A Brief Story of the Achievements of Professor Liu Dajun

A Brief Story of the Achievements of Professor Liu Dajun

Writtenby Prof. Zhang Wenzhi

(Centerfor Zhouyi & Ancient Chinese Philosophy, Shandong University, Jinan 250100,China)

(E-mail:sdzhangwz@126.com)

Professor Liu Dajun 刘大钧 was born in January,1943 inZouping County, Shandong Province—the birthplace of Confucius (551-479BCE) and Mencius (372-289 BCE). Now he is the Director of the Center for Zhouyi& Ancient Chinese Philosophy, lifetime Professor of Shandong University, Presidentof the Yi jing Association of China,Member of the National Committee of Chinese People’s Political ConsultativeConference, Editor-in-chief of the academic journal of Zhouyi Studies (Zhouyi yanjiu周易研究), Counselor forthe Counselors Office of the State Council of China.

Though living inpoverty, Prof. Liu experienced a pleasant childhood and middle school period, withexcellent grades. Even when he was a senior high school student, he was the captainof his class and always admired by his classmates. Unfortunately, upongraduation from high school, he was not allowed to receive higher education(later he learned the reason for it was that his father had been wrongly identifiedas a member of Kuo Min Tang led by Chiang Kai-shek [1887-1975] who fled toTaiwan with his entourage in 1949). At that time, Mr. Liu was reduced todespair, and so his mother persuaded him to learn the Yi jing (a. k. a. Zhou yi,I Ching, Zhou Changes, Book of Changes)from one of his grandfathers (his mother’s uncle) Mr. Wang Gongfu, one of thedisciples of the famous Professor Zhang Taiyan 章太炎(1869-1936). He followed his mother’s advice and began to learn the Yi jing from Mr. Wang who then was asenior high school teacher. Having known Mr. Liu’s talents from his childhood,Mr. Wang was pleased to teach him. Mr. Wang was well versed in the Yi jing, which was despised as a superstitiousremnant since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, andtherefore the teaching and learning between them had to be done in an undergroundway. Particularly, Mr. Wang was an expert at Yu Fan’s (164-233) approach to theinterpretation of the Yi jing, whichimmediately attracted Mr. Liu Dajun. Yu Fan was a representative figure of theimage-numerological school of Changesscholarship, which exerted a profound influence upon Mr. Liu. Mr. Wang was alsowell versed in divination, physiognomy, geomancy, and other traditionalknowledge. All these fields of wisdom were also inherited by Mr. Liu. It isnoteworthy that, not only did Mr. Wang teach him the above-mentioned contents,but also taught him how to compose papers and articles so as to enhance hiscomprehensive abilities. Mr. Liu grasped these contents so quickly that threeyears later he could fluently recite the entire Book of Changes.

Therefore,although Mr. Liu did not enter any university or college during this period, hereceived another kind of higher education, more along the lines of traditionalChinese education with a close relation between a teacher and his student. FromOctober, 1963 to December, 1979, he was employed as a craftsman in a verycommon factory. During this period, Mr. Wang passed away and Mr. Liu had toteach himself, at a time when the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) broke out andmisfortunes were stealthily approaching him on account of his study of the Yi jing, which was then treated as a superstitiousdivination manual. However, as a book of wisdom, the Yi jing helped pull him through this difficult time. Mr. Liubelieved that ifpeople could indeed always cultivate themselves with the principles and images conceivedin the Yi jing, the solitude,depression, hardship, and predicament they may encounter in their lives would inevitablybe ameliorated; for example, the principles and images embodied in the Yi jing showing that extreme Stagnation (Pi否, hexagram 12 in the received version of the Yi jing) is destined to be displaced by Peaceor Fluency ( Tai  泰 , 11) and extreme Splitting Apart (Bo剥 , 23) will inevitably be displaced by Return orRevitalization (Fu复 , 24). Therefore, in spite of the fact that during theCultural Revolution he had one by one experienced confiscation of property,being criticized and denounced at public meetings, consignment to forced laborin the countryside through repatriation to his hometown, it was thanks to hisfirm and indominable beliefs, vouchsafed by the Yi jing, that his mind was not harmed (i.e. he had not beensubjected to any heart disease or emotional disorder).

In 1976, upon the death of Mao Zedong, thecurtain was lowering on the Cultural Revolution, and the dawn came into sightfor Mr. Liu. He began to sort out his views on the Book of Changes and submitted one of his papers to the famousacademic journal Zhexue yanjiu 哲学研究 (PhilosophicalResearch) sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Fortunately, hispaper was published by the journal, and aroused attention from Mr. Hu Qiaomu (1912-1992), then thehead of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Mr. Hu was well aware thatsince the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the few Yi jing scholars still doing researchhad been discussing the Yi jing onlyfrom perspectives of Marxist materialism and dialectics, while Mr. Liu’sarticle viewed the Yi jing fromtraditional perspectives, which indeed deserve to be praised. Mr. Hu thought itwas his responsibility to let Liu Dajun play a more important role in academiccircles. So he recommended Mr. Liu to Shandong University. Then the presidentof Shandong University, Mr. Wu Fuheng 吴富恒 (1911-2001) was very pleased to accept Mr. Liu and introduced him toProf. Zhou Lisheng 周立升, then the dean of theDepartment of Philosophy. In the interview with Mr. Liu, Prof. Zhou wassurprised that Mr. Liu had been so well versed in the Book of Changes that he could recite the entire book of Yi jing fluently and his views on thebook were insightful, so Prof. Zhou immediately agreed to bring in Mr. Liu as ateacher in the department.

After Mr. Liu had been transferred to teach the Book of Changes in the department ofphilosophy, he made up his mind to train more Yi jing scholars. With his painstaking efforts, the Section of Zhou yi Studies was established in theDepartment of Philosophy in 1984. One year later, i.e., in 1985, Mr. Liu’smagnum opus Zhou yi gailun (AnIntroduction to the Book of Changes)was published, which immediately aroused attention from both researchers andamateurs, and continues to be a best seller even now. To date, this book has become essential reading for both researchers and amateursand hasbeen reprinted over ten times; its circulation has amounted to over 100,000copies sold in China. In the course of the renewal of the image-numerology approach, which hadbeen denied for half a century, Professor Liu gradually formed his unique approachand took both image-numerology as well as meaning-and-principle approaches intoconsideration—and thereby published a great number of important academicachievements.

From the first day of his beingadopted into Shandong University, Prof. Liu had been determined to carryforward research and enhance the popularity of the Yi jing. Then he found that academic conferences would be the bestway to realize this ideal, hence there was organized the first internationalconference on the Yi jing to be heldin mainland China. From December 5-9, 1987, “The First International Conferenceon the Zhou yi” since theestablishment of the People’s Republic of China was held in Jinan, Shandong, inwhich over 200 scholars from seven countries and areas participated, and over120 papers were received. At that time, because of the existence of the remainingpernicious elements of the “Cultural Revolution” which had treated the Yi jing as superstitious, the preparationfor the conference encountered unusual difficulties, from its ratification… to itsfund-raising. Mr. Liu Dajun, however, brushed aside all kinds of difficultieswith bravery and finally gained success in arranging this activity. All theoverseas participants knew well about the miseries Mr. Liu had experienced. Oneof the attendees, Prof. Zhong Qilu, then nearly eighty years old, from ColumbiaUniversity of the U.S.A., solemnly declared at the opening ceremony that the overseasscholars present there insisted on standing up and saluting Prof. Liu. As soon as the prestigious elderly scholar announced hisdeclaration, more than twenty overseas scholars stood up in chorus, followed bydomestic scholars, even together with the delegates presiding over the meetingat the platform—all the participants stood upand saluted him. It was reported that such a moving scene as this had neverbeen seen before in academic activities in China. At this moment, Mr. Liu wasmoved to tears. He bowed to all the participants with his two hands held highto show his salutation.

    This conference aroused numerousresponses both at home and abroad. Many important media across mainland China,Hong Kong, Taiwan, as well as international media including organizations ofthe U.S.A, France, Germany, and South Korea made detailed reports about it. Andthey held that this conference was an Yi jing-oriented meeting on the largest scale ever since the establishmentof the People’s Republic of China. The Crystal(Jing bao 晶报), a Hong Kong newspaper, particularly published an editorial entitled“the Revelation of the First International Conference on the Zhou yi.” Mr. Chung-ying Cheng, an Yi jing-expert and Professor of Chinese Philosophy at HawaiiUniversity, called it “a milestone in the history of Changes scholarship.” It was this meeting that lifted off the “Zhou yi Fever” in mainland China. Hencethe organizer and sponsor Professor Liu Dajun became a household name and legendaryfigure across the country.

      Upon these reactions from academic circlesand mass media, Liu Dajun recognized the significance of conferences inpromoting the development of the Yi jingstudies. So, after this meeting, the Center for Zhou yi Studies led by Prof. Liu, which was transformed from theSection of Zhou yi Studies in theDepartment of Philosophy and became a research institute directly subordinateto Shandong University from 1988, hitherto has, with the Chinese Association ofthe Yi jing from Taiwan, co-sponsoredeight “Cross-Strait Academic Conferences on the Zhou yi” and seven “Cross-Strait Conferences on Zhou yi for the Presentation of Youth’sArticles”, which were held in mainland China and Taiwan in turn and greatlyprompted the development of Zhou yistudies, helping bring up new talents and young scholars in the circle of Changes scholarship. Additionally, thecenter also organized a good number of other conferences and seminars relatedto the Yi jing, which reinforced the connectionbetween the center and the related institutes in Switzerland, Germany, France, theU.S.A., South Korea, and so on. It is noteworthy that the funds for theseconferences held in mainland China before 2000 were all raised by Prof. Liuhimself rather than financed by Shandong University. Owing to Prof. Liu and histeam’s achievements in and contributions to the Yi jing studies, the center was appointed as one of the firstthirteen “Key Research Institutes” granted by the Ministry of Education ofChina in 2000, and the center was renamed the Center for Zhouyi & AncientChinese Philosophy since then. In addition, led by Prof. Liu, the center wasauthorized to be a doctoral degree granting school, and began to train Ph.Dstudents since 1999, which also greatly prompted the blossoming of Zhou yi studies in mainland China.

In the conference of 1987,many scholars insisted that it would be very significant to establish anacademic journal related to the Yi jingstudies. Mr. Liu thought it his responsibility to accept this task. Havingovercome numerous difficulties, Mr. Liu initiated the academic journal of Zhouyi yanjiu (Zhou yi Studies), the first issue of which came out in 1988 and thefunds for which were also raised by Prof. Liu before 1999. The journal hasalways been the only Yi jing-orientedperiodical in mainland China, the subscribers of which come from twenty-eightcountries and areas. Owing to its high quality and keenly serious scholarship,the journal enjoys high fame both at home and abroad, and has always been appraisedas, among other honors, one of the CSSCI (Chinese Social Sciences CitationIndex) journals. So far, the journal has become the most influential journal inthe circle of Yi jing studies acrossthe world.