Anybody ever actually physically been to China? Is the I Ching still popular there?

[cassius_clay]

Anybody ever actually physically been to China? Is the I Ching still popular there?

[matt]

You kicked Foremans ass! Good work http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/I_Ching_community/clipart/happy.gif

[matt]

Oh, and no I havnt ever physically been to China. I do have a few friends in China however, and it would seem to me the I Ching is more popular in the Western World than the East - for personal use. In China however, many business practices hire special consultants to 'advise' in areas according to divining and ancient principles. Tradition is still extremely prominent there. One of my friends organises these tradtional events for local and international businesses, the photos are like a blast from the past! Elegant Chinese dress, and 1000 year old ceremony. I do sense from the people I know, that the Western interest in the I Ching is slightly frowned upon in China by the younger generation. (all my friends are under 26)

[byzantine]

Why is the western interest slightly frowned upon in china by e younger generation, Matt?

[byzantine]

Dunno abt China, but here in Singapore, e younger generation my age isn't so much concerned abt these kinda things.

Regards,
Irving

[hengyu]

Yijing is a specialist education. For many in China, the Yijing is only consulted in Daoist temples, and only then, usually as a form of sooth-saying, or philosophy for the masses. Indepth study would require somekind of Buddhist or Daoist priestly education. For many ordinary people, the Yijing is difficult to understand and its meaning is obscured in everyday life. And many have a superstitious 'faith' in the book itself, rather than an appreciation of its wisdom. Often, the holy men of the villages of the New Teritories, Hong Kong, knew the Yijing very well indeed. And if one practices the internal martial arts of China, (i.e. bagua, Taiji quan and Xingyi), the study of the Yijing is essential for the understanding of the higher aims of the arts. Not all Chinese understand the Yijing, just as not all British people understand Shakespeare. Probably, Taiwan, which views its mission as preserving traditional Chinese culture, has a thriving Yijing community. The mainland has had over 50 years of hardline communism and suppression of traditional culture, this has led to a diminishing of Yijing knowledge today, but things are improving and people are beginning to re-investigate the Yijing again.

[auriel]

in san francisco, i studied with a group that claimed liks to the last empire through a royal physician. the 6 pillars of daoism were said to be the tao-te-ching, the i ching, daoist yoga, tai chi, herbal medicine, and the acupuncture system. though i have no doubt about the authenticity of the individual components, the constellation of them, i've often wondered- was that genuinely how daoism was studied, learned, lived, now or in china's past?