Navigating Cultural Tensions: Dynamic Integration of Rural-Urban Art Identities in Chinese Art Education

This paper explores the cultural adaptation process of rural art students in China after passing the college entrance examination and entering urban art academies. The authors note that traditional cultural theories cannot fully explain the unique challenges faced by this group, such as value conflicts and conceptual differences in teacher-student interactions. Therefore, the paper proposes an “education-driven dynamic integration theory of art and culture,” which frames their adaptation as an active, selective, and reflective process. Through qualitative interviews with 55 rural art students, the study found that these students adopted strategies of “phased adaptation” and “dual artistic maintenance,” skillfully retaining and integrating their own rural cultural symbols while absorbing mainstream urban art elements. This dynamic adaptation not only effectively alleviated psychological stress but also significantly enhanced their creativity. Furthermore, the study found that institutional support, social network heterogeneity, and individual artistic resilience were key factors influencing their adaptation. The theoretical contribution of this study lies in its ability to break away from the static categorization of traditional cultural adaptation theories and provide a new framework for understanding cultural adaptation within specific institutional contexts. On a practical level, this paper also provides valuable references for art schools and policymakers, hoping to promote the integration of urban and rural art and culture by building a diversified art dialogue platform and strengthening institutional support, thereby promoting artistic equity and the sustainable development of the educational ecology.