Analysis of the character xing "行" mentioned in the Zhouyi

This paper makes a research on the usage and connotation of the character xing 行 in I Ching and Yi zhuan,and finds out that it had mainly the kernel meanings of way and walking,with the extending meanings of behavior,action as well aspracticeand so on in the explanations of hexagrams and lines of I Ching,while in Yi zhuan it was further extended to more than the abstract meanings of De xing(virtuous behavior),Yun xing(motion) and Liu xing(rotation),and it apperared with Tian xing(heavenly motion),Zhi xing(ideals and conduct),Shang xing(upwards influence),got to the abstract thought of the Way of Heaven and the relationship between Yin and Yang,thereby,stepped more closely into the metaphysics.The above shows that the Yi zhuan inherited the thought of I Ching and thereon developed it.Only by the comparison and research of their inherent relationship,can we learn really the evolutionary line from I Ching to the Yi zhuan.