Around 6,000-10,000 years ago. Long ago a great Chinese sage named Fuxi (Fu Hsi) united all of China and became emperor. He also was known to bring the Chinese people from hunting and fishing to learning about agriculture.
Fu Hsi created the 64 hexagrams called The Kua that make up the I Ching. Drawing from the Universal mind he observed the many diversities and movements under the heaves. By observing how these movements met and associated with each other he saw how their process were controlled by external law. When the universe wants to communicate with us, it uses whatever means are available.
In the time writing was non-existent Fu Hsi's teachings were done in oral tradition for the next thousands of years. To this day it's the most valuable information on this planet. Around 3000 BC writing became invented and the I Ching was the first information to be recorded.
12th century BC the tyrant Chou Shin ruled. He would be the last emperor of the Yin Dynasty. He wasn't a kind ruler. He tortured people to please his equally cruel and vicious mate. Everyone in China feared him. At the same time there was a man named Wen, a descendant of Fu Hsi and an I Ching scholar. Wen ruled a small providence in a rural area of Western China. He lead his people by the way of the I Ching principles and was much loved and respected by the people. Wen was being asked to go against Chou Shin but he declined even though many promised to follow him willingly. Chou Shin heard these rumors that Wen was being asked to lead and had him arrested and put into prison. Luckily, he was allowed to live because of such great popularity. During his time of confinement and in fear of his life, Wen used the I Ching's great wisdom and divination powers to stay alive. While imprisoned, Wen created the names of The Kua and provided descriptions of the conditions/situations that each of them represented.
In 1122 BC Wen's oldest son, Wu, overthrew the tyrant and became emperor. To honor his father whom passed away, Wu gave his father the title "King" and Wen was forever known as King Wen. Wu died a few years after becoming king and left the throne to his 13 year old son. Since being inexperienced and incapable Wu's bother, Tan, known as Duke of Chou ruled as the proxy. Tan was taught by King Wen the teaching of the I Ching and it was Tan the proxy king who interpreted the meaning of the individual lines and added text to each line we know today. 1109 BC was the year the I Ching was then considered to be complete.
For the next 3000 years, starting around A.D. 1700, Khang Hsi prepared the current version of the I Ching that included commentaries from over 300 scholars who had written them over this period of time. Using the wisdom that King Wen and his sons used from studying the I Ching, Khang Hsi was able to found a dynasty that was so strong it lasted nearly 900 years, the longest in Chinese history. They used the I Ching to gain insight and receive Universal guidance with making decisions.
Also, the famous Confucius began studying the I Ching when he was called on by an emperor or guidance. IT was at the age of 50 that Confucius began his studies. By the
age of 70 he commented, "If some years were added to my life, I would give fifty to the study of the I Ching, and might then escape from falling into great errors." Confucius wrote many commentaries with respect to the I Ching.
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