Listen to this articleliùyì 六艺
The Six Arts
“六艺”有两种不同的含义：其一，指《诗》《书》《礼》《乐》《易》《春秋》等六部经典。历代儒者通过对“六经”文本的不断解释，为这些经典赋予了丰富的意义。“六艺”之学体现着古人对于世界秩序与价值的根本理解。其二，指礼、乐、射、御、书、术等六种技能，是古代学校教育的基本内容。
The six arts may refer to two sets of content. They may refer to the Six Classics: The Book of Songs, The Book of History, The Book of Rites, The Book of Music, The Book of Changes, and The Spring and Autumn Annals. Confucian scholars through the ages kept interpreting these classical texts, endowing them with rich significance. Theories related to the six arts represent the basic views of the ancients in regard to world order and values. The six arts may also refer to the six skills of rituals, music, archery, charioteering, the structures of written characters, and mathematics, which were the basic contents of school teaching in antiquity.
引例 Citations：
◎六艺者，王教之典籍，先圣所以明天道、正人伦、致至治之成法也。（《汉书·儒林传》）
（“六艺”是王道教化所使用的典籍，是古代圣人用来彰明天道、端正人伦、实现治世的既成的法则。）
The six arts are the canons of kingly instruction by which the ancient sages expounded the Way of Heaven, set human relationships right, and kept the society in peace and order. (The History of the Han Dynasty)
◎保氏：掌谏王恶，而养国子以道。乃教之六艺：一曰五礼，二曰六乐，三曰五射，四曰五驭，五曰六书，六曰九数。（《周礼·地官·司徒》）
（保氏的职责：负责匡正君王的恶行，而以正道教导国中王公贵胄的子弟。于是教给他们“六艺”：其一是五个方面的礼仪，其二是六种乐舞，其三是五种射箭之法，其四是五种驾车之法，其五是汉字的六种造字方法，其六是九种计数之法。）
Responsibilities of the Palace Education Guardian: admonishing the king against wrongdoing and tutoring the scions of state in the right principles. Thus he teaches them the six arts: the five types of ritual, the six styles of music and dance, the five ways of archery, the five methods of charioteering, the six structures of written characters, and the nine types of mathematics. (The Rites of Zhou)
