The I Ching: The first known divination in China occurred somewhat before the beginning of the Shang Dynasty (1766 BC). At that time the scapula, or shoulder blades, of large animals were heated, and the pattern of cracks appearing were read by the diviner. Later, tortoise shell plastrons were similarly used. About 1050 BC, in the beginning of the Chou Dynasty, King Wen added some text to a series of hexagrams already in existence before his time, perhaps as far back as about 2,000 BC. Thus, there seems to have been some overlap in the use of the hexagrams and the bones, and some believe there is a connection between the two. At any rate, the hexagrams and text became known as the Chou I (Book of Chou). Later yet (late 6th century BC), Confucius and others added commentary, and the resulting I Ching came to be considered one of the classic Chinese texts. Scholars have generally praised the I Ching because of its value as a source for understanding ancient Chinese customs and wisdom. Its use as a means of divination, while not of much scholarly interest, has been respected and used by the Chinese people for a very long time. Each of the I Ching's sixty-four hexagrams has a set of text providing replies to questions put to the oracle. To translate the question into a reply, a group of fifty sticks can be used. By dividing these into two groups in a particular way and recording the numeric values (gained for a total of eighteen such divisions), a reply can be obtained. The reply might or might not indicate that a change pertaining to the question asked will take place. If there is such a change, the reply will include one or more additional lines of a special section of text for that purpose.