Shao Yong, courtesy nameYaofu, named Shào Kāngjié was a Chinese philosopher, cosmologist], poet and historian who greatly influenced the development of Neo-Confucianism in China during the Song dynasty. 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, the Huangji Jingshi.
Origins
Shao's ancestors were from Fanyang. He was born in 1011 in an area known as Hengzhang county to Shao Gu and Lady Li. Shao's mother, Li, was an extremely devout practitioner of Buddhism. 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 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. 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. Under Mu Xiu, Li had studied the I Ching extensively.
Career and later life
Shao was a member of a group of thinkers who gathered in Luoyang 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 as understood by Mencius. 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 and Taoism. Other loosely connected members of this so-called network of thinkers include: Cheng Yi, Zhang Zai, Cheng Hao and Zhou Dunyi. 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 approach, which was based on literalistic and moralistic concepts. The other approach, taken by Shao alone, was the xiangshu xue approach, which was based much more on iconographic and cosmological concepts. An approach to I Ching divination known as Mei Hua Yi has been attributed to him. Ssu Ma Kuang edited the Taixuanjing by Yang Xiong. 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. This in turn influenced Leibniz 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. In 1452 Wujing Boshi was bestowed upon the offspring of Mengzi-Meng Xiwen 孟希文 56th generation and Yan Hui-Yan Xihui 顔希惠 59th generation, the same was bestowed on the offspring of Zhou Dunyi-Zhou Mian 週冕 12th generation, the two Cheng brothers, Zhu Xi-Zhu Ting 朱梴 9th generation, in 1456-1457, in 1539 the same was awarded to Zeng Can's offspring-Zeng Zhicui 曾質粹 60th generation, in 1622 the offspring of Zhang Zai 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. 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.
