In a specialized field like the Yijing, many books are priced beyond the average person’s reach. The print copy’s cover is lightweight, but can easily be reinforced to withstand repeated use. However, serious readers will want to order a print copy so that they may more easily read the copious material in a comprehensive manner. The book also includes Chang’s translation of the Great Treatise and Explanation of the Trigrams, and “The Scenes of the King Wen Sequence.”Ĭhang maintains a website (that contains the contents of this book, so readers can browse the book hexagram by hexagram. Each part of the text is then explained in great depth, using the masculine and feminine paradigm (yang and yin), trigram characteristics and movement (including nuclear trigrams), and symbolism assigned to line positions. All of the original material is clearly set off in bold type. He gives a general preface for each hexagram before presenting its text, with Chinese characters and brief literal translation of the Wings related to that hexagram.
An interesting section introduces a “cast of characters”: the sage, great lord, gentleman, and villian!Īfter his extensive and insightful introduction, Chang offers around ten pages for each hexagram. He explains that he has based his work on the Confucian commentaries, i.e., the Ten Wings. Chang walks the reader through the various concepts and terms (including character, pinyin, and tone) associated with the Yijing. At close to 800 pages, his book is packed with insights of someone immersed in classical texts, use of the Yijing, and firmly grounded in Chinese culture.Ĭhang’s forty-some pages of very clearly written introduction has much helpful information. Whatever period of history are welcomed to membership.Tuck Chang’s massive Unveiling the Mystery of the I Ching, is an immense labor of love. The scope of the Society's purpose is not limitedīy temporal boundaries: All sincere students of man and his works in Asia, at Include such subjects as philology, literary criticism, textual criticism, paleography,Įpigraphy, linguistics, biography, archaeology, and the history of the intellectualĪnd imaginative aspects of Oriental civilizations, especially of philosophy, Of Asia has always been central in its tradition. The encouragement of basic research in the languages and literatures From the beginning its aims haveīeen humanistic. Philosophical Society (1743), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1780),Īnd the American Antiquarian Society (1812). Preceded only by such distinguished organizations of general scope as the American The American Oriental Society is the oldest learned society in the United Statesĭevoted to a particular field of scholarship. Membership in the AOS includes an annual subscription to the Journal. To assure competent and impartial appraisal of the scholarly level of the material submitted for publication, the editorial staff is composed of recognized scholars in each of the major areas served by the Society. The pages of the Journal are always open to original and interesting contributions from scholars. From that year to the present day, the Journal has brought to the world of scholarship the results of the advanced researches of the most distinguished American Orientalists, specialists in the literatures and civilizations of the Near East, North Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Inner Asia, the Far East and the Islamic World. Du Ponceau, assailing the doctrine of the "ideographic" character of the Chinese script. It included studies of Arab music, of Persian cuneiform, and of Buddhism in India, and brought to a wide audience the then novel theories of Pierre E.
The first volume, published in 1843-49, set the tone for all time in the broad scope of subject matter and the solidity of its scholarship.
The regular serial publication of the Society, issued quarterly, is the Journal of the American Oriental Society.