Reviews

A thorough study of the original text of the Yijing should also involve an examination of the variant texts that exist of this classic. It would be a fallacy to think that the Book of Changes never changed; through archaeological excavations we now know that the text of the Yi was not as fixed as many want us to believe. Especially before the Qin dynasty, but also during the Han dynasty, there we versions of the Yijing that are different on many points from the version that we use today. The received version is only a compromise of different schools, it should never be seen as the Yijing, it is just one version of the book. To get a better picture of the Yijing and its language through the ages it is necessary to study the different variant texts alongside with the received text.

We mainly have four variant texts of the Yijing:

1. The first variant text that got worldwide attention was the Mawangdui text of the Yijing that was discovered in 1973.
2. A text which was found 4 years later is seldom mentioned, mainly because of its fragmented state and late publication of these fragments: the Fuyang bamboo slips.
3. In 1993 the Shanghai Museum bought an amount of bamboo slips on a market in Hong Kong, among it was a portion of the Zhouyi.
4. Through the ages fragments are found of the Xiping Stone Classics Zhouyi from the Han dynasty.

For each of these texts it is possible to purchase several books, as I did the last few years. A lot of books are published about the Mawangdui Yijing, but the best studies of it are the following books:

• 帛書周易校釋 by Deng Qiubai 鄧球柏; 2002, ISBN 7543812975
• Das Mawangdui-Yijing - Text und Deutung by Dominique Hertzer; 1996, ISBN 3424013072
• I Ching by Edward L. Shaughnessy; 1997, ISBN 0345362438

The Fuyang Zhouyi is studied in every detail in

• 阜陽漢簡《周易》研究 by Han Ziqiang 韓自強; 2004, ISBN 7532537242

A thorough study of the Xiping Stone Classics Yijing can be found in

• 漢石經周易殘字集證 by Qu Wanli 屈萬里; 1961, republished in 1999, no ISBN

The best book for the study of the Shanghai Museum Manuscript has been 上海博物館藏戰國楚竹, Vol. 3, ISBN 7532530140. It is a magnificent book, in the best quality possible. The only downside was its size: 44 x 30 cm is not something you carry easily with you. But this has changed since the publication of 楚竹書《周易》研究 by 濮茅左 Pu Maozuo last year. It has the size of a large dictionary, is published in two volumes containing a total of 1045 pages, and compared to the 上海博物館藏戰國楚竹, Vol. 3 a huge amount of extraordinary material has been added. If you want to study the variant texts of the Yijing, then this is the book to have. It contains transcripts of all variant texts I mentioned, and a lot more. Below is the contents of the book, with notes and images to explain some sections.

《楚竹書《周易》圖版
The first section of volume 1 contains full-color images of the bamboo slips, along with a transcription in modern characters.


上編 - 楚竹書《周易》研究

The first volume deals in detail with the Shanghai Museum Manuscript.

• 楚竹書《周易》導言 - 兼及近年來楚竹書研究
  Introduction. About the 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 series and its contents, importance of the Chu Bamboo Yijing and other Chu bamboo books (《太一生水》, 《緇衣》, 《魯穆公問于子思》, 《五行》, etc.) found in recent years.

• 第一章 楚竹書《周易》概況與研究

• 第一節 楚竹書《周易》概況是馬承源先生把楚竹書《周易》搶救回歸。
  A short biography of the life and work of Ma Chengyuan 馬承源 (1927-2004), director of the Shanghai Musem, who acquired the bamboo slips which were found at a Hong Kong market in the spring of 1994. See also here and the obituary in Early China 29 (2004). This part also gives an account of the publications and research since the discovery.

• 第三節 楚竹書《周易》符號
  About the meaning of the coloured markings at the beginning and end of certain hexagram texts.

• 一、 符號的讀法及意義
• 二、 符號位置的確定
• 三、 符號對卦名的分類
• 四、 對殘簡卦符號的判斷
• 五、 對同卦異類符號現象的認識
• 六、 楚竹書《周易》的類序
• 七、 總結
  In the conclusion it is assumed that the markings refer to a separation of the Zhou Yi into two halves, just as the received version, but with different hexagrams in each half.

• 第四節 楚竹書《周易》文字應用的時代特點
  About the language of the document, often used characters, loan characters, different forms of one character, etc.

• 一、 常用字、詞使用穩定
• 二、 通借字的使用
• 三、 不同的楚文字, 通借同一今字
• 四、 同一楚文字, 借為不同的今字
• 五、 用作本字, 叉借為他字
• 六、 一字多體
• 七、 不使用本字, 而使用通借
• 八、 使用古文、異體宇

• 第二章 楚竹書《周易》原文考釋
  A detailed account of every bamboo slip, it's condition, size, and contents.

• 附錄一: 楚竹書《周易》原文
  A transcript in modern characters, with punctuation and substituted loan characters added.
  

• 附錄二: 竹書、帛書、今本比較表
  Comparison of the bamboo text, the Mawangdui text and the received text (see here).

• 附錄三: 楚竹書《周易》詞目解釋
  An index with explanation of certain phrases used in this book and in the Chu Bamboo Zhouyi, like 又孚才道, 小子礪又言，etc., arranged by stroke count of the first character.
  

• 附錄四: 楚竹書《周易》逐字索引
  A concordance of the characters in the Chu Bamboo Zhouyi, arranged by stroke count.
  

下編 先秦兩漢出土與傳世易學文獻資料

• 第三章 考古易的發現
  This chapter deals with references to the Zhouyi and its components as found on oracle bonze, bronzes inscriptions and other pre-Qin and Han dynasty texts.

• 第一節 甲骨文中所見易卦
  Part one talks about the character yao 爻 ('hexagram line') on oracle bones, the bagua numerals as discussed by Zhang Zhenglang in his provocative article 'An Interpretation of the Divinatory Inscriptions on Early Chou Bronzes.' Early China 6 (1980–81), pp 80–96; (see also Stephen L. Field, Who Told the Fortunes? The Speaker in Early Chinese Divination Records, Asia Major 2000 ( and Li Zongkun 李宗焜, 數字卦的內容與疾病記述). Examples with lots of pictures.
  

• 第二節 金文中所見易卦
  This part also discusses the character yao 爻 and the numerals, as found on bronze inscriptions.
  

• 第三節 其他器物中所見易卦
  Objects like stone utensils, bronze mirrors etc. with numerals and trigrams are discussed here.

• 第四節 竹簡中所見易卦、《周易》
  Part 4 is very interesting, as it discusses hexagrams, bagua numerals and other Yi fragments found in other Chu Jian manuscripts, like the Bao Shan Bamboo Slips.
  

• 一、 《包山楚簡》申所見易卦
• 二、 《新蔡葛陵楚墓。竹簡》中所見易卦
• 三、 天星觀卜筮竹簡中所見易卦
• 四、 《郭店楚墓竹簡》中所見《周易》
• 五、 阜陽漢簡《周易》
  A complete transcript of the Fuyang Zhouyi. Or what is left of it.

• 第五節 馬王堆漢墓帛書中所見《周易》
  Part 5 deals with the Mawangdui Zhouyi and it's additional chapters. The parts 一, 甲 and 乙 have a transcription of the text accompanied with the original silk characters and the received text; the other chapters only have a transcription in modern characters.
  

• 一、 馬王堆漢墓帛書《易經》
• 二、 馬王堆漢墓帛書《易傳》
• 甲、馬王堆漢墓帛書《二三子》
• 乙、馬王堆漢墓帛書《繫辭》
• 丙、馬王堆漢墓帛書《易之義》
• 丁、馬王堆漢墓帛書《要》
• 戊、馬王堆漢墓帛書《繆和》及《昭力》

• 第六節 漢石經中所見《周易》
  Part 6 deals with the Xiping Stone fragments of the Yijing. It gives rubbings of the fragments, as well as a transcription in modern characters alongside with the stone characters.
  

• 一、 熹平石經《易經》
• 二、 熹平石經《彖》
• 三、 熹平石經《象》
• 四、 熹平石經《繫辭》
• 五、 熹平石經《文言》
• 六、 熹平石經《說卦》
• 七、 熹平石經《序卦》
• 八、 熹平石經《雜卦》

• 附: 關於王家臺秦簡《歸藏》所見易卦
  This appendix deals with the Wangjiatai Guicang, it gives a transcription of its contents.
  

• 第四章 傳世文獻中的易學記載
  Chapter 4 gives a transcription of parts from several pre-Qin and Han dynasty texts which contain references to the Yijing. Part two is an extensive list of book titles and compilations of Yijing books throughout the history of China; part three gives the received text of the Yijing.

• 第一節 散見於先秦兩漢等文獻中的易學記載
• 第二節 歷史上的《周易》典籍
• 第三節 今本《易經》與《傳》
• 一、 《易經》(今本原文)
• 二、 《彖》(今本原文)
• 三、 《象》(今本原文》
• 四、 《文言》(今本原文)
• 五、 《繫辭》(今本原文)
• 六、 《說卦》(今本原文)
• 七、 《序卦》(今本原文)
• 八、 《雜卦》(今本原文)

• 參考與引用論著目錄
  List of references.

There is nothing more for me to say. All the variant text convenient together in two volumes, in excellent quality, with interesting articles added. I you have the slightest interest in the variant texts of the Yijing, then what are you waiting for. Buy this book. It is worth the money.

楚竹書《周易》研究(上下)
Author: 濮茅左
Publisher: 上海古籍
Pages: 1045
Date: 2006年11月
ISBN: 7532541886
ISBN13: 9787532541881

The most well-known concordance of the Yijing is the Zhouyi yinde 周易引得 (A Concordance to Yi Ching; Harvard-Yenching Institute Sinological Index Series, Supplement 10), published by the Harvard-Yenching Institute. The Yijing translations by Ritsema & Karcher, Karcher, and Ritsema & Sabbadini also contain concordances but these are not concordances for the original Chinese text of the Yijing. Most Yijing students who study the Chinese text of the Yi do not know that there is another concordance available: 周易逐字索引 - A Concordance to the Zhouyi, published in 1995 by the Commercial Press in Hong Kong. It is a publication from the Chinese Ancient Texts Database, a project initiated by the Institute of Chinese Studies from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In June of this year a reprint has been published.

The Zhouyi Zhuzi Suoyin is more than a concordance. It not only gives the Chinese text of the Yijing (including the Shiyi 十翼, the Ten Wings commentaries), but it also gives variant characters, and deletions or additions of characters in the text, that are found in other editions of the Yijing.

The text printed with the concordance is based on the Chongkan Songben ZhouYi zhushu 重刊宋本周易注疏, Song Edition of the Commentaries and Subcommentaries to the ZhouYi re-cut by Ruan Yuan 阮元 in 1816.
(Guide to the use of the Concordance, p. I)

The Ten Wings are arranged in the way most Yi versions do: The Tuan 彖, Xiang 象 and Wenyan 文言 commentaries are added to the hexagram text and the line texts; the Dazhuan 大傳, the Shuogua 說卦, Xugua 序卦 and Zagua 雜卦 are added as separate chapters. The hexagrams are numbered from 1-64, the Dazhuan (in two parts), the Shuogua, Xugua and Zagua are numbered from 65-69.

For the variant characters, deletions or additions of characters the book uses nine other sources (click image to enlarge):

The used sources are not only traditional versions of the Yi but also more or less modern commentaries like Gao Heng's 周易大傳今注 Zhouyi Dazhuan Jin Zhu and 周易古經通說 Zhouyi Gu Jing Tongshuo. Three other sources are for the Mawangdui silk manuscript version of the Yi. This is the only archaeological text that is mentioned; unfortunately other finds like the Chujian Zhouyi or the Fuyang Zhouyi are not referred to. This is understandable considering the year of the first edition, 1995, nevertheless an updated edition with references to these other intruiging texts would have been most welcome.

Variant characters as found in the other sources are given in footnotes (see image on the left; click to enlarge). The characters from the MWD version are marked with an encircled 'M', but for the other variant characters the exact sources are not given. The only way to find out where a variant character comes from is to purchase the nine references they used and skim through their pages. It would have been convenient if they had used numbers, letters or symbols to refer to the source of a variant reading.

The entries in the concordance are arranged according to their pinyin transcription (see image on the right; click to enlarge); a table is provided to find a character using the number of strokes. In the concordance there is no distinction between the Zhouyi 周易 or Benyi 本易 text and the Ten Wings commentary; if you are only interested in the Zhouyi it is hard to filter out the references to the Ten Wings. If you see a reference to a chapter number higher than 64 then you know it refers to a separate added Ten Wings chapter like for instance the Shuogua; otherwise there is no way to see if an entry refers to the Zhouyi or to a Ten Wings chapter which is incorporated in the hexagram text, like the Xiang texts.

In short: the Zhouyi Zhuzi Suoyin has some room for improvement, nevertheless it is a very good concordance and a helpful aid for the study of the Yijing. The printing is crisp-clear, and the added goodies like the variant characters and other commentaries enhance your understanding of the Yijing and its language. The book is not yet available through the webstore of the Commercial Press; orders can be placed by sending a mail to Belinda Tse from the Rights & Overseas Sales Department of Commercial Press.

周易逐字索引 - A Concordance to the Zhouyi
CUHK ICS The Ancient Chinese Texts Concordance Series
Classical works No. 8
D.C. Lau (ed.)
Published 1995, 2006 (reprint) by The Commercial Press (Hong Kong) Ltd.
ISBN 13-978 962 07 4281 1
ISBN 10-962 07 4281 8

.....can be found here at Steve Marshall's site.

.....can be found here at Steve Marshall's site.

It is a pity that the German literature about ancient China is so much neglected or ignored. There are numerous excellent studies about Chinese literature, history and culture written by German professors, but you will hardly find it mentioned in the English books that dominate this field of study. This is sad because often the German research excels in thoroughness; many German writers do not spare any effort to scrutinize the subject of their study. You will find a few examples of this below: German books in the spotlight.

Dominique Hertzer
Das alte und das neue Yijing - Die Wandlungen des Buches der Wandlungen (ISBN 3424013293)
Das Mawangdui-Yijing - Text und Deutung (ISBN 3424013072)

The first book is an excellent study about the Mawangdui Yijing, its history and how it compares to the received text. The second book is a translation of the Mawangdui text, and just as Edward Shaughnessy does Hertzer give the MWD text in combination with the received text. But Hertzer does a better job than Shaughnessy: her translation is very well annotated (and interpreted), and often the modern version of the MWD text that she gives seems closer to the original silk manuscript. For instance, where Shaughnessy gives 溍 as the name for hexagram 51 (35 in the received text), Hertzer gives 𣸄. A slightly different character with a slightly different meaning. She also translates the name of hexagram 14 (22), fan 繁 as 'a common and versatile plant, used for medicine purposes, the "Artemisia stelleriana" ', which differs quite from Shaughnessy's 'luxuriance'. She uses this meaning throughout her translation of hexagram 14. Another remarkable difference is her translation of 34 (11) - 2: 'The drum stick is lost....', where Shaughnessy gives 'wrapped recklessness...'. These differences are worth to take note of, because they give an entirely and less traditional view of the MWD text. If you want to study the MWD text you simply cannot do without Hertzer's books.

Dennis R. Schilling
Spruch and Zahl - Die chinesischen Orakelbücher "Kanon des Höchsten Geheimen" und "Wald der Wandlungen" aus der Han-Zeit (ISBN 3511092353)

This book consists of five parts:

1. A general introduction to the Yijing and its history until the Han dynasty
2. Taixuanjing, "Der Kanon des Höchsten Geheimen". This chapter deals with the Taixuanjing, its writer, its composition, the numerical structure, astronomical foundations etc., and the meaning of the text. It does not contain a translation of the complete text.
3. Yilin, "Wald der Wandlungen". This chapter is the only material in a Western language about the enigmatic Yilin from the Han dynasty, 'The Forest of Changes'. Just as with the Taixuanjing it tells about its author, the structure of the text, its features, used images and anecdotes, etc. If you want to study the Yilin you give yourself an excellent start with Schilling's book.
4. Other oracle books. Short descriptions of other and less known oracles as Jing Fang's Jing shi Yizhuan, Lingqijing, Yuanbaojing, Dongji zhenjing and a few others. A fascinating chapter which sparks interest in the history of oracles in China.
5. Conclusion. About the basic elements of Chinese oracle books and myths & theories about their origin.

Schilling's book is useful when you study any Chinese oracle - it gives background information which helps you to understand the nature and foundation of most Chinese oracle books.

Hermann G. Bohn
Die Rezeption des Zhouyi in der Chinesischen Philosophie, von den Anfängen bis zur Song-dynastie (ISBN 3896752820)

Bohn's book is the most detailed study of xiangshu and yili philosophy and history available in a Western language. It talks in detail about the contents of the Ten Wings, the guaqi theories of Meng Xi and Jing Fang, the Eight Palaces, Wang Bi's Yijing commentary, Han Kangbo's commentary to the Xici, Kong Yingda's Zhouyi Zhengyi, the Yili school during the Song dynasty, Ouyang Xiu, Li Gou, Zhou Dunyi, Xue Jixuan, Lu Jiuyuan, Ye Shi's criticism, etc. etc. etc., illustrated with pictures and other material which is unknown in the West. This book contains so much new information that it will keep you busy (and puzzled; some systems from xiangshu are hard to comprehend) for months. It is a good company to Bent Nielsen's A Companion to Yijing numerology and cosmology. An extensive bibliography and an index make this book complete.

Gerhard Schmitt
Sprüche der "Wandlungen" auf ihrem Geistesgeschichtlichen Hintergrund

This book, published in 1970, is small in size but has been very influential in the studies of the original language of the Yijing. Schmitt was one of the first to look at oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions to illuminate a selection of texts from the Yi. His translations differ greatly from the traditional ones, but it is all motivated by references to ancient Chinese literature and the early inscriptions. The book is very hard to find but it is compulsory reading for everyone who is interested in the language of the Yi. Therefore I have made it available as a pdf download.

Tsung-Tung Chang
Der Kult der Shang-dynastie im Spiegel der Orakelinschriften - Eine paläographische Studie zur Religion im archaischen China (ISBN 3447012870)

There are not many books which discuss the meanings of oracle bone characters in their context. Chang's book is one of the few; all the characters are organized by topics as 'ghost and ancestor cult', 'nature cult', 'the highest god Di' and 'magic actions'. Although it is not a dictionary it is easy to use it like that because of the radical index at the back of the book. The main value of the book is not its definition of the characters alone, but more the mentioning of the context in which a character occurs. By doing this Chang's book also explains the culture of the Shang.

Raimund Theodor Kolb
Die Infanterie im Alten China - Ein Beitrag zur Militärgeschichte der Vor-Zhan-Ghuo-Zeit (ISBN 3805311451)

It is hard to find good books about the military in Ancient China. The excellent works of Ralph Sawyer come to mind, and I am patiently waiting for his multi-volume book History of Warfare in China. Kolb's book is a welcome addition to what we have so far: it deals with the history of the infantry in ancient China up to the Zhanguo-period (475-221 BC). The material is divided by dynasty; it starts with the Shang-Yin period, the sources we have about this period, its culture, and a short section about the chariot. After that the divisions of the infantry is discussed: zhongren 眾人, chen 臣, shi 史, doghunters etc. are discussed in detail, with many references to oracle bones. For each dynasty there is information about weapons, tactics, recrutement, etc. Extensive footnotes, lots of Chinese characters and a lenghty bibliography make this book a valuable work if you want to know how the military shaped the history of China. The only thing that I miss is an index.

Wolfgang Bauer
Das Bild in der Weissage-Literatur Chinas - Prophetische Texte im politischen Leben vom Buch der Wandlung bis zu Mao Tse Tung (ISBN 3787900705)

This A4-sized book of 74 pages mainly deals with the Tuibeitu 推背圖, an ancient prophetic text in about 66 chapters, often compared to the work of Nostradamus. Just as with Nostradamus is the Tuibeitu used to foretell the future in todays world. But what many people do not know is that there were different versions of the TBT, and Bauer discusses four of these versions, giving images, the content of the text and the differences in each version. It also contains a complete edition of the TBT in color and BW pictures. The TBT is still an important text in China, and there is a version which links the TBT to some hexagrams of the Yijing.

This is just what I have on my shelves. Don't forget the Germans! Their work is often valuable, inspiring and very complete if we compare it with the English equivalents.