''Xici'' or ''Xi Ci'' (''Great Commentary'', ) is one of the
Ten Wings
The Ten Wings ( ''shí yì'') is a collection of commentaries ( ''zhuan'') to the classical Chinese '' Book of Changes'' ( ''Yì jīng'') traditionally ascribed to Confucius, though they were likely composed by later scholars. These writings repr ...
, a collection of
Confucian
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, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...
books traditionally included in 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 ...
'' written during the fifth century
BC. Its origins are unknown, but it is suspected of being the product of scholars who did not believe prevailing
Daoist
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', ' ...
thought. A silk manuscript version of it dating from 168 BCE was found at the
Mawangdui
Mawangdui () is an archaeological site located in Changsha, China. The site consists of two saddle-shaped hills and contained the tombs of three people from the Changsha Kingdom during the western Han dynasty (206 BC – 9 AD): the Chancellor Li ...
site in
Changsha
Changsha is the capital of Hunan, China. It is the 15th most populous city in China with a population of 10,513,100, the Central China#Cities with urban area over one million in population, third-most populous city in Central China, and the ...
in 1973.
It's one of the most important sources about early Chinese cosmology.
Among the
mythologies
Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...
stressed in the book is that of
Fuxi
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 syste ...
, the emperor-god.
References
External links
Dictionary of Asian Mythology on HighBeam.com
I Ching
{{China-myth-stub