Culture
IAK Academy Six Arts Plus
The IAK Academy Six Arts Plus is a contemporary educational framework inspired by the spirit of the Classical Six Arts. Rooted in decades of educational practice, it brings together classical learning, aesthetic education, life cultivation, intercultural dialogue, and real-world experience into a holistic approach to education. Rather than focusing solely on knowledge or skills, it explores what we should teach, how we should teach, and ultimately how education can cultivate the whole person.
IAK 新六艺+是在中国传统六艺精神基础上发展而来的现代教育体系。它源于长期的教育实践，融合经典学习、美学教育、生命修养、跨文化交流与真实生活体验，形成一套面向当代的整体教育框架。它所关注的，不仅是教什么、怎么教，更希望重新思考教育如何培养一个完整的人。
IAK Digital Academy Series · No. 5
IAK 数字书院导读（五）
IAK Academy Six Arts Plus
新六艺+
The Chinese classics are not meant to be memorized.
The Guqin is more than a musical instrument.
The Six Arts are more than a curriculum.
A Shuyuan is more than an academy.
Together, they cultivate something far more important: a complete human being.
Artificial intelligence can help organise knowledge. Digital platforms can help share it. Books can help preserve culture. Yet the true carrier of civilisation has always been the human being.
Knowledge may be preserved in books and digital archives, but culture can only continue when it is lived and practised by people.
To rediscover the Six Arts is therefore not to return to the past. It is to ask a timeless question in today's world:
How should we learn? How should we live? How do we become more complete human beings?
The IAK Academy Six Arts Plus is not simply a curriculum. It is a pathway of self-cultivation towards the development of the whole person.
经典，不是用来背诵的。
古琴，不只是技巧。
六艺，不只是课程。
书院，不只是一个教育机构。
它们最终所培养的，是一个完整的人。
AI 可以帮助整理资料，数字平台可以帮助传播知识，书籍可以帮助保存文化；真正承载文明的，始终是人。
知识可以保存于书籍与数字典藏之中，但文化唯有在人身上实践，才能真正延续。
因此，重新理解六艺，并不是回到古代，而是在当代重新思考：
人应该如何学习？如何生活？又如何成为一个更完整的人？
IAK 新六艺+不是一套课程，而是一条通往完整人格的修养之路。
Since the Zhou Dynasty, the Classical Six Arts have formed one of the most enduring educational traditions in Chinese civilisation. Although the world has changed over the past three thousand years, the purpose of education has remained the same: to cultivate people of character, wisdom, responsibility, and the ability to contribute to society.
For many years, these principles had already guided my educational work through classical studies, life cultivation, aesthetic education, and intercultural dialogue. When IAK was founded in 2022, these long-standing educational practices were brought together into a coherent educational framework known as IAK Academy Six Arts Plus (礼乐射御书数社旅).
Rather than replacing the Classical Six Arts, it continues their educational spirit in the context of contemporary society.
In ancient times, education was largely rooted in a single community, a single academy, and a shared cultural environment. Today, however, we live in an interconnected world shaped by international dialogue, cultural diversity, and global mobility.
For this reason, while preserving the spirit of the Classical Six Arts, IAK introduced two additional dimensions: Social and Travel.
Social emphasises meaningful human relationships through communication, friendship, collaboration, and intercultural dialogue. It recognises that learning is not only an individual journey, but also a process of growing together with others.
Travel invites learners to discover the wider world through direct experience. By engaging with different cultures, landscapes, histories, and ways of life, it broadens perspectives, deepens intercultural understanding, and fosters respect for both diversity and our shared humanity.
These are not additional subjects. They are contemporary expressions of the educational spirit of the Six Arts, responding naturally to the realities of today's interconnected world.
自周代以来，六艺一直是中华文明最重要的教育传统之一。
三千年来，时代不断变化，但教育所追求的目标始终没有改变——培养有品格、有智慧、有担当，并能够服务社会的人。
多年来，我始终沿着这样的教育理念开展教学，将经典阅读、生命修养、美学教育与跨文化交流融入日常实践之中。2022 年 IAK 创立时，这些长期的教育实践，第一次整理成为一套完整的教育框架——IAK 新六艺（礼乐射御书数社旅）。
它并不是对古六艺的改变，而是在继承古六艺精神的基础上，对现代教育的一种延续与发展。
古代的教育，大多发生在一个社区、一座书院，以及相对共同的文化环境之中。而今天，我们生活在一个跨文化、跨国家、跨文明相互交流的世界。
因此，在保留礼、乐、射、御、书、数六艺精神的同时，IAK 增加了社与旅两个实践维度。
社，重视人与人之间真实而有意义的交流，通过社交、友谊、合作与跨文化对话，培养沟通能力、同理心与共同成长的精神。学习不仅是个人的修养，也是人与人共同学习、共同成长的过程。
旅，引导人们走向真实世界，在不同的自然环境、历史文化与文明交流中学习。通过亲身观察、体验与实践，拓展视野，加深对不同文化的理解，并建立对世界多样性与人类共同价值的尊重。
它们并不是两门新的课程，而是回应当代世界的发展，对古六艺教育精神的自然延续。
The IAK Academy Six Arts Plus has never remained simply an educational concept. It has always been lived through educational practice.
Over the years, this educational framework has continued to develop through teaching, aesthetic education, life cultivation, cultural programmes, and intercultural dialogue.
Educational practice at IAK, participation in the Beijing International Intangible Cultural Heritage Week as organiser of the Switzerland Pavilion, and two consecutive years of Lunar New Year educational programmes at International School Rheintal (ISR) have all contributed to the continuing refinement of this educational framework.
Looking back, the IAK Academy Six Arts Plus did not emerge at a single moment. It gradually evolved through continuous teaching, educational practice, reflection, and intercultural experience.
新六艺+从来不是停留在纸上的教育理念。
它始终贯穿于 IAK 的教育实践之中。
多年来，这一教育框架不断在教学、美学教育、生命修养、文化活动、国际合作与跨文化交流中持续实践、不断完善。
北京国际非遗文化周瑞士馆、连续两年与 ISR 国际学校共同开展春节文化教育活动，以及 IAK 持续开展的教育实践，都不断丰富和完善着这一教育体系。
回过头来看，新六艺+并不是某一天诞生的。
它是在不断实践、不断整理、不断成长中，逐渐形成的。
Today, the Three Schools provide the educational structure of the IAK Digital Academy.
The IAK Academy Six Arts Plus answers two fundamental questions:
What do we teach?
How do we teach?
Its purpose is not merely to transmit knowledge or teach individual skills. It seeks to help people rediscover the relationship between themselves, others, nature, and the wider world through classical learning, aesthetic education, life cultivation, intercultural practice, and everyday life.
It does not seek to return to the past.
It seeks to continue the educational spirit of the Shuyuan in the contemporary world.
More than an educational framework, it is a pathway towards the cultivation of the whole person.
今天，三大学堂构成了 IAK 数字书院的教育框架。
IAK 新六艺+，则回答了两个最根本的问题：
教什么？
又应该怎样教？
它所关注的，并不仅仅是知识的传授，也不是技能的训练，而是帮助每一个人在经典、美学、生命修养、跨文化实践与真实生活之中，重新建立人与自己、人与他人、人与自然，以及人与世界之间的联系。
它不是回到古代。
而是在当代继续实践书院教育的精神。
它不仅是一套现代教育框架，更是一条通往完整人格的修养之路。
Further Reading 延伸阅读
Yi (藝) – IAK Glossary
Understand the broader meaning of Yi (藝) in the Chinese classics and why it forms the foundation of the Six Arts.
艺（藝）——IAK 经典术语馆
理解“艺”的真正含义，是理解六艺精神的重要基础。
https://www.iak-switzerland.org/zh/glossary/yi-arts
IAK Academy Programmes 书院课程
Explore the courses, lectures, workshops, and educational activities inspired by the Three Schools and the IAK Academy Six Arts Plus.
探索三大学堂与 IAK 新六艺所开展的课程、讲座、工作坊及各类教育活动。
https://www.iak-switzerland.org/book-online
Educational Practice 教育实践
Discover how the IAK Academy Six Arts Plus is applied through educational programmes, international school collaborations, and intercultural learning.
了解 IAK 新六艺如何通过国际学校合作、文化项目与跨文化教育实践，落实于真实的学习与生活之中。
https://www.iak-switzerland.org/educational-practice
Young Scholars Programme 青年学者计划
Learn how the IAK Academy supports the next generation through classical learning, intercultural dialogue, and long-term personal development.
了解 IAK 如何通过经典学习、跨文化交流与长期培养，支持青年一代的成长与发展。
https://www.iak-switzerland.org/youngscholars