Classicalization of the Yi by Confucian School

Manuscripts of the Chu bamboo slips from Guodian and Shanghai Museum as well as Mawangdui silk manuscript banished the assertions such as the received version of Zhouyi was formulated after the mid of the Warring States period and the Zhouyi was enshrined as a Confucian classic till the turn of the Qin and Han dynasties even in the Western Han dynasty. The classicalization of the Yi ought to be considered as a link in the course of enshrining Confucius as a sage in the shaping of Confucianism. The reason why Confucian school regarded the Yi as a classic was that the quality of the Yi was convenient to qualify Confucius as a sage. The beginning time when the Yi was valued as a classic was most possibly at the turn of the Spring and Autumn period and Warring State period,i.e.,around 400 BC. The silk manuscript of the Yi zhuan showed that Confucian school had articulated the classic as a previous sages' book with Confucius,by which the movement of qualifying Confucius as a sage was enfolded. Yet,there were different sects in this movement within the whole Confucian school. The sect which had correlated the Yi to Confucius or correlated the entire six Confucian classics to Confucius was but one of the sects.