Taijitu during the Qing period for their possible connection with Zhou Dunyi's "taijitu". Ming period author Lai Zhide (1525–1604) simplified the "taijitu" to a design of two interlocking spirals. In the Ming era, the combination of the two interlocking spirals of the "taijitu" with two black-and-white dots superimposed on them became identified with the "He tu" or "Yellow River diagram" (河圖). This version was reported in Western literature of the late 19th century as the "Great Monad", and has been widely popularised in Western popular culture as the "yin-yang symbol" since the 1960s. The contemporary Chinese term for the modern symbol
Dualistic cosmology able to transmute into each other. In the yin-yang symbol there is a dot of yin in yang and a dot of yang in yin. In Taoism, this symbolizes the inter-connectedness of the opposite forces as different aspects of Tao, the First Principle. Contrast is needed to create a distinguishable reality, without which we would experience nothingness. Therefore, the independent principles of yin and yang are actually dependent on one another for each other's distinguishable existence. The complementary dualistic concept seen in yin and yang represent the reciprocal interaction throughout nature, related to a feedback loop, where opposing forces do