In his preface to the Shiji 史記 Sima Qian 司馬遷 used the expression chengbi tongbian 承敝通變 to summarize the content of the bashu 八書 (eight treatises). Scholars have provided different glosses for the meaning of the expression. For instance, Wang Liqi 王利器 defined the character 承 as 拯, while others such as Yang Zhongxian 楊鍾賢 and Hao Zhida 郝志達 defined it as 乘. Thus it is evident that the meaning of the expression has not yet been fully clarified. This article attempts to trace the origin of the expression by providing evidence to show that the expression coined by Sima Qian was used to summarize the content of the ＂Pingzhunshu 平準書＂ (The Treatise on the Balanced Standard) only, instead of the whole bashu. At the very beginning of the ＂Pingzhunshu,＂ there is a line ＂漢興，接秦之獘＂ In view of this, 承 should be defined as 接, that is, ＂continuing from.＂ In addition, this article has carefully collected evidence to show that the expression was derived from the concepts found in the Zhouyi (Book of Changes) and also in the core theories of Daoism. Sima Qian was well-versed in both works under the tutorship of his father Sima Tan 司馬談. According to Sima Qian, historical developments were cycles of rise and decline controlled by intrinsically invariable rules, an idea based on both Daoism and the Book of Changes. Thus these modern scholars, no matter whether they glossed the character 承 either as 拯 or 乘, they had stressed only the human factor, and deviated from the intention of Sima Qian who in fact put the emphasis on the natural law.

Privind ucenicii la Tine, Te-ai înălţat, Hristoase, la Tatăl, împreună cu Dânsul şezând. Îngerii înainte mergând, strigau: Ridicaţi porţile, ridicaţi, că Împăratul S-a suit la slava cea începătoare de lumină.

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