| Shang Binghe, whose courtesy name is Zi ci Lao ren (Old Man of Zi ci), was born in Xingtang County, Hebei Province. As an imperial palace graduate during the reign of Emperor Guangxu (r. 1875-1909) of the Qing dynasty (1616-1911), he attained immense knowledge. In addition to his mastery of crafts, ancient poetry, ancient philosophy, history, he was also well versed in traditional Chinese medicine and pharmacy, connoisseurship of antiques, and drawing. Mr. Shang began to study the Yi (Book of Change) at his old age and finally attained profound achievements. In his life, Mr. Shang authored a great number of works, among which Zhou yi gu shi kao (Textual Research on the Ancient Divination Methods Based on the Zhouyi), Jiao shi yi lin zhu (Annotations to Jiao's Yi Forest), Jiao shi yi gu (Commentaries on and Exegetical Interpretations of Jiao's Yi-ology), Zhou yi Shang shi xue (Shang's Commentaries on the Zhouyi) were his representative works concerning the Yi-ology. These four works not only embody his particular insights in the field of the Yi-ology, but also exerted far-reaching influence on the later-generation Yi-ology as well as the entire history of the Yi-ology.Appreciating Mr. Shang's abundant achievements and significant contributions to the development of the Yi-ology, this dissertation attempts to make a comprehensive and deep study to Mr. Shang's Yi-ology. Departing from the experience of all his life and his works related to the Yi-ology, the dissertation discusses his image-numberology, thought on the principle of the Yi, views on the history of the Yi-ology and divination. Drawing references from the silk manuscript of the Zhouyi, this dissertation tries to solve some controversial views mentioned by Mr. Shang. There are two reasons why this dissertation draws references from the silk manuscript of the Zhouyi. One is that, along with constant excavation of the archeological materials, views in the academic circle on the literature of the pre-Qin period have changed a lot. Based on these unearthed documents, including the silk manuscript of the Zhouyi excavated at Mawangdui which has caused a stir in the academia, and through comparing them with the received literature related, scholars achieve many conclusions different from the predecessors' views. Therefore, when studying Shang's Yi-ology, we have to draw references from the unearthed manuscripts related to make comparison and prove our views. The other reason is that, in discussing the Yi, Mr. Shang attached great importance to the literature of the pre-Qin period to prove his views, as he called those whose analysis of and commentaries on the Zhouyi were recorded in Zuo zhuan (Zuo's Commentaries on the Anal of the Spring and Autumn Period) and Guo yu (Remarks of the Monarchs) "the most ancient Yi masters". On various historical accounts, most of the literature concerning the Yi of the pre-Qin period and Western Han dynasty has lost, which occasionally makes our research fall into dilemma. Representing the Yi-ology of the earlier period of the Western Han dynasty and even the pre-Qin period, the silk manuscript of the Zhouyi was sealed in the tomb in 168 B.C. and kept the Text and Commentaries of the Zhouyi intact, which could undoubtedly bring a fresh air to the Yi studies. In his life time, Mr. Shang had to draw other materials concerning Confucian Classics studies and historical literature to seek the truth conceived the Yi. Because he had never seen these materials, it is unavoidable for him to make some wrong assertions. Through drawing the excavated materials for reference, not only could we prove his insights, but also correct his errors. For the above-mentioned two reasons, the dissertation takes some related contents from the excavated materials so as to present an overall manifestation of Mr. Shang's thought on the Zhouyi.As for as his image-numberology is concerned, this paper unfolds Mr. Shang's thought from three aspects: his summary of the images, his summary of the numbers of the Yi, and his research on the positions corresponding to the eight trigrams. For the imagery, Mr. Shang raised an idea that "images are the root (of the 17)" and insists that "none of the words in the statements affiliated to the hexagrams and lines of the Zhouyi is not derived from the images (of the Yi)" and "none of the words in (Jiao 's) Yi lin is not derived from the images (of the Yi)". Departing from this, Mr. Shang tried to find the variety of lost images from Zuo zhuan, Guo yu, Jiao shi yi lin and sorted them out, on which he exposed the application of reversed images, obversion images, interlocked images, half-image, and expanded images, by which he established a particular theoretic system for the images. But his steadfast adherence to the use of the images is not correct. According to the silk manuscript of the Yi Zhuan (Commentaries on the Yi), the tradition of stressing the images from the Spring and Autumn period to the Western Han dynasty (206 B.C.-25 A.D) insisted by Shang cannot be found in the Mawangdui manuscript of the Yi Zhuan. Mr Shang opposes Yu Fan's Gua bian (hexagrams transformation) theory, Zheng Xuan's Yao chen theory (correlating the 12 Earthly Branches to the lines of hexagrams Qian and Kun). But, when interpreting the Yi, he always regards the images as an indispensable element without which he has no way to interpret it and thus breaks the images to let them correlate to the statements, falling again into the old fences of interpreting the Yi in trivial details taken by the Eastern Han (25-220) Yi-ologists against which he opposed. So far as the numberology is concerned, Mr. Shang introduced and summarized the Prenatal Numbers, line numbers, five-element numbers, numbers represented by the ten Heavenly Stems, nine-palace numbers, numbers for the ten-day cycle, great-deduction numbers, and numbers corresponding to the twelve Earthly Branches. For the research of the Prenatal Positions, Mr. Shang explored various books and documents in a rigorous and serious way and found traces of the Prenatal Trigrams in Zuo zhuan, Jiao shi yi lin, Qiao zao du (Chiseling Open the Regularity of Qian [Heaven]), the annotations to the Yi of the nine figures, and Xun Shuang's annotations to the Yi. Basing on this discovery, he further asserted: "The prenatal theory had not been lost in the Han dynasty." According to this assertion, we can also find the trace of the prenatal theory in the silk manuscript of the Yi Zhuan. It can be seen that Mr. Shang's assertion relating to the prenatal theory offered a significant referential value for us to further study the prenatal theory.So far as his thought on the principle of the Yi is concerned, this dissertation first of all differentiates the principles of the Yi understood by Mr. Shang from the meaning-pattern adhered to by the meaning-pattern school. Mr. Shang insists that the principle of the Yi is an innate principle existing in the Zhouyi, which is not inevitably correlated to the virtuous categories as he says in Zhou yi Shang shi xue Zong lun (General Survey of Shang's Commentaries on the Zhouyi): "What called the meaning-pattern is actually not related to the principle of the Yi". Basing on this idea, Mr. Shang reveals that the principle of that "two like elements repel each other, while two opposite agents attract each other" and pointed out that the concepts such as di (resistance), lei (similarity), and peng (friendship) frequently appearing in the remarks attached to the hexagrams and lines were derived from this principle. Namely, when Yang encounters Yang or Yin encounters Yin, it is called "di"; when Yang encounters Yin or Yin encounters Yang, it is called "lei" and "peng". Through comparing these concepts to those appearing in the silk manuscript of the Zhouyi, we can find the principle of the Yi asserted by Mr. Shang is not exposed as a "fundamental rule" and the "root of the meaning of the Yi" in the silk manuscript. Though his "principle of the Yi" reveals the character of relationship between Yin and Yang, yet, when we apply this principle to the interpretations of the statements, it becomes a rule reflecting the relationships between Yin and Yang lines and cannot fundamentally shake off the bandage of image-numberology. On the contrary, the interpretations of the silk manuscript of the Yi Zhuan to the Text of the Zhouyi attach more importance to the elucidation of humanistic thought, i.e. elucidation of the virtuous principles, manifesting a style and approach different from Shang's. We thus can infer that, though Mr. Shang raised a particular concept of the "principle of the Yi" which manifests his innovation, according to the silk manuscript, we can find some defects in his thought on this concept.For the studies of the history of the Yi-ology, departing from the origin of Jiao Gan's Yi-ology and through careful studies and systematical clarification on Han shu Ru lin zhuan (Biographies of Confucian Scholars in the History of the Western Han Dynasty), Mr. Shang pointed out that the divination theory by abnormal phenomena, i.e. "ancient connotations", was transmitted in the Western Han dynasty, this theory originated from Confucian scholars after all, and Jiao Gan served as a link between past and future. Meanwhile, Mr. Shang verified the authorship of Jiao shi yi lin - the only one work extant written by Jiao Gan - and theoretically proved the significant position of Jiao's Yi-ology in the history of the Yi studies. On this basis, Shang Binghe systematically explicated his view on the transmission of the Yi-ology in the Western and Eastern Han dynasties, pointing out that the Yi-ology of the Western Han dynasty had been handed down to the Eastern Han dynasty. Based on the silk manuscript of the Zhouyi and the article of Zhou yi gu yi kao (Textual Research on the Ancient Connotations of the Zhouyi) written by Mr. Liu Dajun, the author of the dissertation admires Mr. Shang's insight on the "ancient connotations" of the Western Han Yi-ology and points out that, according to the silk manuscript of the Zhouyi, it is reasonable that Mr. Shang insists the Yi-ology of the Eastern Han dynasty should not be handed down and developed from the Western Han dynasty. Besides of this, through comparing Mr. Shang's interpretations with the silk manuscript interpretations of the Zhouyi, the dissertation points out that, because he overrated the function of the imagery, Mr. Shang's application of the images is farfetched. Mr. Shang always insists that the Yi-ology of the Western Han lost in the Eastern Han and attempts to prove he attained the real Yi-ology of the Western Han through Jiao 's Yi Forest. But he was not aware that the interpretative rules used by the Yi Forest collected by him did not break with the over-detailed rules established by the Eastern Han Yi-ologists such as Yu Fan. According to the silk manuscript of the Yi Zhuan, it can be seen that Shang Binghe, through studying Jiao's Yi Forest, did not reveal a holistic Western Han Yi-ology. This is a drawback in Shang's studies of the history of the Yi-ology.For the studies of the divination methods, from the perspective of historical development, Shang Binghe steadfastly maintains that, if one would like to study the Yi, he must first of all understand divination. In this way, he linked the function of divination to the studies of the Yi-ology. In the beginning of his Zhou yi gu shi kao, he said: "The Yi was originally applied to divination, without awareness of which one can neither know the origin of the Yi, nor understand the chapter of Great Deduction numbers, nor comprehend the analysis of the hexagrams recorded in Chu qiu zhuan (Anal of the Spring and Autumn). So, those who would like to study the Yi must first of all study the divination techniques." Basing on this, Mr Shang traced the divination method of "Great Deduction" back to its origin and development, and reinterpreted the connotations of Yong jiu (Use of Nine) and Yong liu (Use of Six). At the same time, Shang collected over 100 divination cases from the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 B.C.) to the Qing dynasty (1616-1911), including analysis of the cases recorded in Zuo zhuan and Guo yu, explications of Najia (inserting the heavenly stems and earthly branches into the hexagrams) divination method, and She fu (guessing a thing covered by certain images) method. By and large, Shang's studies of divination methods stand on the expounding and exploitation of the images and numbers in the Zhouyi. On one hand, his studies carried out the spirit of "appreciating the correlation between the remarks and images when resting, and examining the changes when taking an act" mentioned in Yi Zhuan, supplying us with a powerful support of tool for us to study the ancient divination methods; on the other hand, according to the materials in Zuo zhuan, Guo yu, and the silk manuscript of the Yi Zhuan, we can see that Mr. Shang overstressed the proficiency of the divination techniques and neglected the advancement of virtue which was stressed by Confucius and Confucian scholars. This is also a weak point in his studies of the Yi.Having discussed and analyzed Mr. Shang's Yi-ology from the above-mentioned four aspects, in the end, the dissertation extends a general summary and comments on his contributions and defects. In my opinion, Mr. Shang made significant contributions to the perfection of the imagery, to the textual research on the pre-natal eight trigrams positions, to the exposition of the "ancient connotations" of Western Han Yi-ology, as well as to the studies of the divination methods of the Zhouyi, whereas his overemphasis on the image-numberolgy and neglect of the advancement in virtue and philosophical connotations conceived in the Zhouyi also left a regret.
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