China Kills Degrees: Photography and Fashion are Out, AI is Everything
Universities across China are ruthlessly purging traditional majors like photography and illustration to stuff students into AI and robotics factories. It is a bold, dystopian bet that human creativity is officially obsolete in the face of algorithms.
The Central Academy of Fine Arts has officially stopped pretending that traditional art forms like illustration and fashion design are worth teaching. Alongside the Communication University of China, which axed programs including comic creation, the academic landscape is undergoing a massive, state-mandated pivot toward AI and chip manufacturing.
Liao Xiangzhong, a top official, openly declared that photography no longer deserves to exist as an independent discipline because, apparently, everyone with a smartphone is now a professional cinematographer. Instead of learning craft, students are being funneled into technical programs that prioritize prompt engineering and machine learning integration.
This is not just a boutique change; it is a systemic overhaul. Since 2021, over 12,200 undergraduate programs have vanished, replaced by 10,200 slots dedicated to the AI+ initiative. The plan is aggressive: 70% AI integration by 2027 and a full-blown “smart economy” by 2035, effectively turning the entire national education system into a giant R&D wing for the state.
When a superpower decides that culture is secondary to algorithmic output, it signals a terrifyingly efficient, if soul-crushing, view of human potential. By treating a university degree like a software update that needs to be patched, the regime is betting that efficiency will win over the nuance of human history. The world is watching to see if a nation can actually manufacture innovation, or if it is just creating a generation of high-speed operators who have forgotten why they were painting pictures in the first place.
Source: TechRadar
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