A -85 THE YIN-YANG SYSTEM OF ANCIENT CHINA: THE YIJING-BOOK OF CHANGES AS A PRAGMATIC METAPHOR FOR CHANGE THEORY

Abstract If a discussion of change were to encompass an Oriental perspective, it would have to include something about the Yijing (I Ching) or Book of Changes, a book which is said to have influenced Chinese and East Asian culture more than any other single book 2 . The key to the Yijing"s success may lie in way it establishes an equivalence between qualitative characteristics and binary value symbols. The Yi provided a time-tested system for addressing change that can now be discussed as a standard model for framing change in the 21st century. As a distinctly Oriental methodology it provides a valuable complement to Western decision models that are currently in vogue. This is a timely opportunity to consider an alternative system for contextualizing and symbolizing change