Genealogy News · Source Interpretation · Published on 2026-10-05

What Annotations to Jiao’s Yilin Reveal About Yi Studies Texts and Jiao Surname Memory

Jiao’s Commentary on the Yilin centers on the Yilin and systematically explains the traditional significance of the changing statements of the sixty-four hexagrams. This article reviews its author, the scope of the text, and approaches to reading it, while explaining that the “Jiao” in the title cannot be directly equated with Jiao clan identity.

Annotations to Jiao’s Yilin is a work of Yi studies centered on Jiao’s Yilin. Its author was Shang Binghe, a jinshi of the late Qing dynasty and a scholar of Yi studies. Shang Binghe’s given name was Binghe and his courtesy name was Jiezhi; he also used the names “Zixi Laoren” and “Shiyan Daoren,” among others. In addition to this work, he wrote Shang’s Studies of the Zhouyi, An Examination of Ancient Divination in the Zhouyi, An Explanation of Yi Images in the Zuo Zhuan and Guoyu, and Jiao’s Exegesis of the Yi. This shows that the “Jiao” in the title primarily belongs to the scope of ancient Yi studies transmission and the naming of texts. It does not mean that the author bore the Jiao surname, nor can it be used to infer a clan relationship between the author and any modern Jiao surname branch.

The Yijing uses the sixty-four hexagrams and their hexagram and line statements as its basic framework. In traditional compilations, the scale of its text is often summarized as approximately 450 hexagram and line statements. The Yilin further expands every combination in which one hexagram transforms into another, forming a structure of sixty-four by sixty-four, with 4,096 related statements. Its content often features divinatory statements, symbolism, metaphors, and judgments of good or bad fortune. Precisely because the text is extensive and its meaning古奥, later readers need to rely on annotations, exegesis, and item-by-item explanations to gain a relatively clear understanding of its organization and intellectual background.

Shang Binghe’s work focused on examining and explaining the text of the Yilin by combining hexagram images, line positions, mutual configurations, and materials from ancient Yi studies. A modern-language translation is useful for understanding the general meaning, but it cannot replace the original text, textual collation across editions, or scholarly analysis. Different views have long existed regarding the authorship of the Yilin, the period in which it was compiled, and its transmission from Jiao Yanshou; the translated explanations in the book may also differ because of variations in editions, punctuation, and interpretive approaches. Readers should therefore consult the original text, annotations, modern-language explanations, and related research together, rather than treating a single translation as the only conclusion.

From the perspective of surname culture, Jiao surname materials commonly include ancestral hall names such as “Zhongshan Hall.” Related accounts of transmission also include the claim that descendants of the Jiao Kingdom adopted the state’s name as their surname. People bearing the Jiao surname can be found in Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Anhui, Shaanxi, and other places. However, ancestral hall names, commandery affiliations, and legends about the origin of a surname in ancient times can generally provide only clues; they cannot by themselves prove that a particular family belongs to the same branch. Even where the surname and ancestral hall name are the same, it is not advisable to directly conclude that families share the same lineage without mutually corroborating evidence from continuous genealogies, burial records, ancestral hall inscriptions, local gazetteers, or family memories.

If you wish to combine textual research with family-root tracing, you can first organize information in surname databases on the founding ancestor who first settled in the area, places of residence, generation names, and ancestral hall names for your branch. You can then compare lineage nodes against online genealogies, supplementing them with migration stories, contracts, epitaphs, and oral materials preserved in family memoirs, and finally consult local gazetteer databases to verify changes in place names and people’s activities. This approach can help clarify the historical memory of the Jiao surname while avoiding the conflation of the title of a Yi studies book, surname legends, and the genealogy of a specific family. For portions where original genealogical records or continuous evidence have not yet been found, they should be clearly labeled as legends, records in old genealogies, or leads requiring further investigation.

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