A source-led study

The Field Guide treats sources as part of the lesson. Classical texts show how a tradition described its own rules; excavated manuscripts can reveal earlier forms; modern scholarship helps place both in historical and social context. No one source answers every kind of question.

Classical texts#

• The Zhouyi (I Ching) on the Chinese Text Project
• The Hongfan chapter of the Book of Documents
• The Yueling chapter of the Book of Rites
• The Yin-Yang Yingxiang Dalun of the Huangdi Neijing
• The Yiwenzhi chapter of the Book of Han
• The Tianwen Xun chapter of the Huainanzi

The Chinese Text Project provides searchable Chinese texts. English explanations on this site are original summaries unless a translation is explicitly attributed.

Excavated materials#

The course discusses, among other materials, the Shuihudi Qin Rishu daybook, the Mawangdui silk Zhouyi, the Wangjiatai Qin Guicang fragments, the Tsinghua bamboo manuscripts, and the divination boards associated with the tomb of the Marquis of Ruyin. These artifacts are evidence for particular historical practices and texts; they do not prove that every later interpretation existed in the same form.

Selected scholarship#

• Li Ling, Zhongguo fangshu zhengkao (中国方术正考) and Zhongguo fangshu xukao (中国方术续考), studies of early Chinese technical arts. The titles are retained in Chinese and pinyin; this site does not rely on an unverified English title. See the National Institute of Informatics catalog record.
• Richard J. Smith, Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World: The Yijing (I Ching, or Classic of Changes) and Its Evolution in China.
• Ole Bruun, An Introduction to Feng Shui, an academic study of feng shui's history and modern interpretations.
• A. C. Graham, Yin-Yang and the Nature of Correlative Thinking (Singapore: Institute of East Asian Philosophies, 1986).
• E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande.
• Shawn Carlson, “A double-blind test of astrology”, Nature (1985).
• Bertram Forer, “The fallacy of personal validation” (1949).

English terminology#

The glossary records the preferred English label, Chinese characters, Hanyu Pinyin, common alternatives, and the related English Wikipedia title. Common English usage is the primary label when terms differ; the Wikipedia form remains a reference and alias.

References are selected for the specific topic at hand. A classical text is evidence for a tradition's wording and history, not by itself evidence that a modern predictive or medical claim is true.