The Changes and the Teaching of the Early Yin-Yang School

Did, after all, a teaching of an early Yin-Yang school (yin yang jia 阴阳家) in the intellectual history of pre-imperial China (before 221 BCE) really exist? In other words, was there a proto-science based on the “numbers and measures” (shu du 数度) of Yin and Yang before Zou Yan 邹衍, which was later inherited and developed by Zou Yan and his school? If such an early science did exist, what impact did it exert on Zou Yan’s thoughts and on the evolution from the divinatory manual of the Changes (Zhou yi 周 易 ) to the later exegetical traditions? These are valuable questions for historical and text-critical studies on ancient dialectics and the origin and development of the Changes. In the present study, I will give my own restricted opinions and look forward to your instruction.