Classical Exegesis and Social Change: The Song School of Yijing Commentaries in Late Imperial China

It is widely accepted that for centuries, the civil service examinations played an important role in promoting social mobility in late imperial China. The examinations not only broke down the monopoly of the power of the aristocrats, but also created literati-bureaucrats who helped the imperial court to rule China. In this paper, I will use the Yijing commentaries to elucidate this momentous social change. Viewing these commentaries as historical documents rather than mere explanations of this Classic, I compare three major Yijing commentaries: Yichuan yizhuan of the Northern Song period (960-1127), Zhouyi daquan of the Ming period (1368-1644), and Zhouyi Zhezhong of the Qing period (1644-1911). The three commentaries are chosen to highlight the three epochs in the social history of late imperial China: the rise of literati-bureaucrats during the Northern Song period; the strengthening of the state-lineage alliance during the Ming period; and the expansion of the role of the literati in the print market during the Qing period. The focus of my comparison will be the seemingly insignificant change in state orthodoxy regarding the order of Cheng Yi's (1033-1107) and Zhu Xi's (1130-1200) Yijing commentaries. Rather than putting Cheng Yi ahead of Zhu Xi as in the Zhouyi daquan of the Ming, the Qing editors of the Zhouyi zhezhong reversed the order by placing Zhu Xi ahead of Cheng Yi. This change from Cheng-Zhu to Zhu-Cheng, I will argue, was not only a strategic adjustment in interpreting the Yijing, but also a potent symbol of the social transformation in early Qing China.