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3.

Yin and Yang in the `` Lo Shu '' square

Although the primary mathematical properties of the middle number at the center of the Lo Shu, and the interrelation of all the other numbers to it, might seem enough to account for the deep fascination which the Lo Shu held for the Old Chinese philosophers, this was actually only a beginning of wonders.

For the Lo Shu square was a remarkably complete compendium of most of the chief religious and philosophical ideas of its time.

As such, one cannot fully understand the thought of the pre-Han and Han periods without knowing the meanings inherent in the Lo Shu ; ;

but, conversely, one cannot begin to understand the Lo Shu without knowing something about the world view of the Old Chinese, which they felt they saw expressed in it.