China Academy of Art is a national art research institution directly under the Ministry of People and Culture of China. The State Council is the first batch of doctoral and master's degree awarding units. It was developed on the basis of China Opera Research Institute, China Music Research Institute and China Fine Arts Research Institute, which were established in the early days of New China. Approved by the State Council during 1980.
The Institute currently has 14 functional institutions, 3 intangible cultural heritage centers, 16 research institutes and research centers, as well as exhibition and performance centers, culture and art publishing houses, libraries, China Arts and Crafts Museum, Mei Lanfang Memorial Hall and graduate schools.
Functional institutions: hospital office, hospital party committee office, discipline inspection and supervision office, hospital youth league committee, trade union, scientific research management office, personnel office, planning and finance office, foreign affairs office, security office, administrative infrastructure management office, property center, retired cadre office and infirmary.
Intangible cultural heritage centers: China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center, Asia-Pacific Intangible Cultural Heritage International Training Center, and China Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Protection Center.
Among the successive leaders of the academy, He Jingzhi and Wang Meng served as ministers of culture and presidents of China Academy of Art; Scholars or artists such as Qu Runhai, Zhang Geng,,, Lu Meilin, Ma, Hu Feng, Yang, Ge, and Zhou Ruchang have all served as leaders or consultants of the Institute. The current dean is Wang Wenzhang, former vice minister of culture, director, researcher and doctoral supervisor of China Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center.