Abstract:
Shaikh’s “Six Methods” are interpreted in different ways. However, there are not essential contradictions between different interpretations and some different implications are equally wellgrounded, which has much to do with precision but comprehensiveness and relatively obscure meaning of Chinese words. The “six” in the “Six methods” coincides with the Chinese preference of the “six” in the “Six Parts of the country” and the “Six Classics”. Besides, the “Six Methods” contains in itself a structure of “five divisions of the one subject”, with the first method as the “general statement” and the other five as the “division topics”. Interestingly enough, the “Six Methods” can also be divided into “four methods” and “two principles” or even into a “threecoupling” structure. Above all, A liaison of “flavour” with the ordinal before it coincides with the current habit of preferring to use foursyllable expressions.
