Research on the Integration Path of Red Family Letters into the Cultivation of College Students’ National Sentiment

Abstract

Red family letters represent a microcosmic history of the Chinese Communist Party and a vivid national history. Forged with the blood and deep affection of revolutionary forebears, they embody the ideals, convictions, family‑state responsibility, and national integrity of Chinese Communists, and constitute a valuable educational resource for cultivating college students’ national sentiment. As a core competency for college students, the cultivation of national sentiment requires the synergistic effort of emotion, cognition, and practice. From the perspective of the internal logic, red family letters can touch the heart through family narratives, evoke emotional resonance, reinforce rational identity with ideals and convictions, and stimulate action through role models, thereby achieving the unity of knowledge and action. In terms of the current reality of higher education, the integration of red family letters into college students’ national sentiment cultivation faces four mismatches: emphasis on stock rather than incremental supply, emphasis on transmission rather than acquisition, emphasis on indoctrination rather than internalization, and emphasis on theory rather than practice. Accordingly, efforts should be made in five aspects – deepening cognition, enhancing capacity, innovating forms, enriching carriers, and optimizing mechanisms – to construct targeted practical pathways for integrating red family letters into the cultivation of college students’ national sentiment, thereby providing theoretical references and practical guidance for colleges and universities during the 15th Five‑Year Plan period in fulfilling the fundamental task of fostering virtue and strengthening national sentiment education.