One insignia shows the yin and yang symbol in reverse, moving counterclockwise and painted red and yellow, while the other portrays a deconstructed version of the symbol. Monastra names it 'an archive of late imperial symbolism,' and that is important, as the Romans hadn't lost their connection to the sacred yet as a society - they still included it in very earthly matters. The detailed list contains official titles, but also the insignia of every unit, many of which were metaphysical in meaning. As stated by scholar Giovanni Monastra, several symbols identical to yin and yang diagrams were found in the Notitia Dignitatum Omnium tam Civilium quam Militarium, a directory of Roman administration functions dating back sometime between the 4th and 5th century A.D. However, the symbol can be also found in a very unexpected place: among the symbols of the Roman Empire, specifically amidst nearly 300 insignias of the military units of the late Roman Empire. This could mean the moon and the sun, south and north, and many others. However, while masculinity and femininity in terms of energy can be applied to yin and yang, as, in this particular case, one represents a passive approach and the other an active one, this dual nature of the symbol can represent just any polarity that shows up in the universe, explains Mark Cartwright for World History Encyclopedia.

Wang tracked down the time when the concept transformed into an argument for female subjugation, traveling back in time to 179 – 104 B.C., when Dong Zhongshu implemented the yin and yang concept into Confucian thought - Zhongshu didn't follow its original meaning, but rather altered it serve his own ends (via 'Dong Zhongshu's Transformation of 'Yin-Yang' Theory and Contesting of Gender Identity'). The symbol was often misinterpreted in favor of justifying 'inhumane treatment' of women throughout Chinese history, and even in the present day. Wang from Loyola Marymount University, the concept of yin and yang also has a darker past, at least when it comes to gender.

History of yin yang symbol