Abstract
In imperial China, the Yijing was a Confucian classic tested in the civil service examinations. After the 1911 Revolution, it lost its august status and became a relic of the past. It was condemned as a source of superstition and a tool of political control. But throughout the twentieth century, many Chinese scholars attempted to reinvent the Yijing as an allegory of China’s modernization. This chapter examines this transformation of the Yijing by focusing on three momentous events. First, the chapter compares the writings of two revolutionary leaders, Zhang Taiyan (1868–1936) and Hang Xinzhai (1869–1942), who, in the 1910s, used the Yijing to predict China’s political change. Second, it examines the historicization of the Yijing in mid-twentieth century that turned the text into a record of China’s progression. Third, it assesses the impact of commercialization on the Yijing since the 1990s. This study will demonstrate that the Yijing is indeed the Book of Changes that changes—both its image and its function—in response to the times.
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Notes
- 1.
This historical view of linear progression was popular in China in the late nineteenth century. For the origin of this view, see Schwartz (1964).
- 2.
The Yijing consists of three distinct layers. Its first layer is comprised of eight trigrams and sixty-four hexagrams allegedly created by the mythical figure, Fu Xi. Its second layer consists of the hexagram statements and line statements allegedly written by King Wen and the Duke of Zhou during the eleventh century BCE. Its third layer incorporates seven pieces of writings composed from the fifth to the second century BCE. Divided into ten segments (hence the name Ten Wings), these seven pieces of writings used the hexagrams to discuss cosmic patterns, the relations between humanity and nature, and the complexity of human life. As part of the Ten Wings, Xugua explains the meaning of the sequence of the 64 hexagrams.
- 3.
- 4.
The second half of the Xugua discusses the establishment of the family system. Lynn’s (1994, p. 106) translation reads: “Only after there were Heaven and Earth were there the myriad things. Only after there were the myriad things were there male and female. Only after there were male and female were there husband and wife. Only after there were husband and wife were there father and child.”
- 5.
Lynn’s (Ibid) translation of the Xugua goes this way: “Only after there were father and child were there sovereign and minister. Only after there were sovereign and minister were there superiors and subordinates. Only after there were superiors and subordinates did propriety and righteousness have a medium in which to operate.”
- 6.
Lynn’s (Ibid, pp. 107–108) translation reads: “When the Dao of the family is completely exhausted, there I sure to be discord. This is why Jiaren is followed by Kui [Hexagram #38 (Contrariety)]. Kui here means ‘discord.’ When there is contrariety, there is sure to be adversity. This is why Kui is followed by Jian [Hexagram #39 (Adversity)]. Jian here means ‘trouble.’”.
- 7.
Lynn’s (Ibid, p. 109) translation reads: “Dui here means ‘delight.’ Having found such delight, one now disperses it. This is why Dui is followed by Huan [Hexagram #59 (Dispersion)].”
- 8.
Lynn’s (Ibid, p. 108) translation reads: “The Dao of wells cannot help but involve radical change. This is why Jing is followed by Ge [Hexagram #49 (Radical Change)]. For effecting a radical change in things, there is nothing as good as a caldron. That is why Ge is followed by Ding [Hexagram #50 (The Caldron)].”
- 9.
Lynn’s (Ibid, p. 110) translation reads: “Once there is superiority over creatures [the masses, i.e. subjects], one is sure to ferry them [across troubles, i.e. rescue them]. This is why Xiaoguo is followed by Jiji [Hexagram #63 (Ferrying Complete)]. Creatures [the masses, i.e. subjects] must never be hard-pressed. This is why Jiji is followed by Weiji [Hexagram #64 (Ferrying Incomplete)], with which the hexagrams come to an end.
- 10.
See the following articles in Zhang’s (1984, pp. 356–386) Jianlun 檢論 (Discussion on selected topics): “Yuanren 原人” (On human beings), “Xu zhongxing shang 序種姓上” (The genealogy of race and family names, part 1), “Xu zhongxing xia 序種姓下” (The genealogy of race and family names, part 2), “Yuanbian 原變” (On change), and “Yilun 易論” (A study of the Yijing).
- 11.
See Hang Xinzhai’s “Jin hou shijie zhi Yi 今後世界之《易》” (The Yijing in the present and the future world) in Xue yi bitan chuji 學易筆談初集 (The first collection of notes from learning the Yijing), and “Gua xiang Jinhua zhi xu 卦象進化之序” (The sequence in the evolution of hexagram images) in Xue yi biban erji 學易筆談二集 (The second collection of notes from learning the Yijing). (Hang 1997, pp. 20–21, 227–234).
- 12.
For a discussion of the education policy of the GMD during the Nanjing era, see Lee (2007).
- 13.
Zheng (2002, pp. 21–22) identifies historicization as the distinctive figure of twentieth-century Yijing studies.
- 14.
The historicization of the Yijing was a product of the New Culture Movement. For an account of the rise of cultural iconoclasm, see Schwarcz (1986), pp. 12–144.
- 15.
For a summary of this change in the study of the Yijing, see Smith (2008), pp. 199–201.
- 16.
For a study of the Doubting Antiquity Movement, see Schneider (1971). “Ku Chieh-Kang” in Schneider’s book title is a different transliteration of Gu Jiegang.
- 17.
For instance, to show that the received Yijing text was composed by a host of authors, Gu compares the stories in the hexagram statements (Gu et al. 1962, pp. 1–84).
- 18.
See Li Jingchi’s 李鏡池 article in Gu et al. (1962), pp. 95–132.
- 19.
Gu highlights these two points in his preface to Gushibian vol. 3.
- 20.
In Gushibian vol. 3, the first two stages are covered more thoroughly than the third stage. See Yu Yongliang’s 余永梁 article on the Zhouyi, and Li Jingchi’s article on the Ten Wings.
- 21.
The book also appears in Guo Moruo quanji 郭沫若全集 (1982), vol. 1, pp. 377–404.
- 22.
Although Li’s book was published in 1978, it was completed in 1963. Due to political reasons, the book was not published until the late 1970s.
- 23.
In the opening section of this book, Li quoted Mao Zedong’s essay “On Contradiction” (maodun lun 矛盾論) to justify his search for dialectical thinking in ancient China.
- 24.
While the entire work is present, some characters are illegible.
- 25.
For an account of the Mawangdui Yijing manuscript, see Shaughnessy (1996), pp. 14–29.
- 26.
For a succinct summary of the significance of the Mawandui Yijing manuscript, see Li Xueqin’s 李學勤 “Xu 序” (Preface) in Liao (2008), pp. 1–3.
- 27.
For a summary of the expanded readership of the Yijing in contemporary China, see Smith (2008), pp. 208–240.
- 28.
For a study of recently discovered Yijing texts, see Shaughnessy, Unearthing the Changes: Recently Discovered Manuscripts of the Yi Jing (I Ching) and Related Texts. New York: Columbia University Press (2014).
- 29.
For the usage of xiong (calamity), hui (regret) and lin (remorse) in the sixty-four hexagrams, see Gao 1984, pp. 126–138.
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Acknowledgements
Part of the research for this chapter was funded by a start-up grant from the City University of Hong Kong, entitled “The Use of the Yijing (Book of Changes) in the 1960s US” (account number: 9380087). An earlier version of this chapter appears in “Predicting a New Nation: Yijing Studies in Twentieth-Century China,” Monumenta Serica, volume 68, no. 2 (2020): 495–514. The author would like to thank Dr. Chan Hok-yin for his assistance in analyzing Zhang Taiyan’s writings.
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Hon, Tk. (2021). The Yijing in Twentieth-Century China. In: Ng, B.Wm. (eds) The Making of the Global Yijing in the Modern World. Chinese Culture, vol 4. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6228-4_9
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