Shao Yong (; 1011–1077),
courtesy name
A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...
Yaofu (堯夫), named Shào Kāngjié (邵康節) was a
Chinese cosmologist, historian, philosopher, and poet who greatly influenced the development of
Neo-Confucianism
Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, which originated with Han Yu (768–824) and Li Ao (772–841) i ...
across
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
during the
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
.
Shao is considered one of the most learned men of his time. Unlike most men of such stature in his society, Shao avoided governmental positions his entire life, but his influence was no less substantial. He wrote an influential treatise on
cosmogony
Cosmogony is any model concerning the origin of the cosmos or the universe.
Overview
Scientific theories
In astronomy, cosmogony is the study of the origin of particular astrophysical objects or systems, and is most commonly used in ref ...
, the ''Huangji Jingshi'' (皇極經世, ''Book of Supreme World Ordering Principles'').
Origins
Shao's ancestors were from
Fanyang. He was born in 1011 in an area known as Hengzhang county (衡漳, now
Anyang, Henan) to Shao Gu (邵古, 986–1064) and Lady Li (李氏, d. 1032 or 1033). Shao's mother, Li, was an extremely devout practitioner of
Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
. This link with Buddhism proved to be a major influence on Shao's thought throughout his life.
Shao Yong's first teacher was Shao Gu, his father. This was common practice in the familial environment of China at the time. Shao Gu was a scholar in
philology
Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...
and his influence can be discerned in Shao's literary works. Guided by his father, he studied the
Six Confucian classics intensively at a young age. Shao also sought out the scholarship of private schools, many of which were run by monks and heavily influenced by Buddhism.
Around 1020, the Shao family moved to Gongcheng county (now
Xinxiang, Henan). Shortly after his mother's death in 1032 or 1033. Shao met his most important teacher, Li Zhicai (). Li was a former pupil of ancient prose specialist
Mu Xiu (穆修, 979–1032). Under Mu Xiu, Li had studied the ''
I Ching
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yijing'' ( ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. The ''I Ching'' was originally a divination manual in ...
'' extensively.
Career and later life
Shao was a member of a group of thinkers who gathered in
Luoyang
Luoyang ( zh, s=洛阳, t=洛陽, p=Luòyáng) is a city located in the confluence area of the Luo River and the Yellow River in the west of Henan province, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zheng ...
toward the last three decades of the 11th century. This group had two primary objectives. One of these was to draw parallels between their own streams of thought and that of
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of li ...
() as understood by
Mencius
Mencius (孟子, ''Mèngzǐ'', ; ) was a Chinese Confucian philosopher, often described as the Second Sage () to reflect his traditional esteem relative to Confucius himself. He was part of Confucius's fourth generation of disciples, inheriting ...
.
Secondly, the men set out to undermine any links, real or otherwise, between 4th-century Confucianism and what they viewed as inferior philosophical schools of thinking, namely
Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
and
Taoism
Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ' ...
. Other loosely connected members of this so-called network of thinkers include:
Cheng Yi,
Zhang Zai
Zhang Zai () (1020–1077) was a Chinese philosopher and politician. He is best known for laying out four ontological goals for intellectuals: to build up the manifestations of Heaven and Earth's spirit, to build up good life for the populace, t ...
,
Cheng Hao
Chéng Hào (, 1032–1085), Courtesy name Bóchún (), was a Chinese philosopher and politician from Luoyang, China. In his youth, he and his younger brother Cheng Yi were students of Zhou Dunyi, one of the architects of Neo-Confucian cosm ...
(程顥, 1032–1085) and
Zhou Dunyi
Zhou Dunyi (; 1017–1073) was a Chinese cosmologist, philosopher, and writer during the Song dynasty. He conceptualized the Neo-Confucianism, Neo-Confucian cosmology of the day, explaining the relationship between human conduct and universal ...
. Central to each of these men was the ancient text ''I Ching'', which each had studied closely. The way in which Shao studied this ancient text, however, differed from the other members.
During the Song Dynasty, there were two main approaches in ''I Ching'' studies. Together with the majority of scholars, the other members of the group took the ''yili xue'' (義理學, "principle study") approach, which was based on literalistic and moralistic concepts. The other approach, taken by Shao alone, was the ''xiangshu xue'' (象數學, "image-number study") approach, which was based much more on iconographic and cosmological concepts. An approach to
I Ching divination
''I Ching'' divination is a form of cleromancy applied to the ''I Ching''. The text of the ''I Ching'' consists of sixty-four hexagrams: six-line figures of '' yin'' (broken) or '' yang'' (solid) lines, and commentaries on them. There are two ...
known as
Mei Hua Yi has been attributed to him.
Sima Guang
Sima Guang (17 November 1019 – 11 October 1086), courtesy name Junshi, was a Chinese historian, politician, and writer. He was a high-ranking Song dynasty scholar-official who authored the ''Zizhi Tongjian'', a monumental work of history.
B ...
(a close friend of Shao Yung) edited the ''
Taixuanjing
The ''Taixuanjing'' is a divination guide composed by the Confucian writer Yang Xiong (53 BCE18 CE) in the decade prior to the fall of the Western Han dynasty. The first draft of this work was completed in 2 BCE; during the Jin dynasty, an oth ...
'' by
Yang Xiong (written in 10 AD). Influenced by the
Base 3 number system found in the ''Taixuanjing'', probably drawing on this association and the realization of a base 3 system employed in the Taixuanjing Shao Yong then set the Hexagrams of the ''I Ching'' into a
binary sequence
A bitstream (or bit stream), also known as binary sequence, is a sequence of bits.
A bytestream is a sequence of bytes. Typically, each byte is an 8-bit quantity, and so the term octet stream is sometimes used interchangeably. An octet may ...
(the
Fu Xi
Fuxi or Fu Hsi ( zh, c=伏羲) is a culture hero in Chinese mythology, credited along with his sister and wife Nüwa with creating humanity and the invention of music, hunting, fishing, domestication, and cooking, as well as the Cangjie system ...
Ordering). This in turn influenced
Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in addition to many ...
and his thinking on binary arithmetic, and in turn the language of modern computers.
Descendants
Shao Yong's offspring held the title of Wujing Boshi (五经博士;
五經博士; Wǔjīng Bóshì).
In 1452 Wujing Boshi was bestowed upon the offspring of
Mengzi-Meng Xiwen 孟希文 56th generation and
Yan Hui
Yan Hui (–481 BC) was a Chinese philosopher. He was the favorite disciple of Confucius and one of the most revered figures of Confucianism. He is venerated in Confucian temples as one of the Four Sages.
Names
Yan Hui is also known by his c ...
-Yan Xihui 顔希惠 59th generation, the same was bestowed on the offspring of
Zhou Dunyi
Zhou Dunyi (; 1017–1073) was a Chinese cosmologist, philosopher, and writer during the Song dynasty. He conceptualized the Neo-Confucianism, Neo-Confucian cosmology of the day, explaining the relationship between human conduct and universal ...
-Zhou Mian 週冕 12th generation, the two
Cheng brothers (
Cheng Hao
Chéng Hào (, 1032–1085), Courtesy name Bóchún (), was a Chinese philosopher and politician from Luoyang, China. In his youth, he and his younger brother Cheng Yi were students of Zhou Dunyi, one of the architects of Neo-Confucian cosm ...
and
Cheng Yi-Chen Keren 程克仁 17th generation),
Zhu Xi
Zhu Xi ( zh, c=朱熹; ; October 18, 1130April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese philosopher, historian, politician, poet, and calligrapher of the Southern Song dynasty. As a leading figure in the development of Neo-Confuci ...
-Zhu Ting 朱梴 (Zhu Chan?) 9th generation, in 1456–1457, in 1539 the same was awarded to
Zeng Can
Zeng Shen (505–435 BC), better known as Zengzi (Master Zeng), courtesy name Ziyu (), was a Chinese philosopher and disciple of Confucius. He later taught Zisi (Kong Ji), the grandson of Confucius, who was in turn the teacher of Mencius, thus b ...
's offspring-Zeng Zhicui 曾質粹 60th generation, in 1622 the offspring of
Zhang Zai
Zhang Zai () (1020–1077) was a Chinese philosopher and politician. He is best known for laying out four ontological goals for intellectuals: to build up the manifestations of Heaven and Earth's spirit, to build up good life for the populace, t ...
received the title and in 1630 the offspring of Shao Yong.
Poetry

Shao is also famous for his poetry and for his interest in the game of
Go (wéiqí). He wrote a ''Great Ode to Watching Wéiqí'' (), one of the longest surviving classical Chinese poems, as well as a ''Long Ode to Watching Wéiqí'' (), which is translated below.
:::''Long Ode to Watching Weiqi''
See also
*
History of the Song Dynasty
The Song dynasty (Chinese language, Chinese: wikt:宋朝, 宋朝; pinyin: Sòng cháo; 960–1279) of China was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty that ruled most of China proper and southern China from the middle of the 10th cen ...
*
Wen Wang Gua
Notes
References
* Arrault, Alain "Shao Yong (1012-1077), poète et cosmologue". Mémoires de l'Institut des hautes études chinoises XXXIX, Paris, De Boccard, 2002, 498 p.
* Birdwhistell, Anne D. ''Transition to Neo-Confucianism: Shao Yung on Knowledge and Symbols of Reality''. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1989. .
* Liu, Weihua
"Shao Yong" ''
Encyclopedia of China
The ''Encyclopedia of China'' () is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, be ...
'' (Philosophy Edition), 1st ed.
* Wyatt, Don J. ''The Recluse of Loyang: Shao Yung and the Moral Evolution of Early Sung Thought''. Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1996. .
Further reading
*
External links
''Huangji Jingshi''at the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
The "Great Ode to Watching Weiqi"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shao, Yong
1011 births
1077 deaths
11th-century Chinese philosophers
11th-century Chinese historians
11th-century Chinese poets
Chinese Confucianists
Neo-Confucian scholars
Philosophers from Henan
Poets from Henan
Song dynasty philosophers
Song dynasty poets
Song dynasty Taoists
11th-century Taoists
Writers from Anyang
Go (game) writers
Song dynasty classicists