Research on the Path of Integrating Chinese Excellent Traditional Culture into the Ideological and Political Education of Nursing Students in the New Media Era ()
1. Background
Chinese traditional culture is an essential component of world culture, carrying the historical and cultural accumulation of the Chinese nation spanning thousands of years. In recent years, there has been a surge in the popularity of Chinese traditional clothing styles such as horse-face skirts and Northeast floral blouses, indicating a renewed interest in traditional attire. Additionally, traditional Chinese medicine has been experiencing robust growth, highlighting its increasing importance in the international medical field. Events like Zhejiang Bench Dragon and Fujian You Shen have also regained their luster during the Spring Festival. Furthermore, Chinese brands like Huawei, BYD, and Pechoin have become increasingly popular among young people. These phenomena all demonstrate the enormous appeal of excellent Chinese traditional culture to contemporary university students.
Meanwhile, ideological and political education in universities has embarked on a new journey with the advent of the new media era in socialism with Chinese characteristics. The development of new media technologies, the cultural environment of universities, and the learning content preferred by college students all require changes and innovations in ideological and political education work. In the new media era, ideological and political education in universities has evolved into online ideological and political education, which focuses on leveraging networks and new media technologies to integrate excellent Chinese traditional culture into the education process. This has become a key area of focus for university ideological and political education workers.
2. The Importance of Chinese Excellent Traditional Culture in the Ideological and Political Education of Contemporary Nursing Students
2.1. The Shaping of Values in Nursing Students through Chinese Traditional Virtues
Chinese traditional virtues play a profound role in shaping the values of nursing students. These virtues, such as “benevolence,” “loyalty,” “honesty,” and “responsibility,” are not only treasures of traditional culture but also critical building blocks for the formation of nursing students’ values. Firstly, the core of nursing work lies in the “benevolence” heart. Through practice and learning, nursing students need to transform the “benevolence” in traditional virtues into sympathy and care for patients, thus cultivating professional values that respect life and care for patients. Secondly, the spirit of “loyalty” and “responsibility” is the foundation of nursing work. Facing the life and health of patients, nursing students must adhere to professional ethics with a loyal attitude and a strong sense of responsibility to ensure medical safety. Finally, the quality of “honesty” is an essential component of nursing students’ values. In medical practice, nursing students need to be honest, consistent in their words and actions, and earn the trust and respect of patients.
2.2. The Enrichment of Ideological and Political Education for Nursing Students through Chinese Traditional Classic Works
Chinese traditional medicine offers a rich resource for the ideological and political education of nursing students. Its theories and wisdom enrich students’ knowledge base and inform their ideological perspectives. The emphasis on harmony with nature cultivates a sense of benevolence and professional mission, promoting humanistic care. The medical ethics and professional conduct outlined in traditional medicine foster a strong ethical foundation, instilling honesty, trustworthiness, and patient-centeredness. Finally, the approach of syndrome differentiation encourages critical thinking and innovation, preparing students to navigate complex medical scenarios and provide personalized care.
3. Integration of Chinese Excellent Traditional Culture with University Ideological and Political Education in the Era of New Media
3.1. Chinese Excellent Traditional Culture and University Ideological and Political Education
University ideological and political education aims to foster moral character and talents, but faces challenges like monotonous teaching and outdated content (Ren & Song, 2023) . Incorporating Chinese excellent traditional culture offers a fresh perspective to align with national context and enhance education quality. In the new media era, universities should innovate the introduction of traditional cultural activities by enhancing teachers’ literacy, organizing themed events, and integrating network technologies to enhance the effectiveness of online ideological and political education, leveraging the internet’s crucial role and the positive guidance of Chinese excellent traditional culture (Deng, Zhu, & Xu, 2022) . Integrating Chinese excellent traditional culture, the essence of millennia, into university ideological and political education fulfills the vital task of fostering moral character and talents, promoting students’ comprehensive development through avenues like classroom teaching, practical education, campus culture, and online dissemination (Li, 2023) .
3.2. Online Ideological and Political Education
Exploring the implementation of the “Grand Ideological and Political Course” in the new era to enhance moral character and talent nurturing through the PDC cycle, focusing on knowledge, action, inspection, and introspection to address challenges in online ideological and political education in universities (Yang & Li, 2023) . With the rise of short videos, universities must innovate their approach to online ideological and political education, leveraging the platform’s potential while mitigating its negative impacts on student values, to enhance the effectiveness of moral character cultivation and talent nurturing (Fan, 2023) . To strengthen the construction of online commentary studios for university counselors, it is essential to adhere to student growth patterns and online life characteristics, leverage the unique functions of educational short videos, and create a professional, personalized, and branded platform that addresses social hotspots, student needs, and broader social knowledge systems (Cao, 2023) . The internet’s development has posed unprecedented challenges to ideological and political education discourse, affecting its effectiveness (Liao, 2023) . University counselors, as the main force in online education, should update their concepts, standardize content, innovate expressions, and enhance the effectiveness of online ideological and political education.
3.3. Subculture and Online Ideological and Political Education
The prominent “circled” social networking, characterized by intra-circle openness, inter-circle separation, discourse power dynamics, and expression homogeneity/heterogeneity, driven by social trends, media precision, and cognitive fragmentation, poses challenges to university ideological and political education (Jiang, Liu, Tang, & Wang, 2023) . To address these, universities should enhance interactive participation, strengthen campus cultural construction, and value guidance, aiming to guide students towards positive social values and effective education. The technical, convergent, and plastic nature of campus online sub-communication enables universities to conduct ideological and political education for students through various communication modes (Zhang, 2018) . To promote the development of online education towards informatization, modernization, and healthiness, universities must handle key relationships when applying online sub-communication circles to ideological and political education. The metaverse platform, as a new integrated digital technology, will reshape human production and lifestyle and drive innovation in online ideological and political education in universities (Xia & Wang, 2023) . Addressing challenges like discourse power, student social behavior, and teacher roles, universities must build a secure, trustworthy, and interconnected ideological and political metaverse, improving teachers’ digital literacy and leadership among college students for deeper integration of the metaverse with online education.
4. Paths for Incorporating Excellent Chinese Traditional Culture with New Media Technology in the Ideological and Political Education of Nursing Students
Integrating Chinese traditional culture into ideological and political education (IPE) for nursing students offers a roadmap for its promotion and serves as a crucial inspiration for IPE research and development. To achieve this, we must prioritize the integration of this culture into IPE courses. This will deepen the reform of university-level IPE, ensuring its centrality. Additionally, a multi-faceted approach is required, encompassing various activities centered on Chinese traditional culture, to foster a comprehensive nursing IPE experience. Leveraging nursing culture bases, we can further carry out IPE work through teacher training, education, and teaching, community building, and studio construction.
4.1. Incorporate Excellent Traditional Culture Elements to Deepen the Reform of Ideological and Political Theory Courses for Nursing Students
Integrating traditional Chinese culture into nursing students’ ideological and political theory curriculum is crucial for curricular reform. To achieve this, key strategies include: conducting research on effective integration methods, tapping into rich cultural resources like Confucian and Taoist values, compiling them into an educational resource library, enhancing teachers’ cultural knowledge, and exploring the value of traditional culture in nursing classrooms. This approach aims to innovate teaching methods, engage students, foster deeper cultural appreciation, and promote cultural identity, national pride, and patriotism.
4.2. Leveraging Excellent Traditional Chinese Culture, We Aim to Conduct Targeted Ideological and Political Education Activities for Nursing Students
Utilizing occasions such as school anniversaries, the International Nurses’ Day (May 12th), the May Fourth Youth Festival, and traditional festivals, we will organize nursing student-focused educational activities that embody the essence of Chinese culture. The school’s Youth League Committee should strengthen the development of nursing clubs centered on traditional Chinese culture. We encourage the engagement of nursing teachers with profound cultural knowledge and a passion for traditional Chinese culture as mentors for these clubs. The Committee must also increase support and promotion for these clubs. Additionally, the school should allocate a designated budget to ensure sufficient funding for the integration of traditional Chinese culture into nursing ideological and political education activities.
4.3. Building a Nursing Student Campus Culture Brand Rooted in Excellent Traditional Culture
To establish a comprehensive ideological and political education framework with Chinese traditional culture as its core, we must integrate distinctive campus culture development. This requires a unified approach, rather than siloed efforts. The significance of campus culture and nursing student ideological and political education should be viewed from the perspective of enhancing nursing education and talent cultivation. Nursing school culture development typically encompasses three levels: material (e.g., buildings, playgrounds, cultural landscapes), spiritual (e.g., school spirit, teaching style, study habits, class atmosphere), and institutional (establishing and improving regulations to support the previous two levels). In summary, we must build a nursing-specific campus culture brand rooted in excellent traditional culture, tailored to the school’s unique context.
4.4. Constructing a Comprehensive Ideological and Political Education System for Nursing Students through Cultural Bases
Focusing on tapping and leveraging university cultural and research resources to establish nursing-related bases for the inheritance of excellent traditional Chinese culture is crucial. This not only holds significance for the preservation of such culture but also profoundly impacts the cultural literacy of nursing students, the fulfillment of moral education, and the overall implementation of ideological and political education. Universities should seize this opportunity to actively declare and construct bases for the inheritance of excellent traditional Chinese culture. By utilizing these bases, nursing-themed master studios integrating ideological and political education with traditional Chinese culture can be established. By inviting mentors from local cultural federations, nursing associations, calligraphy and art associations, and other groups, we can develop nursing student clubs focused on traditional Chinese culture and nursing ideological and political education. This approach, through theme activities, lectures, training sessions, and other formats, aims to construct a comprehensive ideological and political education system for nursing students.
5. Conclusion
The excellent traditional Chinese culture represents the unique spiritual identity and soul of the Chinese nation. Its integration into ideological and political education in universities is a monumental task that requires continuous exploration, reform, and innovation. The university stage is a crucial period for shaping the values of young people, and integrating excellent traditional Chinese culture into the ideological and political education of nursing students is not only necessary to fulfill the fundamental task of cultivating people by virtue, but also aligns with the need to enhance the humanistic qualities of nursing students.
To achieve this, it is essential to fully explore the resources of excellent traditional Chinese culture and organically integrate them into the ideological and political education of nursing students in universities. This integration should enable students to internalize these values and apply them in their actions, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of ideological and political education in universities. The ultimate goal is to cultivate new generations of nursing professionals who are committed to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and who possess comprehensive development in moral character, intelligence, physical well-being, aesthetics, and labor skills, thus serving as qualified successors in socialist construction and nursing care.