Language originated in taiji, the Great Primal Beginning. In the beginning, divine order revealed the hexagrams of the Book of Changes. Pao Xi drew the eight trigrams of the Book of Changes, to which Confucius appended commentaries known as the "Ten Wings." Further, to interpret the qian (heaven) and kun (earth) hexagrams, Confucius wrote the "Patterns of Words." Are not word patterns the mind of heaven and earth! The Yellow River Diagram contains the eight trigrams, and the Writing from River Luo reveals the nine great principles of government. What could have authored the golden words on the jade plate and the red patterns on the green bamboo slips, if not Divine Reason?

Under the Tang and Yu dynasties, works of literature first achieved distinction. The song of the state-head sung by Emperor Shun commenced a lyrical tradition, and the state strategies presented by Boyi and Hou Ji set examples for memorializing in ages to come. When the House of Xia rose, ambitious plans were executed and glorified, and great was the glory. The rulers of the Shang and the Zhou were better known for their sophistication than for their native simplicity: what we see covered by the Shijing represents a stage of virtually daily refinement. King Wen of Zhou of course had a difficult time, but then he wrote the brilliant interpretations now appended to the hexagrams and their components in the Yijing: these interpretations are somewhat opaque, like jade with its grain, but contain a profound truth which, again like jade, is unbreakable. Later the talented Duke of Zhou continued the good work of King Wen. He wrote poems and edited the ceremonial Songs of the Shang, both of which are preserved in the Shijing, exercising the arts of beautifying and axing.