The compilation of Zhouyi Zheng yi

The earlier period of the Tang dynasty (618-907) witnessed the rectifications of the Five Confucian Classics, representing the beginning of the unifications of the annotations and interpretations for the Confucian Classics. The Confucian scholars of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) appreciate the philological tradition which can be traced back to the Han dynasty (206 B. C. -220 A. D. ) and advocate textual researches. So they criticized more against the flighty of the interpretations in the Tang dynasty. However, in the Tang dynasty, the Zhouyi Zheng yi (Rectifications of the Meanings of the Book of Change) owes its leading position in the metaphysical realm to the situation that the combination of Confucianism and Daoism became in vogue during that period. In addition, based on Wang Bi's (226-249) annotations and commentaries on Zhouyi, the Rectifications of the Meanings of the Book of Change adopted the views of many other scholars from the Han dynasty and extended the connotations. This differs from the annotations and commentaries of the other classics which were composed of many different ideas. Merging the southern and northern views, Zhouyi Zheng yi was based on Wang's commentaries but did not stick to his commentaries. It drew references from the metaphysical views hence exposing a taste of Daoism. It opposes Buddhism but it still adopts the useful elements from Buddhism, hence its academic values. It can be viewed as the prior of the Song dynasty's (960-1279) suspecting attitude to the assertion for the ancient classics.