The term chenwei refers to the prognostications and apocryphal texts that flourished between the reigns of Emperors Ai (reg. 6 BCE-1 BCE) and Ping (AD 1-5). In these texts we find a combination of the theories of yin-yang and five phases, heaven-and-human correlations, prognostication, portents, and fortune-telling. These ideas and practices were prevalent among the populace. During the Eastern Han (25-220), the study of the apocryphal texts, due to the promotion of Emperor Guangwu (reg. 25-37), achieved a status equal to the study of the Confucian classics. Despite the overwhelming influence of these texts and related ideas, some scholars sensed their threat to orthodox Confucian learning and began to criticize this trend of thought from different perspectives. This article will discuss a group of Eastern Han scholars’ criticisms of the apocryphal texts and demonstrate the interaction between classical learning and apocryphal texts. Although these scholars opposed the employment of these texts in making political decisions, they were inevitably influenced by the ideas embedded in them. This shows that chenwei concepts were popular to the extent that they had become absorbed into the mainstream and were no longer isolated, specialized knowledge.