This spring the usual 100,000 or so applicants vying for just 1,700 places at one of China’s most prestigious art colleges were not squeezing into vast halls for the gruelling four-day entrance exam. Instead, as a result of the Covid pandemic, the China Academy of Art hopefuls found the whole process had been moved online.
All the CAA’s courses, which include fine art, ceramics, architecture and fashion, are wildly oversubscribed and for those wishing to study jewellery, there are just 20 places on the undergraduate course and a handful for the masters degree. The jewellery course also attracts international students from around the world.
The CAA was founded in 1928, but the jewellery department is just 10 years old. Its evolution reflects a desire to rediscover and celebrate traditional Chinese culture while building a bridge to the modern world and serving a soaring consumer market.