiubo
* Class of 1989: Tao Hong
* Class of 1990: Li Yapeng, Chen Jianbin
* Class of 1991: Huang Zhizhong
* Class of 1993: Zhu Yuanyuan, Wang Qianyuan
* Class of 1994: Tao Hong, Gong Beibi, Duan Yihong
* Class of 1995: Xia Yu
* Class of 1996: Zhang Ziyi, Liu Ye, Qin Hailu, Mei Ting, Yuan Quan, Qin Hao
* Class of 1997: Chen Hao, Calvin Li
* Class of 1998: Deng Chao, Zhu Yuchen
* Class of 1999: Chen Sicheng, Zhang Luyi
* Class of 2000: Zhou Yun, Liu Yun, Gao Lu
* Class of 2001: Zhang Xinyi
* Class of 2002: Wen Zhang, Tiffany Tang, Tong Yao, Bai Baihe, Bai Jing, Yang Shuo, Zhang Mo
* Class of 2003: Wang Kai, Hans Zhang
* Class of 2004: Tong Liya, Wang Zhi, Hu Sang, Zheng Qingwen, Cao Xiwen
* Class of 2005: Chen Xiao, Mao Xiaotong, Lin Xiawei, Lin Peng, Ying Er, Zhang Jianing
* Class of 2006: Liu Yuxin, Song Yi
* Class of 2007: Wei Daxun, Cheng Yi
* Class of 2008: Ma Ke, Lan Yingying, Gao Weiguang
* Class of 2009: Bai Yu
* Class of 2010: Yang Yang, Qiao Xin, Liu Xueyi, Qin Junjie, Zhao Yingzi
* Class of 2012: Yang Xuwen, Liang Jie
* Class of 2013: Qu Chuxiao, Zhang Ming'en, Wu Jiayi
* Class of 2014: Dong Zijian, Chen Xingxu
* Class of 2015: Liu Haoran, Dong Sicheng
* Class of 2016: Zhang Xueying, Zhao Jiamin
* Class of 2017: Wang Xingyue
* Class of 2018: Jackson Yee, Hu Xianxu, Li Landi
* Class of 2019: Jiang Yiyi
* Class of 2020: Zhao Jinmai
* Class of 2021: Wen Qi, Zhang Zhenyuan
* Class of 2022: Ma Jiaqi, Song Yaxuan

### Directing Department

* Class of 1977: Bao Guo'an
* Class of 1979: Li Baotian
* Class of 1988: Zhang Yang
* Class of 1997: Zhang Jingchu
* Class of 1999: Lin Yongjian
* Class of 2000: Tang Wei
* Class of 2005: Papi Jiang

### Musical Theatre Department

* Class of 1995: Sun Honglei
* Class of 1999: Jin Dong
* Class of 2014: Zhang Xincheng

### Stage Design Department

* Class of 1995: Zhang Lei

### Dramatic Literature Department

* Class of 1986: Zhang Yibai
* Class of 1987: Diao Yinan
* Class of 1988: Cai Shangjun
* Class of 1993: Yilin Zhong