Evaluation of university sports culture in the new era, based on philosophical context[1]
Ming Lei[2]
Hong Ma[3]
Abstract: University sports culture is an important component of the national cultural system. It is the crystallization of material and spiritual civilization in university sports, as well as the precipitation of sports culture and sports philosophy. However, in the new era, university sports culture presents problems, such as valuing intelligence over physical fitness, lacking in sports culture concepts, and separating spirit and material. In university education, more attention is often paid to academic and intellectual development, while sports and physical exercise are lightly regarded. In fact, university sports culture often focuses only on physical education and sports events, while ignoring the development of other aspects, resulting in an imbalance in the whole sports culture system. The insufficient investment of the school in sports facilities and equipment leads to a lack of necessary material support for students to engage in physical exercise. At the same time, the students’ understanding and pursuit of sports often remain on the surface, lacking in the pursuit of the spirit of the deep-seated. In review of university sports culture, dialectical materialism can be used to analyze the connection among the social background, development trend and mutual influence of sports culture. The perspective of social constructivism can also be used to explore the social construction process of sports culture, all participants’ roles and interactions, and the significance and influence of sports culture in society. Therefore, in order to better solve the problems existing in university sports culture, promote the rapid development of university sports culture in the new era, enhance the confidence of campus sports culture and build a strong sports culture, this article used dialectical materialism method to analyze the current situation of university sports. It explained the relationship between philosophy and sports culture from a philosophical perspective, as well as the current problems in sports culture. Finally, it used the method of social constructivism to explain it from different perspectives. Finally, through the social constructivism method, it examined the university sports culture in the new era and, dialectically, analyzed the forms, functions, reconstruction paths and future thinking of university sports culture. Research has found that the sports culture of universities, in the new era, plays an important role in cultural, educational, and political aspects. The reconstruction and future development of university sports culture, in the new era, need to combine Eastern and Western cultures, inherit excellent traditional culture and achieve innovative development of sports culture.
Keywords: University Sports Culture. Philosophical Context. New Era Sports Culture. Cultural Review.
Introduction
China has entered a new era of developing socialism with distinctive features. To achieve the goals of becoming a “sports powerhouse”, “cultural powerhouse” and “educational powerhouse”, the main social contradictions must be placed in a prominent position. As an important component of the development of higher education, university sports culture not only has a correct guiding role, but also bears the responsibility of cultivating a positive and healthy sports culture in universities. Sports culture should have healthy, beneficial and positive characteristics in order to help college students develop the habit of exercising, deepen their understanding of sports culture and form a good sense of sports. This means that a comprehensive examination of university sports culture, in the new era, is of great significance. This article aims to explore the essence, value, purpose, position and role of university sports culture, in university education, through philosophical thinking.
At the same time, the philosophical context guides people to think about how to combine university physical education with human cultural inheritance, social development and individual growth, further enriching and deepening the connotation of university physical education. Starting from the philosophical context, this article examines the form, function, reconstruction and future of university sports culture in the new era, and points out that university sports culture needs to combine Chinese and Western sports culture to achieve innovation, integration, inheritance and development of sports culture. From a philosophical perspective, this article dialectically examines the current situation and future development of university sports culture in the new era, providing more theoretical basis for the better development of sports culture and the reform of higher education sports teaching models. Philosophical approach can help people think deeply about the essence and value of sports culture, and further understand the status and role of sports in people’s life and social development in the new era. It can also guide people to think about the development law of sports culture, including its historical evolution, influencing factors and future development trend, etc., so as to better grasp the direction of the development of sports culture in the new era. It can also help one assess the social impact of sports culture, including its influence on human physical and mental health, social communication, cultural inheritance, etc., so as to better play a positive role in the sports culture.
Philosophical approach can also help people assess the social impact of sports culture, including its impact on human physical and mental health, social communication, cultural inheritance and other aspects, so as to better utilize the positive role of sports culture. Finally, the philosophical approach can guide ones in the reform and innovation of physical education, including its educational philosophy, teaching content and methods, so as to better cultivate the young people’s physical education quality and comprehensive ability in the new era. Studying the value and significance of sports culture in the new era, through philosophical methods, can help to understand the status and role of sports culture in the new era more comprehensively and deeply, and further promote the inheritance and development of sports culture.
With the continuous progress of human civilization, sports culture, as a product of civilization, has received more attention and attracted many scholars to explore sports culture. They have discussed the development of sports culture and the ways to promote the development of sports industry. In the context of the integration of Chinese and Western sports cultures, there have been many problems in contemporary university sports. The red sports culture and the idea of recalling hardships and cherishing sweetness can be introduced into the sports and the college students’ moral construction, in order to strengthen cultural confidence and promote the development of excellent traditional Chinese culture (Wang; Ma, 2019, p. 105).
Family sports culture and people’s sports participation, in the new era, exhibit a long-term socialization effect, which has a significant impact on people’s active participation in sports and the promotion of sports development (Strandbu; Anders; Kari, 2020, p. 931). Chinese folk sports culture has emerged and developed over thousands of years of history. However, the loss of sports and cultural resources, in the new era, is accelerating, and there is a lack of successors in folk skills and inheritance. It is necessary to strengthen the development of folk sports and cultural undertakings (Bai, 2018, p. 21). The inheritance and development of traditional Chinese sports culture, in the new era, are to achieve sublation, inheritance and integration. Only by strengthening cultural confidence, and inheriting and developing the bloodline of sports culture, Chinese sports culture can shine with vitality (Cui; Lin, 2018, p. 1). Scholars' research on sports culture helps to enrich its theoretical content, thereby promoting the further development of sports culture research. Due to the fact that the focus on university sports culture, in research, is carried out in this specific environment, the purpose of studying the essence of university sports culture is not thorough enough, and the scope of research has certain limitations.
The development of philosophy also provides more possibilities for the study of sports culture. Some scholars have explored the development of philosophy and sports culture from a philosophical perspective, as well as the interrelationships between the two, and determined the development direction of sports culture (Yang, 2020, p. 3). The examination of the anthropology about the sports world is objective. As a self-reflective person, it aims to form integrity. The issue of sexual dimorphism is the basis of social and cultural differences, between men and women, in sports. Sports culture is an expression of physical and spiritual values of sports personality, which can determine the direction of the development of sports culture in modern society (Bilohur; Regina, 2020, p. 136). The development of philosophy and sports culture can be divided into four stages. The first stage focuses on ontological issues; the second stage is related to the research on sports culture and philosophy; the third stage is in a relatively stagnant period; the fourth stage is the further development of sports culture and philosophy in sports ontology, ethics and aesthetics. These different stages of development determine the direction of sports culture in the new era (Zhang; Zhou; Emily, 2021, p. 556). Scholars’ analysis of sports culture and philosophy provides direction for the development of sports culture in the new era, and has reference significance for promoting the better development of current sports culture. However, due to its emphasis on exploring university sports in the philosophical context of the new era, research cannot be well applied.
This article studied the new era of university sports culture in the philosophical context, and provided a theoretical overview from two aspects: university sports culture, and philosophy and sports culture. In addition, this article also examined the new era of university sports culture, in the philosophical context, from four aspects: new situation, function, reconstruction path and future thinking. Through analysis, it was found that exploring the new era of university sports culture, from a philosophical perspective, can help better promote the reconstruction and development of university sports culture, and ultimately achieve the inheritance and dissemination of culture.
1 Theoretical evaluation of university sports culture in the new era
1.1 Overview of university sports culture in the new era
1.1.1 Concept of sports culture
Sports culture is a unique culture that arises from people’s practical activities (Ren, 2019, p. 3). Sport culture is a unique cultural form that provides important understanding and guidance for physical activity and healthy living through sport activities, sport values, sport institutions, sport traditions and sport behaviors. As a typical representative of Chinese sports culture, traditional Chinese sports culture, along with Western sports culture, has formed two completely different cultural types and value systems in human development (Zhang; Song, 2018, p. 87). Although the two originate from the same source, due to differences in cultural concepts, manifestations, values, goals and other aspects, they have formed two unique sports cultural phenomena worldwide (Wang; Pu, 2019, p. 33).
To a certain extent, sports are a microcosm of human social practice. Behind its representation, it highlights the unique spiritual connotation and value orientation of traditional Chinese sports culture. It also highlights the value orientation of “people-oriented” and “educating people through personal experience”, weakening scramble and competition (Nugroho, 2022, p. 91). Western sports culture places individuals at the center, with the goal of challenging the limits of the human body, emphasizing external physical performance, neglecting internal cultivation, and valuing competitions and awards. Both are excellent human cultures and, in mutual communication, there is both competition and integration and supplementation. With the strong invasion of Western sports culture in China, traditional Chinese sports have been severely impacted in university sports, presenting a “one-sided” trend. As China enters a new era, how to better integrate Chinese and Western sports culture and combine them to better play their role in university sports has become an urgent problem to be solved.
1.1.2 Explanation of university sports culture
Campus culture is a group culture with school students as the main body, extracurricular cultural activities as the main content and school spirit as the characteristic (Ding; Ding, 2019, p. 16). As a subculture, college sports culture plays an important role in the construction of college sports culture (Zhang, 2018, p. 174). Sports culture, in colleges and universities, is reflected through the sports curriculum. In many colleges and universities, basketball, soccer, volleyball, table tennis and other courses are offered, which not only give students the opportunity to exercise, but also convey the spirit of sports, such as teamwork and compliance with rules (Stefansen, 2022, p. 162). Sports culture, in colleges and universities, is also manifested in the organization and participation in various sports competitions and activities. Every year, colleges and universities organize school games, soccer leagues, basketball ones, and so on. It not only improve students’ physical fitness, but also cultivate their competitive spirit and teamwork spirit. Developed in the cultural boom of the 1980s, it differs greatly from other campus subcultures, with the joint development of mind and body as its main feature, requiring students to rely on physical activity to achieve health. Carrying out sports and cultural activities can promote the better development of students’ personalities. The elements of university sports culture are shown in Table 1:
Table 1 – Elements of university sports culture
|
Physical culture |
Institutional culture |
Spiritual culture |
Behavioral culture |
|
Sports facilities |
Sports objectives |
Sports values |
Physical education |
|
Sports media |
Sports organization |
Sportsmanship |
Sports competition |
|
Sports information |
Sports s |
Sports ethics |
Sports training |
Source: Smart (2007, p. 114)
The impact of sports culture on individuals, at the individual level, is multifaceted. It can promote physical health, cultivate social skills, enhance self-confidence and competitiveness, cultivate teamwork awareness, and enhance rule awareness and the goal oriented one. Sports culture advocates a positive and healthy lifestyle. By participating in sports, one can enhance their physical fitness, improve their physical health level and also improve their psychological state, reducing stress and anxiety. Sports culture encourages people to actively participate in sports, communicate and cooperate with others. In the process of participating in sports, people can make more friends, expand social circles and cultivate social skills. Sports culture emphasizes the realization of personal achievement and self-worth. By participating in sports, people can gain a sense of achievement and confidence, and improve their sense of self-identity and value. Sports culture emphasizes competition and challenges. By participating in sports, one can cultivate a sense of competition and a spirit of hard work, and enhance the courage and determination to face challenges. Sports culture emphasizes teamwork and a sense of collective honor. By participating in-group sports, one can cultivate a sense of teamwork and collective honor, and enhance the ability to cooperate with others. Sports culture emphasizes adherence to rules and fair competition. By participating in sports, one can cultivate a sense of rules and a spirit of fair competition, and improve their ability to abide by rules and respect others. Sports culture encourages people to establish clear goals and pursuits. The participation in sports can cultivate a sense of goal orientation and enterprising spirit. It can enhance the motivation to pursue goals and achieve dreams. In short, sports culture has a multifaceted impact at the individual level.
In a good sports cultural atmosphere, college students can obtain sports information through various means, thereby improving their sports behavior, thinking and aesthetic level, and providing sports ethics and values for the formation of distinctive university sports culture. Through the dissemination of university sports culture and the improvement and innovation of its dissemination methods, students can have more access to sports culture information related to it, better accept university sports culture, have a deeper understanding of university sports culture and ultimately achieve the inheritance of university sports culture.
1.1.3 Current situation of university sports culture
In college physical education courses, there may be a greater emphasis on courses related to intellectual and athletic activities, while neglecting courses related to physical and athletic activities. For example, more class hours may be used to teach team sports that require more tactics and strategies, such as soccer, basketball and volleyball, while basic physical activities, such as athletics and swimming, may be overlooked. At present, there are problems in university sports culture, such as valuing intelligence over physical fitness, lack of a cultural perspective on sports, and separation of spirit and material. The main reasons are as follows:
Firstly, the influence of traditional educational concepts: in China’s education system, there has always been a traditional concept of valuing intelligence education and neglecting physical education. This concept has greatly influenced the construction and development of university sports culture. The second is the lack of a cultural perspective on sports: in current university physical education, only the cultivation of sports skills is often emphasized, while the cultural perspective on sports culture is ignored. This leads to students’ superficial understanding of sports and a lack of understanding and mastery of the deep meaning of sports. The third is the separation of spirit and material: In the construction of university sports culture, spirit and material are interdependent, and both are indispensable. However, in reality, some universities often only focus on material cultural construction and neglect spiritual cultural construction when building sports culture. This leads to teachers and students lacking the necessary spiritual support and guidance, when participating in sports activities, and being unable to truly experience the joy and value brought by sports. The fourth is the lack of campus sports spirit: Campus sports spirit is the core of university sports culture, which includes various aspects, such as unity and cooperation, hard work and progress, and fair competition. Fifth, there is a lack of personalized characteristics: each university has its own unique educational characteristics and campus culture. Therefore, when building university sports culture, development should be based on its own characteristics and actual situation.
However, in practical operation, some universities often overlook this point, resulting in a lack of individuality and characteristics in their sports culture construction, which cannot truly reflect their own advantages and characteristics. In order to solve these problems, universities need to start from multiple aspects, including updating educational concepts, strengthening the cultivation of sports culture, emphasizing the unity of spirit and material, strengthening the construction of campus sports spirit and developing personalized characteristics. Only in this way, we can promote the healthy development of university sports culture. This article takes sports spiritual culture, as an example, to analyze the current situation of sports spiritual culture in a certain university, as shown in Table 2:
Table 2 – Current situation of sports spiritual culture in universities
|
Current state of spiritual culture |
Fully reflect |
Basic embodiment |
Unable to reflect |
|
Unity and collaboration |
26.3% |
32.5% |
41.2% |
|
Experience values |
29.6% |
30.6% |
39.8% |
|
Concept of Sports Education |
27.7% |
32.2% |
40.1% |
|
Collectivist consciousness |
25.1% |
36.2% |
38.7% |
|
Organizational discipline |
29.2% |
31.5% |
39.3% |
Source: McDonald, Sylvester (2014, p. 333)
To this end, a physical education curriculum can be developed to highlight the similarities between Eastern and Western cultures. Firstly, the paper selected a representative sports event, table tennis, which has a profound cultural background and extensive participation foundation in both East and West. Then, this article explores the historical and cultural background of the project, including how it spread and developed globally. This helps students recognize the universality and inclusiveness of sports events, as well as the similarities between Eastern and Western cultures. Afterwards, it allows students to personally participate in these sports events, experiencing the fun and challenges involved.
Teachers can design small competitions or activities that allow students to group and engage in confrontations, thereby enhancing students’ sense of teamwork and competitive spirit. Next, some discussion segments will be set up, in the course, to allow students to share their experiences and feelings in participating in sports activities, and to explore the similarities and differences between Eastern and Western cultures in these sports events. This helps to cultivate students’ cross-cultural communication awareness and ability. Finally, it selected some representative sports figures or events for case analysis, such as the Chinese table tennis players’ performance at the Olympics and the NBA players’ influence in Asia. By analyzing these cases, students can gain a deeper understanding of the interaction and influence of Eastern and Western cultures in the field of sports.
When studying campus sports culture from the perspective of ideology and politics, more emphasis is placed on its epistemology and methodology, thus ignoring the people’s existence. In the research, only measures were seen, but people were not seen. The important role of campus sports culture for people was not seen, and there was an extremely lack of thinking on issues, such as human enlightenment and development. In traditional research, campus sports culture and people cannot coexist, which leads to the separation of spirit and material, that is, the separation of intangible and tangible.
This article takes the philosophical context, as the starting point, to explore the form and function of university sports culture. It not only has certain academic guiding significance, but also contains the ultimate concern for academia. Taking university sports culture, as the research object, is conducive to building the spiritual home of university campuses, providing direction for the future development of the school and creating a good humanistic atmosphere that subtly affects college students. It fully utilizes the inheritance and innovation functions of university sports culture, and exerts the positive effects of environmental education. At the same time, this research can also provide assistance for higher education decision-making and educational teaching practice, which is of great significance for comprehensively implementing the Party’s educational policy, promoting the in-depth development of school quality education practice and improving educational quality.
1.1.4 Suggestions for University Sports Culture
With the society’s progress and the increasing demand for physical and mental health, the importance of university sports culture, in campus life, is becoming increasingly prominent. In the new era, how to develop sports culture with Chinese characteristics that is in line with the actual situation of universities and improve students’ physical and mental health has become an important issue that people need to consider and solve.
The following are some suggestions for the development of sports culture in universities in the new era:
1. Promoting sports spirit and cultivate healthy lifestyles: it can strengthen publicity and education, promote sports spirit, incorporate sports spirit education into students’ comprehensive quality education system, and improve students’ sports awareness and importance. People need to establish a physical education curriculum system, guided by “health first”, emphasizing the combination of sports skill cultivation and health knowledge popularization. It can encourage students to participate in sports activities, cultivate good exercise habits and form a healthy lifestyle.
2. Strengthening the construction of sports facilities and improving the quality of physical education teaching: people need to increase investment, improve campus sports facilities, and provide students with sufficient sports venues and advanced sports equipment. It can improve the level of physical education teaching, focus on the development of sports connotation, and improve the quality and effectiveness of teaching. It introduces advanced physical education teaching concepts and methods, pays attention to individual differences and students’ different needs, and achieves personalized teaching.
3. It can organize sports events and improve the level of sports competitions. It regularly holds various sports events, such as sports events and individual championships, to stimulate students’ enthusiasm and participation in sports. Students can actively engage in intercollegiate sports exchange and cooperation, and jointly hold friendly invitational competitions with other universities to improve the sports competitiveness of the school. Campus sports culture can be promoted through competitions to enhance students’ sense of collective honor and teamwork spirit.
4. It aims to promote the integration of sports and academia, promote comprehensive development, integrate sports and academia, and achieve a “combination of sports and education”. It also requires the establishment of sports academic research institutions to promote the development of sports academic research. It strengthens support and guidance for student sports research, and encourages students to carry out innovative research and practice in the field of sports. Sports culture lectures and seminars can be held to enhance students’ understanding of sports, promote the inheritance and development of sports culture, strengthen international exchanges and learn advanced sports culture. It can strengthen international exchanges and cooperation, participate in international university sports competitions and academic exchange activities, and broaden students’ international perspectives. It can learn from advanced foreign sports culture and educational concepts, and innovate and develop, based on the actual situation of our school. Regular sports and cultural exchange activities can be held with international friendly schools to enhance mutual understanding and friendship.
1.2 Sports culture and philosophy
From the perspective of generative theory, culture not only nurtures and nourishes sports, but also exists in sports. It is a deep-seated, mechanistic and valuable thing that affects and restricts sports behavior patterns. Essentially, philosophy is a generative mode of thinking that contemplates the essence of problems. From the perspective of cultural and philosophical context, the object world and its cognition are not known and unchanging, and they are constantly generated in human practical activities. The development of culture requires the promotion of cultural spirit, which is the soul of cultural development. The spirit of women’s volleyball has driven the development of Chinese sports culture (Liu; Zhang; Zheng, 2020, p. 8). Sports culture is nurtured by mainstream social ideology and culture, and has gradually formed its own characteristics in the long-term development process.
Sports themselves are the creation of life by humans, and they are a pursuit of comprehensive development by humans. Sports have transformed human body organs and appearance, not only to improve the quality of life, but also to make oneself stronger and constantly surpass oneself, thus achieving comprehensive control of the body. However, the systematic integration of internal and external factors, the unity of physical and mental integration, and the comprehensiveness of physical fitness, skills, psychology and intelligence demonstrated, in any sports event, reflect all the value demands of human comprehensive development. Although water sports are only one type of comprehensive education system for morality, intelligence, physical fitness and aesthetics, it is an important way to achieve other educational functions and goals.
However, in the new era, human development faces the problem of alienation (Foster; Brett, 2018, p. 1). Alienation is an important topic in philosophy. It is an important issue and core concept in the research of philosophy and social sciences in the world today. In philosophy, the term alienation refers to the differentiation of an alien force into something that is opposite to or even dominates the subject after the subject develops and changes to a certain extent and stage (Raekstad, 2018, p. 300). It can also be used to indicate that similar or identical things gradually become different or dissimilar. There is a clear phenomenon of alienation in the sports culture of universities in the new era (Harvey, 2018, p. 137). In the context of school physical education, things or products of human behavior that belong to humans form a force that constrains and dominates humans by gaining independence. The reason for the rule of things over people is the alienation of power in social relations, and the result is that the essence of sports has evolved from human freedom, consciousness and happy activities to difficult, alien and forced activities. This also means that university sports have lost their own function of cultivating people, making it difficult for college students to achieve comprehensive physical and mental development. This is not conducive to students establishing a sound, complete and socially adaptable psychology. On the contrary, it occupies and controls the next generation, turning sports skills into sports purposes.
Taking university basketball culture as an example, this paper analyzes the impact of campus sports culture. From a philosophical perspective, campus basketball culture can be seen as a human society’s special form, with its own characteristics and laws, reflecting human pursuit of life, sports and culture. Firstly, campus basketball culture reflects humanity’s love and pursuit of life. Basketball is a physical activity that requires people to improve their physical fitness and skill levels through exercise and training. At the same time, basketball is also a competitive sport that requires people to perform at their best and showcase their abilities and values in competitions. This love and pursuit of life is the core and soul of campus basketball culture. Secondly, campus basketball culture reflects human understanding and pursuit of sports. Basketball is a collective, versatile and technical sport that requires collaboration, flexibility and innovation in the game. This love and understanding of sports are the cornerstone and support of campus basketball culture. Finally, campus basketball culture reflects humanity’s inheritance and pursuit of culture. Basketball is not only a physical activity and competitive sport, but also a cultural phenomenon. It reflects people’s thoughts, concepts and values through various forms and activities, and inherits human civilization. This inheritance and pursuit of culture are the fundamental and ultimate goal of campus basketball culture. In the practice of campus basketball culture, we need to examine and reflect on its development direction and path from a philosophical perspective.
2 Examination of sports culture, in the new era, in the philosophical context
2.1 New forms of university sports culture in the philosophical context of the new era
In the new era, socialist core values are often used to guide the construction of university physical education classrooms and cultivate students’ cultural confidence. Against the backdrop of multipolarity in the world, the globalization and diversification of culture have had a strong impact on the college students’ thinking. Under the impact of national sports culture and Western sports culture, some college students lack confidence in national sports culture. When constructing sports classrooms in the new era, people should be guided by socialist core values, actively carry out socialist advanced sports culture education and sports culture themed education, vigorously promote typical examples of socialist core values and cultivate students’ cultural confidence. The practical action of guiding college students to transform their firm cultural confidence into cultural self-awareness is to demonstrate a sense of responsibility in consciousness and philosophy, as well as in specific actions, and actively take on the historical responsibility for the development of sports culture. With the theme of inheriting traditional sports culture and the Chinese Dream, people provide sports education in a way that college students enjoy, and provide education on socialist core values. For example, people served as receptionists and volunteers at major events, such as the 45th World Gymnastics Championships.
In the new era, various campus sports and cultural activities are carried out on university campuses to enhance students’ understanding of national sports culture. Campus cultural activities have rich, vivid and lively characteristics, which can stimulate students’ enthusiasm and participation. Through various activities, college students can understand university sports culture and excellent Chinese cultural culture, thereby improving their spiritual level. At the same time, by organically combining professional knowledge and aesthetic education, and carrying out various forms of sports and cultural activities, people can strengthen the education of excellent Chinese culture. Campus sports and cultural activities in universities can turn the college students’ attention towards excellent ethnic cultural activities. They can cultivate their aesthetic awareness and taste, broaden their horizons, enrich their aesthetic practices in sports and cultural activities, and enhance their aesthetic awareness, expression of beauty and ability to create beauty, ultimately enhancing their cultural consciousness and confidence in ethnic sports and culture.
In the new era, universities have built a platform for sports and cultural practice activities, which has improved the college students’ national cultural awareness. People need to promote the construction of student clubs and build a cultural education platform. Today’s universities actively advocate the construction of public welfare and cultural organizations, combining them with education, professional development, ability cultivation and serving society. They have established a group of associations with ethnic sports and cultural characteristics, such as martial arts associations. Through a series of traditional sports and cultural activities, they deepen their understanding of ethnic culture related to traditional sports culture and promote ethnic culture through practical exercises. Usually, sports clubs need to be combined with ethnic traditional sports, with strong characteristics. Based on their own characteristics, they organize and carry out ethnic traditional sports competitive activities, such as throwing embroidery balls, stepping on stilts, dancing bamboo poles and kicking shuttlecock. So, the students can better understand the charm of ethnic traditional sports, improve their understanding of traditional sports culture, experience the breadth and depth of traditional culture, and enhance their sense of national cultural pride.
To connect modern sports science with traditional cultural sports, it is necessary to first draw on the theories and research achievements of modern sports science, and provide new ideas and tools for traditional cultural sports. Modern sports science theories, such as sports physiology, sports biomechanics and sports nutrition, can be applied to scientifically research and improve traditional fitness methods, such as martial arts, qigong and tai chi, making them more in line with modern people’s fitness needs and lifestyle. Then, modern technological means are used to study traditional cultural sports. By utilizing modern technological means, such as computer technology and sensor technology, we digitize and analyze the moves, internal skills and qigong of traditional martial arts, revealing their inherent laws and principles, and improving the scientificity and verifiability of traditional martial arts. Finally, we will promote the international dissemination and promotion of traditional culture and sports.
Modern sports science has global influence and dissemination power, and can push traditional cultural sports to the world stage through international competitions, cultural exchanges and other means, promoting cultural exchange and fitness fever worldwide. In terms of equipment, intelligent fitness equipment, based on modern sports science, can be developed. For example, utilizing the theories of sports biomechanics and sports physiology, developing intelligent fitness equipment that can accurately monitor indicators, such as exercise status, calorie consumption, heart rate, etc., and providing scientific data support and feedback for traditional fitness methods. Modern technological means can be utilized to digitally preserve and inherit traditional culture and sports. For example, modern technological means, such as virtual reality technology and 3D printing technology, can be utilized to digitize and restore traditional martial arts movements, internal skills, qigong, etc., establish digital museums and virtual coaching systems, and permanently preserve and inherit traditional culture and sports. Modern media methods can be used to promote the dissemination and promotion of traditional culture and sports. For example, by utilizing modern media methods, such as the Internet and social media, platforms, such as websites, apps, and social media accounts for traditional culture and sports can be established. Through various forms, such as videos, images and text, the content and concepts of traditional culture and sports can be disseminated and promoted globally.
2.2 Function of university sports culture in the context of philosophy in the new era
The purpose of culture is to reflect the human beings’ essential attributes, to demonstrate their tremendous driving and improving role in social and cultural practice, and to demonstrate their dominant position in the process of creating advanced culture. Human thinking, behavior, consciousness, existence and criticism can all be reflected in cultural activities. University sports culture is a product of social practice activities, which is formed and developed in the production practice process of transforming campus culture. They integrated the entertainment methods, folk customs and national customs of different regions, and formed a distinctive form of university sports culture through integration, improvement and development. Finally, through different cultural forms, they realized the cultural identity of regions, ethnic groups’ and nations’ one.
The purpose of making philosophical judgments on sports culture is to develop its value through philosophical means and, then, clarify what to support, oppose, accept, reject, promote, weaken, advocate and suppress.
The philosophical and cultural functions of university sports culture mainly have three aspects: firstly, the historical task of sports requires college students to establish a cultural standard for sports. In mass sports and school sports, there is no lack of cultural standards that can improve value. However, competitive sports are a high-level sports, and their cultural standards are carried by sports stars. They are all cultural standards, and schools can summarize, package and promote these cultural standards. Secondly, the practicality of sports values requires college students to take “people-oriented”, “happiness first”, “respect for opponents”, and “fair competition”, as their value standards. If people can consciously achieve them, then sports would have a more promising future. The third requirement is the charm of sports. Schools can reflect the value of sports through sports flags, emblems, sports buildings, sports slogans, sports clothing, sports competitions, etc. To make the sports flag and emblem have cultural connotations, sports buildings have cultural tension; sports slogans have cultural charm; sports clothing has cultural creativity; sports competitions have cultural atmosphere. In this way, sports can subtly affect people and make them refreshing.
2.3 Reconstruction path of university sports culture, in the new era, in the philosophical context
To achieve the reconstruction of university sports culture in the philosophical context of the new era, it is necessary to organically combine traditional and modern sports on this basis, and have cultural confidence (Liu; Lu, 2018, p. 42). The reconstruction of modern sports culture in China cannot return unchanged, let alone move forward without reservation. It should be based on the characteristics of the new era and the country’s actual needs, and promote the combination of traditional sports and modern sports. There are three specific manifestations:
(1) The mutual integration of lifestyles
The relationship between culture and way of life can be said to be mutual premise and influence. Many excellent traditional sports were born from the traditional society’s production and life style, but in today’s society, because of the change of production and life style, they have no living space and become extinct. People should integrate their way of life and gradually adapt traditional sports to the lifestyle of the new era, through continuous adjustments.
(2) Integration of thinking styles
Culture is the crystallization of human thought. As a form of culture, traditional sports are characterized by harmony, conservatism and self-cultivation, while modern sports are developed in a modern industrial society and are characterized by competitiveness, openness, transcendence and subjectivity. Both have their own strengths and complement each other. The principles of “harmony” and “nurturing”, in traditional sports culture, can effectively coordinate the lack of value rationality caused by the excessive emphasis on subjectivity in modern sports culture (Fang; Zhang, 2019, p. 139).
(3) Integration of values
The fusion of values, between the two, is manifested as a modern transformation of traditional sports spirit. In traditional sports cultural concepts, there are also factors that have a negative impact on humanity. Throughout history, rulers hoped that the people would weaken their aspirations, strengthen their bones, have no desires and use them as the standard for shaping people to ensure the country’s stability. This has led to a change in sports culture, where originally highly competitive sports events have begun to develop towards performance and entertainment. For example, archery evolved into throwing pots; battle of Cuju evolved into kicking shuttlecock; the highly practical martial art also evolved into a performance art, based on flower punches and leg embroidery. This concept runs counter to the spiritual characteristics of modern sports culture and has become an obstacle to the transformation of traditional Chinese sports towards modernization. With the continuous deepening of China’s comprehensive reform, university sports culture should pay more attention to promoting social customs, establishing values of fairness, justice and determination to progress, encouraging college students to actively progress, inspiring fighting spirit, enhancing self-confidence, and being brave in taking risks and in innovation.
In addition, in order to achieve the reconstruction of university sports culture in the philosophical context of the new era, it is also necessary to pay attention to the complementarity and reference between Chinese and Western sports cultures. The process of China’s transition from traditional to modern society is a complex and constantly changing one. In the context of cultural transformation in China’s new era, the complementarity between Chinese and Western sports cultures should be more manifested at the level of institutional culture. Traditional Chinese society is more governed by people. Whether it is the patriarchal system granted by the monarchy, or the moral ethics of three obedience, four virtues and three virtues, all are traditional social systems centered around the man’s rule. The rule of law is the core of the modern Western social system, which is based on democracy, freedom and legal systems. People should organically combine the man’s rule and the rule of law, so that their positive role, in cultural development, can be fully played. In the current stage of university sports reform, the reform of the sports system is the most crucial issue. People should also combine and supplement the current government-led system with the Western social-led system. While absorbing the scientific, democratic, rational and contractual spirit of the West, people should reasonably strengthen humanistic advantages to build a management system that is suitable for the development of modern sports, and ultimately achieve the innovative development of university sports culture.
Finally, in order to achieve the reconstruction of university sports culture in the philosophical context of the new era, a multicultural pattern of university sports can be constructed under the guidance of the idea of seeking common ground while reserving differences.
Firstly, understanding differences is a prerequisite for seeking common ground while reserving differences. Differences are a prerequisite for the formation of cultural diversity. Only when there are differences among each other, the personalities and ethnicities of different cultures can be expressed, compared and complemented, and there is a direction and motivation for further development.
Secondly, respecting differences is the basis for seeking common ground while reserving differences. Respect for differences is essential in the process of seeking common ground. Emphasizing respect for differences in seeking common ground, while reserving differences, means abandoning extreme thoughts in sports culture, namely abandoning the tendency of blind arrogance and egotism, as well as the tendency of blind inferiority and altruism based on others (Munkwitz, 2012, p. 74).
Thirdly, in order to achieve the goal of seeking common ground while reserving differences in university sports culture, it is necessary to learn from each other. From a deeper perspective, seeking common ground is a necessary way. Only by engaging in equal dialogue and communication among students from different universities, misunderstandings and obstacles can be eliminated, layer by layer, and understanding gradually deepen. By having an objective understanding of the significance and value of heterogeneous sports culture, one can better develop their own university sports culture.
Fourthly, the purpose of seeking common ground, while reserving differences, is to be harmonious, but different. The so-called harmony refers to mutual respect, communication and promotion among various ethnic groups on campus. Differences refer to the fact that, in the process of “harmony”, each ethnic group is still able to retain its own ethnic characteristics and cultural independence. When reconstructing the sports culture of universities in the new era, blind seeking similarities and blind seeking differences should be avoided. Only by adhering to the cultural development concept of harmony but difference, and not following the same path, university sports culture can develop better.
2.4 Future reflections on university sports culture in the context of philosophy in the new era
Values are a practical value orientation that determines and controls people’s value choices and behavioral trends. Sports culture is a culture that objectively reflects the humanistic spirit of sports from a higher level. If there were no solid cultural foundation and clear value orientation, university sports culture would experience some unhealthy emotions and psychological states. They are either restless and excited, or sluggish, which is detrimental to the sustainable development of university sports culture. Ancient Chinese philosophy emphasized the importance of being in the right position and achieving the right balance, that is, all things between heaven and earth should strive to achieve the right balance in their appropriate positions, so as to ensure their orderly and harmonious development. The development of university sports culture in China is moving towards positive progress, but due to the influence of political, economic and social development, there have been some twists, turns and mistakes in the specific historical development process (Choi, 2012, 102). The future development of China’s sports culture should adhere to emancipation, keep pace with the times and adhere to the correct cultural values as guidance.
From the perspective of development practice, the future thinking of university sports culture, in the new era, has been carried out. The catch-up sports development model, guided by gold medals and championships, has made tremendous achievements in China’s competitive sports. However, the extreme would reverse, and the alienation and imbalance, brought about by the excessive development model, clearly deviate from the original intention of sports culture and the trend of China’s economic and social development. Focusing on students and coordinated development is the goal that should be pursued in the sustainable sports development model, advocated by the new era of university sports culture. The sustainable development path of sports, in university sports culture, should integrate the concept of people-oriented and scientific development, and be consistent with the overall national development strategy.
Ancient Chinese philosophy believed that observing objects and taking images were an innovative thinking. In the new era, university sports culture needs to constantly improve itself in order to make sports culture full of vitality and continue. The innovation of university sports culture should adapt to the society’s development and changes, and pay attention to the innovation of concepts, content and forms. In the context of socialist market economy, the development model of university sports must be reformed. As a cultural activity that is closest to students’ daily life, university sports culture needs to be socialized, which helps to greatly unleash social creativity and provide a solid mass foundation for innovation in sports culture.
Conclusions
The cultural canon is an important component that reflects the charm of a nation’s personality and national spiritual culture. Sports, as a form of practice, embodies the philosophy of endless growth and the unity of heaven and man, which not only deepens people’s understanding and perception of life, but also has important implications for the development of Chinese university sports culture today. Starting from the philosophical context, this article explored the form, function, reconstruction path and future thinking of university sports culture in the new era. It is believed that university sports culture, in the new era, should not only absorb excellent foreign sports culture, but also inherit traditional excellent sports culture.
People also need to strengthen their cultural confidence, build a sustainable development model of university sports culture that is humane, open, ecological and innovative, and provide more opportunities for sports culture innovation. This can ensure the shaping of a national sports and cultural image with Chinese characteristics, and ultimately provide vitality for the construction of a civilized and harmonious socialist society. Through the research of this paper, it is known that the new era university sports culture has an important role in culture, education and politics. Discussing university sports culture, in the new era, from a philosophical point of view can help better promote the reconstruction and development of university sports culture, and ultimately realize the inheritance and dissemination of culture. To create an image of ethnic sports culture with Chinese characteristics, it is necessary to first explore and inherit ethnic sports culture, then promote ethnic sports culture and, then, innovate ethnic sports culture.
This article combines the times’ characteristics and market demand, innovates the expression methods of national sports culture, strengthens international exchanges and cooperation, and ultimately cultivates professional talents. We can establish a professional talent team to enhance the inheritance and innovation ability of ethnic sports culture, which provides talent protection for the inheritance and development of ethnic sports culture. However, there are some shortcomings in the study of this paper. Due to the differences in university sports culture in different regions and countries, the study may not be able to comprehensively understand and describe the sports culture of all universities. Secondly, the research, examined in the philosophical context, may be too abstract and theoretical, which is difficult to be applied concretely in practice. Meanwhile, more empirical studies and field surveys may be needed for an in-depth analysis and understanding of university sport culture. Subsequent research needs to further deepen the theoretical research of university sports culture in the philosophical context, exploring its essence, characteristics, functions and development laws. This can provide more scientific theoretical guidance for practice, and also require investigation and research on universities in different regions. Different types and levels of empirical research methods can be used to obtain a more comprehensive and accurate understanding.
Evaluación de la cultura deportiva universitaria en la nueva era a partir del contexto filosófico
Resumen: La cultura deportiva universitaria es un componente importante del sistema cultural nacional. Es la cristalización de la civilización material y espiritual en el deporte universitario, así como la precipitación de la cultura deportiva y la filosofía del deporte. Sin embargo, en la nueva era, la cultura deportiva universitaria presenta problemas como valorar más la inteligencia que la forma física, carecer de conceptos de cultura deportiva y separar el espíritu de lo material. En la educación universitaria, generalmente se presta más atención al desarrollo académico e intelectual, mientras que no tanto al deporte y ejercicio físico. De hecho, la cultura deportiva universitaria a menudo se centra sólo en la educación física y los eventos deportivos, ignorando el desarrollo de otros aspectos, lo que da lugar a un desequilibrio en todo el sistema de cultura deportiva; la insuficiente inversión de la escuela en instalaciones y equipos deportivos conduce a una falta de apoyo material necesario para que los estudiantes lleven actividades de ejercicio físico. Al mismo tiempo, la comprensión y la búsqueda del deporte por parte de los estudiantes se quedan a menudo en la superficie, careciendo de la búsqueda del espíritu de lo profundo. En la revisión de la cultura deportiva universitaria, se puede utilizar el materialismo dialéctico para analizar la conexión entre el trasfondo social, la tendencia de desarrollo y la influencia mutua de la cultura deportiva; también se puede utilizar la perspectiva del constructivismo social para explorar el proceso de construcción social de la cultura deportiva, los papeles y las interacciones de todos los participantes, y el significado y la influencia de la cultura deportiva en la sociedad. Por consiguiente, para resolver mejor los problemas existentes en la cultura deportiva universitaria, promover el rápido desarrollo de la cultura deportiva universitaria en la nueva era, aumentar la confianza de la cultura deportiva universitaria y construir una cultura deportiva fuerte, este artículo utilizó el método del materialismo dialéctico para analizar la situación actual del deporte universitario. Explica la relación entre la filosofía y la cultura deportiva desde una perspectiva filosófica, así como los problemas actuales de la cultura deportiva. Utilizó el método del constructivismo social para explicarlo desde diferentes perspectivas. Por último, a través del método del constructivismo social, examinó la cultura deportiva universitaria en la nueva era y analizó dialécticamente las formas, funciones, vías de reconstrucción y pensamiento futuro de la cultura deportiva universitaria. La investigación ha constatado que la cultura deportiva de las universidades en la nueva era desempeña un papel importante en los aspectos cultural, educativo y político. La reconstrucción y el desarrollo futuro de la cultura deportiva universitaria en la nueva era necesitan combinar las culturas oriental y occidental, heredar la excelente cultura tradicional y lograr un desarrollo innovador de la cultura deportiva.
Palabras clave: Cultura deportiva universitaria. Contexto filosófico. Cultura deportiva de la nueva era. Revisión cultural.
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Received: 07/09/2023 – Approved: 13/11/2023 – Published: 18/04/2024
[1] This work by the Exploration and Research on the mode and method of sports education integration Project nº 2022530. This work was supported by the Research and Planning Fund Project of Humanities and Sociology of the Ministry of Education in 2023 (23YJA890006).
[2] Sports Department Xi’an International Studies University, Xi’an, 710128 – China; Graduate School, University of Perpetual Help System DALTA, Manila, 1740 – Philippines. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4807-5390. E-mail: lei1644312@aliyun.com.
[3] Sports Department Xi’an International Studies University, Xi’an, 710128 - China. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0405-6528. E-mail: ma2646154488@163.com.