Cai Yuanpei (1868-1940) was a revolutionary educator, philosopher, and chancellor of Peking University who reshaped modern Chinese intellectual history. Trained in classical Confucianism, he later studied in Germany (1907-1911, 1912-1913), absorbing Kantian aesthetics and Western humanism. As China's first Minister of Education (1912), he abolished imperial examinations and promoted "aesthetic education"  as a national policy. His tenure at Peking University (1916-1927) transformed it into a progressive hub, hiring diverse thinkers like Chen Duxiu and Hu Shi while protecting student activism during the New Culture Movement. A synthesizer of East-West ideals, Cai advocated for "freedom of thought, inclusiveness of doctrines" , resisting both cultural conservatism and wholesale Westernization. His works-including Meiyu yu Renshengand The Cultivation of Chinese Ethics-integrate German idealism with Chinese humanism, emphasizing moral refinement through art. Despite political turmoil (exiling himself to protest violence), Cai tirelessly promoted civic education, scientific rationality, and global cultural exchange. He co-founded the Academia Sinica and remains a symbol of intellectual tolerance, whose legacy influences China's debates on education and modernity today.