Origin and Early Development of the Zhou Changes

Edward L. Shaughnessy is the Creel Distinguished Service Professor of Early China at the University of Chicago. He has published more than 20 books and over 200 scholarly articles on all aspects of ancient China’s literary heritage.

"Empowered by new sources, new investigative techniques, and the intensity and direction of contemporary Chinese and Western scholarship, he arrives at a striking vindication of the Changes’ religious and cultural status. […] A model for providing the non-specialist with practical access to a classical text and an essential tool for the study of the origins of Chinese culture." – Barbara Hendrischke, Religious Studies 49.1 (March 2023)

• PrefaceAcknowledgementsList of Figures and TablesConventionsIntroductionPart 1 The Context1 The Zhou Changes: Received Text and Early Manuscripts2 The Philosophy of Divination in Ancient China3 Turtle-Shell Divination4 Milfoil Divination5 Milfoil Divination with the Zhou Changes6 The Poetic ImaginationPart 2 The Text7 The Hexagram8 The Hexagram Statement9 The Line Statement10 Intra-hexagram and Inter-hexagram Structures of Hexagram Texts11 The Hexagram Sequence12 From Divination to PhilosophyWorks CitedIndex of Zhou Changes LinesIndex of Zhou Changes Hexagram and Line Statements CitedGeneral Index