Luxun Academy of Fine Arts

About Luxun Academy of Fine Arts

Luxun Academy of Fine Arts traces its institutional lineage to the Lu Xun Academy of Arts founded in Yan'an in 1938. It moved to northeast China after 1945, resumed operation in Shenyang in 1948, became Northeast Fine Arts College in 1953 and took its present name in 1958. This history remains visible in an institutional identity centered on art education, creative practice and public cultural work. The academy is a public regular higher-education institution. Its current overview reports 5,248 regular undergraduates, 1,238 master's students, 354 adult-education students and 14 international students, with 20 teaching units, including 17 schools or departments. It reports three current sites: Shenyang Mozi Mountain, Shenyang Sanhao Street and Dalian Jinshitan. The Mozi Mountain campus became fully operational following the 2025 relocation, while the academy's 2026 undergraduate prospectus assigns current undergraduate programs between the Shenyang and Dalian campuses. This is a specialist institution rather than a broad comprehensive university. Its scale and academic structure concentrate students among artists, designers, scholars and creative practitioners. Prospective students should examine the campus attached to a particular program: the 2026 prospectus places fields such as Chinese painting, sculpture, photography, environmental design and art management in Shenyang, while visual communication, animation, digital media and several other design programs are based in Dalian.

Domestic undergraduate admission in 2026 is route-specific. Applicants must first satisfy the national university-entrance examination requirements in their home province. Programs using the academy's specialist examination require a qualifying provincial art examination result and completion of the academy's art or design examination route. That route used an online preliminary examination followed by an in-person second stage; applicants could choose only one of the two examination categories. Other art programs use provincial unified examinations, while ordinary-category programs are admitted using provincial plans and procedures. Requirements and ranking methods therefore cannot be generalized across every major. For specialist-examination programs, the 2026 prospectus required applicants to meet their province's applicable general undergraduate cultural-score threshold, hold the academy examination certificate and compete in a national ranking based on the academy score. Provincial-examination and ordinary programs follow the relevant province's filing and admission rules. The academy also requires applicants to meet health standards; fine art and design applicants must not be color-blind. The separate 2026 international undergraduate process accepted applications from March 20 through May 30, 2026. It required secondary-school credentials, transcripts with Chinese translations, at least six portfolio images, a Chinese personal statement, a valid HSK Level 4 or higher result, passport documentation and a criminal-record certificate. Applicants passing document review proceeded to a professional interview. International master's applicants needed a bachelor's qualification, at least eight portfolio images and HSK Level 4 or higher, followed by review and a professional written examination. These dates applied to 2026 entry and should not be reused for a later cycle.

The undergraduate portfolio combines fine art, moving-image disciplines, design and art-related humanities. The 2026 prospectus lists Chinese painting, calligraphy, cultural-relic conservation and restoration, painting, sculpture, public art, photography, film and television production, directing, environmental design, product design, fashion, performance, fine arts, arts management and experimental art in Shenyang. Dalian offerings include visual communication design, digital media art, crafts, animation, production design, art and technology, art and design studies, product design and fashion, including two cooperative programs. At graduate level, the academy has master's authorization in Art Studies and Design Studies as academic fields and in Fine Arts and Calligraphy and Design as professional-degree fields. The 2026 international master's catalogue illustrates the range of research and practice options, including art history and theory, Chinese painting, calligraphy, conservation, printmaking, oil painting, watercolor, sculpture, photography, film, contemporary art, environmental and spatial design, fashion and product design. The official overview reports 12 nationally designated first-class undergraduate major construction sites and seven national first-class undergraduate courses. Studio practice and theoretical study coexist, but requirements differ considerably by program. Most undergraduate degrees are four years; the 2026 international prospectus identifies sculpture as a five-year course. Instruction for international undergraduate and master's applicants is explicitly full-time and in Chinese. Cooperative undergraduate routes in fashion and digital media provide optional later study with partner institutions in Japan or the United Kingdom, subject to academic and language conditions. Applicants should compare curricula and campus allocation rather than treating all art and design majors as interchangeable.

Key Highlights

• Founded in 1938 and renamed Luxun Academy of Fine Arts in 1958.
• An operating public institution with bachelor's and master's degree authority.
• The current institutional overview reports 5,248 regular undergraduates and 1,238 master's students.
• Current sites include Shenyang Mozi Mountain, Shenyang Sanhao Street and Dalian Jinshitan.

Student Life & Environment

Student experience is distributed across distinct campuses, so daily life depends on the assigned program. The newer Mozi Mountain campus in Shenyang was fully brought into use in 2025. The academy's relocation report identifies student residences, dining facilities and teaching buildings there, while its art museum is moving from Sanhao Street to Mozi Mountain as a venue for exhibitions, teaching, academic exchange and public arts education. Dalian-based design students study at the Jinshitan campus rather than in Shenyang. The academy reports an enrolled community dominated by domestic undergraduate and master's students, with a comparatively small international cohort. International applicants should therefore expect an environment in which Chinese is central both academically and socially. Organized residential life includes a one-stop student-community structure and a student self-management association that supports residence order, study culture, community events and public-service activities. Exhibitions and creative production are a practical part of campus culture. The academy operates museum and exhibition activities, and its 2026 graduation exhibition opened at the Mozi Mountain campus museum. Students considering the institution should confirm accommodation availability, move-in arrangements and which facilities are accessible from their assigned campus directly with the academy; no comprehensive 2026 housing guarantee was located.

Location & Surroundings

The academy's main current teaching geography spans Shenyang and Dalian in Liaoning Province. Its Mozi Mountain campus is at 160 Chuangxin Road in Shenyang's Hunnan district, while the longstanding Sanhao Street site is at 19 Sanhao Street in Heping district. The Dalian Jinshitan campus is at 39 Jinshi Road in Dalian's Jinpu New Area. For 2026 undergraduate study, the practical distinction is between Shenyang and Dalian. Fine art, sculpture, photography, film, environmental design, fashion and humanities-related programs are among those assigned to Shenyang. Visual communication, digital media, crafts, animation and other selected design programs are assigned to Dalian. Applicants should use the current prospectus rather than older material, because the academy completed its move into the Mozi Mountain campus in 2025. The Mozi Mountain campus sits in Shenyang's Hunnan area near a cluster that includes the Liaoning Provincial Library, museum, science and technology museum, archives and technology parks. This offers useful cultural context for art students, but travel, housing and cost planning should be based on the exact campus stated for the chosen major.

Costs & Career Outcomes

Costs differ materially by student category and program. The 2026 domestic undergraduate prospectus states that tuition varies by major according to approved provincial schedules, but the program-specific figures are embedded in tables that were not reliably extractable from the official page. It does state an annual accommodation charge of CNY 1,200 for resident students, subject to the final approved amount. Domestic students may be eligible for national, provincial and institutional awards and grants; the prospectus also lists source-region student loans up to CNY 20,000 per year. For 2026 international students, published undergraduate tuition was CNY 28,000 per academic year, accommodation CNY 50 per day, insurance CNY 800 per year and the application fee CNY 500. International master's tuition was CNY 30,400 per year, with the same listed accommodation, insurance and application charges. Students also pay for textbooks, art materials and tools. Domestic full-time master's tuition for 2026 was CNY 8,000 per year for academic degrees and CNY 18,000 per year for professional degrees; both were three-year programs and remained subject to provincial approval. Career support is oriented toward art and design employment. The academy's admissions and employment office advertises recruitment information, employer outreach, résumé activities and campus job fairs. Its autumn fair for the 2026 graduating class brought employers to both Shenyang and Dalian. No verified graduate salary or employment-rate figure was located, so students should judge career fit through portfolio development, discipline-specific opportunities and current employer participation rather than unsupported outcome claims.