To strengthen academic collaboration and enhance educational quality, SJZU Vice President Feng Baoqiang led a delegation from the Office of Scientific Research and the leadership team of the School of Fine Arts and Design to Wuji Yefeng Art Middle School on the morning of May 9 for the unveiling ceremony of a teaching and research practice base and the launch of the "Enterprise Visits and Employment Expansion Initiative." Attendees included Liu Yan, Liu Yan, Mayor of Wuji County; Liu Yunzhi, Deputy County Mayor; Xu Bin, Director of the Wuji County Education Bureau; Feng Jianfa, Chairman of Wuji Yefeng Art Middle School and Vice Chairman of the Hebei Provincial Artists Association; Li Cuizhe, Vice Principal; and representatives of teachers and students from Yefeng Art Middle School. Feng Baoqiang and Liu Yan jointly unveiled the plaque for the "SJZU School of Fine Arts and Design Teaching and Research Practice Base."

In his speech, Feng Baoqiang highlighted the university’s commitment to teacher education and its contributions to local basic education. He praised Wuji Yefeng Art Middle School as a National Advanced Private School and a Star Private Education Institution in Hebei Province, while acknowledging Feng Jianfa—an alumnus—as having made outstanding achievements in advancing art education. Feng emphasized that the establishment of the practice base marks a critical step in deepening strategic cooperation with Wuji County. He proposed three key development priorities for the base: improving quality through collaborative innovation, cultivating talent through inter-school projects, and building a comprehensive art education ecosystem. He expressed confidence that, with the support of Wuji County and through joint efforts, the base would achieve significant outcomes for art education in Shijiazhuang and Hebei Province.

Liu Yan, Mayor of Wuji County, expressed gratitude to Shijiazhuang University for its long-term support of Wuji’s educational undertakings and commended the base’s establishment as an innovative model of university-local government cooperation. He affirmed the county’s commitment to fostering a new era of education characterized by university-led guidance, middle school practice, and local government support, with the goal of driving high-quality development in regional education.

Feng Jianfa outlined Yefeng Art Middle School’s mission to "cultivate a new generation with artistic literacy and innovative thinking" and expressed his eagerness to explore innovative ways to integrate art education with basic education. He envisioned the partnership as a benchmark for mutually beneficial collaboration between universities and secondary schools.

After the ceremony, attendees visited the Tengjiao Qifeng Hall, painting studios, Western Sculpture Gallery, and the Cartoon Research Base of Yefeng Art Middle School and Satire & Humor, the Cartoon Supplement of People's Daily.

Moving forward, the two institutions will leverage the base to deepen cooperation in art education, talent cultivation, and research innovation, contributing to the training of professionals with strong ethics and artistic expertise while promoting regional cultural and artistic development.

（Contributed by: School of Fine Arts and Design Written by: Huang Lei）