is often used as a patriotic symbol, as are the colors red, blue, and black. While the use of the taeguk and the trigrams have been used since the earliest periods of Korean history, its history goes back even further in China. The Taegeuk is a Confucian icon which symbolizes cosmic balance, and represents the constant interaction between the yin and yang, also known as eum/yang in Korean (음양 | 陰陽). The taegeuk symbol used on the flag originated from the Chinese Confucian classic known as The Book of Changes (also known as I Ching or Yijing), a book developed for use in divination. The four trigrams also originated from the I Ching; each of these trigrams represent specific Confucian virtues, cosmic elements, or family roles, in addition to seasons, compass directions, etc. The 건 "geon" trigram (☰) represents the heaven (sky), summer, south, father, and justice. The 곤 "gon" trigram (☷) symbolizes the earth (ground), winter, north, mother, and vitality, the 감 "gam" trigram (☵) the moon, autumn, west, 2nd (or middle) son, and wisdom, and the 리 "ri" trigram (☲) the sun, spring, east, 2nd (or middle) daughter, and fruition. The four trigrams supposedly move in an endless cycle from "geon" to "ri" to "gon" to "gam" and back to "geon" in their pursuit of perfection. The white background symbolizes the homogeneity, integrity and purity of the Korean people. Traditionally, Koreans often wore white clothing, earning the nickname "white-clothed people" and therefore the colour white epitomizes the Korean people. Variants Tricolored taegeuk A variant in South Korea is the tricolored taegeuk (sam·saeg·ui tae·geuk or sam·tae·geuk ), which adds a yellow lobe or "pa" ( ). The yellow portion is taken as representing humanity, in addition to the red and blue representing earth and heaven, respectively. A rendition of the tricolored TaeGeuk also appeared in the official logo of the 1988 Summer Olympics accompanied by the five Olympic rings. Paralympics symbol The first designated Paralympic logo, created for the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul, was based on the traditional pa ( ), the spiral or sinusoid components making up the Taegeuk symbol. In March 1992, the Paralympic symbol was changed to a version utilizing only three pa. This was not fully adopted until after the 1994 Winter Paralympics in Lillehammer, Norway, since the Lillehammer Paralympic Organizing Committee had by then already started a marketing program based on the five-pa