"Han Shu" Cited "Yi" Research

It is a common academic and cultural phenomenon in historical books.The extensive citation of Zhouyi in Hanshu is a typical example.The ubiquitous sentences of Zhouyi in Hanshu also highlight Ban Gu’s view that Zhouyi is the source of the five classics.Among the five classics,Ban Gu gave priority to Zhouyi for three main reasons: First,the academic style of respecting the Confucian classics in the Eastern Han Dynasty,and the influence of Ban Gu’s family classics,which established his academic orientation of advocating the Five Classics.Thus,regarded as the most speculative in the five classics,whose historical thinking is very clear,Zhouyi is naturally favored by Ban Gu.The second is the necessary cultural accomplishment of Yi-ology as a historian,which requires Ban Gu to be proficient in Zhouyi.Third,the all-embracing ideological characteristics of Zhouyi enabled it to keep pace with the time in the Han dynasty,absorbing new contents and new thoughts to write the historical theory.“The way of heaven and man,concealing the past and prediction of future,Yi according with heaven and earth” contained in Zhouyi,became one of the important bases for Ban Gu to tell history and evaluate historical facts.The categories and characteristics of Yi Ban Gu cited in Hanshu are mainly divided into the following three parts: first,the direct reference to the original text of Zhouyi,the direct reference to the vocabulary of Zhouyi.And the reference to the original text of Zhouyi show the characteristics of non-uniformity of the text,which is related to the spread of Zhouyi in the early Han dynasty.When quoting the original texts to comment on history and events,there are two phenomena: the conformation to the original meaning and misinterpretation of the original meaning.The words in Zhouyi are mainly related to the name of hexagrams,hexagram topic and remarks of hexagram lines.The secondly is to paraphrase Yi theory.In the evaluation of historical facts,Hanshu pays attention to the application of Yizhuan’s principles,observes personnel and evaluates historical gains and losses according to Yi’s principles.In addition to the texts of Zhouyi,the Yi documents cited in Hanshu also include Jingfang Yizhuan,Yiwei,and Hanshi Yizhuan,etc,which reflect the range of Yi literature cited by Ban Gu.By sorting out the content and categories of the documents cited in Yi in Hanshu,we can observe the influence of Zhouyi on Ban Gu’s writing Hanshu.Firstly,Ban Gu absorbed the thoughts of Zhouyi’s“following the will of heaven and respecting the wishes of men” and the thought of “heaven and earth communicate with each other and all things in consequence have free courses”,and applied them to explain the western Han Dynasty’s political and social life,which is mainly reflected through the communication among the monarch,minister and people.The sympathy between heaven and man reflects that the relationship between the emperor and the minister emphasizes the rigid and soft way of getting along,and the relationship between the emperor and the people is manifested in a series of actions taken by the emperor to benefit the people,involving two aspects of food,punishment..Secondly,as a historian,Ban Gu often commented on historical facts and revealed historical gains and losses and lessons based on the historical concepts of "Fearing the beginning and the End" and "Respecting Undefeated" in Zhouyi.So the historical narrative in Hanshu was sufficiently reflecting the dialectical historical view of Ban Gu that “trace things to their beginning,and follow them to their end ”and the concept of “see the decline from the prosperity ”.Under his recognition of Zhouyi,Ban Gu paid more attention to the role and value of "primitive" and learned from Zhouyi’s observation to discredit historical figures,curb the administration of foreign ministers,and discuss about education.Thirdly,Yiwenzhi also draws on the historical development concept of "change is poor,change is common,and the rule is long" in Zhouyi.When discussing academic changes,Ban Gu regards the academic development of the Western Han Dynasty as an interconnected and mutually related one.In this whole,Zhouyi serves as a framework.Zhouyi isthe origin of the five classics,which suggests that the five classics can find their academic starting point.The study of Zhuzhi is a descendant of the five classics.This Western Han scholarship is interconnected,reflecting the functional orientation of applying Zhouyi to cater to politics.Fourth,Ban Gu uses the time-varying view of Zhouyi’s "changeable,trend-oriented","when the time is the best,when the time is the end" and the gentleman personalities of "Humility in a position of honour makes that still more brilliant" as the historical figures and evaluation The standard of deeds can also be seen in the way of being advocated by Ban Gu.