A Re-examination of Hui Dong and Zhang Hui-Yan's Interpretations on Zhou Yi
Date Issued
2016
Date
2016
Author(s)
Zhuang, Min-Jing
Abstract
Hui Dong and Zhang Hui-Yan were the two representative scholars of Zhouyi (周易; The Book of Changes) in the Qing Dynasty. Unlike Jiao Xun’s forsaking Hanyi (漢易; the study of Zhouyi in the Han Dynasty) and devising new interpreting methods, Hui and Zhang’s interpretations are strictly based on Hanyi, and this shows their belief in Hanxue (漢學; the study of Confucian classics in the Han Dynasty). In addition to a variety of books, they also expanded some ideas and methods about Hanyi research, which had widespread influence until the late Qing Dynasty. Recent researches on Hui Dong and Zhang Hui-Yan mostly emphasized that they surveyed almost all the documents about Hanyi, paid much attention to approaches to grammatology, phonology, and semantics, and reconstructed the long-obscure Hanyi. That is the reason why many scholars nowadays comment that Hui and Chang’s interpretations of Zhouyi are just paraphrases of those of the scholars in the Han Dynasty, which shows Hui and Chang’s ingenuity. Moreover, they overemphasize Image-numberology (象數) and downplay the moral philosophy (義理). Although these criticisms are justifiable to some extent, they fail to uncover the uniqueness of Hui and Chang’s interpretations compared with those of the scholars in the Han Dynasty. Consequently, this thesis focuses on two aspects──“ancient interpretations” (考古義) and “extensive interpretations,” (自為解釋) and lays more emphasis on the latter. “Ancient interpretations” are derived from objectively analyzing and comprehending the rules scholars in the Han Dynasty followed to explain Zhouyi. “Extensive interpretations” are developed from the foundations laid by the ancient interpretations. They extend, replenish, and even amend the ancient ones to form a unique theory system of Zhouyi. Former researches on Hui and Zhang overstated “ancient interpretations” and understated “extensive interpretations.” As a result, the differences between the scholars’ interpretations in the Han Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty were not accentuated. This thesis starts with exploring the status and evaluation of Hanyi before Hui Dong promoted Hanyi, and then explains how Hanyi materials were progressively utilized to annotate Zhouyi in the early Qing Dynasty. Chapter 2 and 3 discuss Hui and Zhang’s theory systems of Zhouyi respectively. Besides exhibiting and comparing their contribution to the research of “ancient interpretations,” the two chapters elaborate on the core thoughts of their “extensive interpretations.” Hui Dong applied his unique thought of Zhouyi to Zhongyong (中庸) and Liyun (禮運), and developed his own practical theory and Mingtang System (明堂制度). Zhang Hui-Yan, basing his thoughts on the annotations of Yu Fan, reconstructed a unique theory of “Xiaoxi,” (消息) and applied it to explaining human affairs, ancient decrees and regulations. Finally, the last chapter sorts out the similarity between Hui and Zhang’s interpretations, lists some scholars of Zhouyi influenced by Hui and Zhang in the Qing Dynasty, and furthermore reveals five distinguishing features of Hanyi in the Qing Dynasty.
Subjects
Hui Dong
Zhang Hui-Yan
Qing scholars’ Study of Zhouyi in the Han Dynasty
Image-numberology of Zhouyi
Ancient rituals in Zhouyi
Type
thesis
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Loading...
Name
ntu-105-R00121006-1.pdf
Size
23.54 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum
(MD5):d05a59a0e22984de13679360ba6b7abe