A Study on the Integration Mechanism of “Beauty” and “Virtue” in Contemporary Yue Opera from the Perspective of Embodied Cognition 
Xu Xichen

JiangSu Normal University KeWen College, Xuzhou, 221000;

Abstract: Amid efforts to integrate aesthetic and moral education in universities, contemporary Yue opera offers a valuable practical paradigm. From the perspective of embodied cognition, and taking representative environmental and immersive Yue operas such as New Dragon Gate Inn, My Grand View Garden, and Su Dongpo as cases, this paper argues that the embodied experience of opera activates a natural mechanism integrating “aesthetic appreciation” and “moral cultivation.” Moral identification no longer depends on conceptual indoctrination but arises naturally from aesthetic experience. It further compares how different degrees of embodied participation affect the integration effect, offering new insights for the fusion of aesthetic and moral education in higher education.

Keywords: embodied cognition; environmental Yue opera; aesthetics; moral cultivation

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