The Spring and Autumn Annals and "Yi":An Inquiry into the Cultural Origin and Connotation of "Yi"

There is no Yi(righteousness) in The Spring and Autumn Annals,but the interpretations of Yi by the Three link fore-and-aft cultural connotation of this character. And by these interpretations,the relationship between the heaven and the king is extended to the relationship among the heaven,the king,the duke,and the minister,and also the relationship between China and the barbarians.Mencius and other thinkers in the Warring States Period furthered such relations to those between gentleman cultivation and common individual nature.Thus Yi became an important ethic and moral category.The basic reason why Yi become the core of interpreting The Spring and Autumn Annals lies in that the textual nature and function of The Spring and Autumn Annals have original connotation and referent function of Yi:Yi is characterized by royal sanctity,arbitration,as well as the legitimacy of divine's supervising the king's right.The Spring and Autumn Annals shows the dependence of political program from the heaven,and the responsibility relation between the heaven and the king and his ministers.Scholars always interpret The Spring and Autumn Annals from the perspective of the character Yi.This is not accidental.It indirectly proves the historicity of witchcraft and cultural function of The Spring and Autumn Annals.