DING Chao-wu's view on the origin of the trigrams and hexagrams of Yi

In the beginning of the 20th century, western culture launched fierce challenges against traditional Chinese culture, which led to an unprecedented interflow of the two cultures. Under this cultural background, DING Chao-wu attempted to fuse the Yi-ology and science. Having collected a plenty of literature of the Yi-ology and through tracing back to the origin of the Yi,DING Chao-wu discussed the relationship between Yi, divination, and science, setting forth that the Dao of Yi was based on science, Yi was not created only for divination, in the beginning trigram or hexagram Kun (the 2nd hexagram in the received version of Zhouyi) was put in the first place followed by Qian (the 1 hexagram in the received version of Zhouyi), etc. Though his view on the origin of the Yt need further discussion, his insight is still inspiring for us to discuss the origin of the trigrams and hexagrams, expose scientific thought conceived in Yi, comprehend the relationship between hardness and softness, and study the mutual complementary relationship between Yi-ology and Daoism.