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Ancient Chinese Astronomy - AnOverview 193Yunli Shi
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2031
Origin and Early Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 2032
Growing Need for More Exact Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 2034
New Inventions in Instrumentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . 2037
Conclusion: The Formation of a Paradigm . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 2040
Cross-References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2041
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2041
Abstract
Documentary and archaeological evidence testifies the early
origin and contin-
uous development of ancient Chinese astronomy to meet both the
ideological and
practical needs of a society largely based on agriculture. There
was a long period
when the beginning of the year, month, and season was determined
by direct
observation of celestial phenomena, including their alignments
with respect to
the local skyline. As the need for more exact study arose, new
instruments for
more exact observation were invented and the system of
calendrical astronomy
became entirely mathematized.
Introduction
China is one of the earliest places in the world where
agricultural civilization
originated, and remained an agriculture-dominated culture before
the end of the
imperial period in 1912. For this reason, Chinese people became
keen observers and
worshipers of celestial phenomena from very early times. For
them, these
Y. Shi
University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
e-mail: [email protected]
C.L.N. Ruggles (ed.), Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and
Ethnoastronomy,DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_210,# Springer
Science+Business Media New York 201
2031
5
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phenomena from high above were mandates from Heaven tian (),
showing sacredregulations and admonishments important not only for
an agricultural economy but
also for all human affairs centered on this economy. They called
the regular
motions and cycles of celestial bodies Calendrical Phenomena
lixiang (), andthe general astronomical and meteorological sky, as
well as any occurrences in this
sky, Celestial Patterns tianwen (). For Calendrical Phenomena,
they developedand continued to improve systems of Calendrical
Astronomy lifa () as a way todescribe and predict the motions of
the sun, the moon, and the five major planets
and thus to regulate economic, political, and even daily
activities in accordance
with the rhythm of the heavens. In the meantime, vigilant eyes
were kept on
Celestial Patterns in order to promptly discover any omens and
portents meaningful
to rulers. Official institutions were set up to take care of
these businesses and
formed an uninterrupted tradition lasting thousands of
years.
Origin and Early Development
Documentary evidence for the existence of such a tradition can
be traced back to the
first Chinese dynasty Xia (), from the twenty-third to the
seventeenth century BC,
as recorded in The Canon of Yao of The Book of Documents, or
Shujing (),which describes how Yao, an ancestral king of the Xia
dynasty, ordered the brothers
of Xi () and He () reverently to conform themselves to August
heaven, to
trace the phenomena of the sun, the moon, the stars and the
celestial houses, and
respectfully to deliver time to people. He dispatched them to
four directions, using
asterisms Bird niao (), Fire huo (), Void xu (), and Hairy Head
mao () asindicators for the approach of equinoxes and solstices,
taking three hundred, sixty
and six days [as a round year], and fixing the four seasons by
means of an
intercalary month. Such a calendar was then to be used in
regulating the various
officers to make all works in the year fully performed.
Archaeological discoveries have confirmed the early origin of
astronomical
culture in China. In 1987 and 1988, a tomb dated to 4000 BC was
excavated in
the Puyang County, Henan province. Its occupant is surrounded by
a group of
figures made up of clam shells and human bones (Fig. 193.1): a
dragon to the east,
a tiger to the west, and a ladle to the north (Sun et al. 1988).
While most
archaeologists agree that the dragon and tiger are two
benevolent animals in
Chinese mythology that carry the deceased into heaven, Li Xueqin
connects the
configuration to the old Chinese sky that was divided into four
directions and
marked with four benevolent animals: Blue Dragon of the East,
White Tiger of
the West, Red Bird of the South, and Black Tortoise of the North
(Li 1988).
Following this line of thought, Feng Shi further deciphers the
ladle as Ursa Major
and the special shape of the tomb as a representation of the
primitive Chinese
cosmography that depicted heaven as a canopy over a flat earth
(Feng 1990).
Textual evidence from the third to second century BC reveals the
key idea of
dividing the zodiac constellations into four directions, namely
of using the four
groups of asterisms as indicators of the four seasons (Fig.
193.2).
2032 Y. Shi
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4t
M54
M45
H51
H34
A
A
D
Fig. 193.1 The Tiger and Dragon Grave from Puyang.# Authorized
for nonprofitable use
Fig. 193.2 The specialsymbol on the pottery from the
Dawenkou site.# Authorizedfor nonprofitable use
193 Ancient Chinese Astronomy - An Overview 2033
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Of course, the most obvious indicator of the seasons is the sun.
During the
1970s, archaeologists excavating a late Neolithic site of the
Dawenkou Culture
dating from 4040 to 2240 BC at Juxian, Shangdong province,
unearthed some
pottery decorated with a special symbol. Since then, pottery
with the same
symbol has also been found at the contemporary sites in the
neighboring areas,
even at the Yuchisi site in northern Anhui province.
Archaeologists differ in
their interpretations of the symbols exact meaning, but most of
them connect it
with the sun. Wang Shuming even suggests that the symbol must
have been
originated from using the alignment of the sun in the
determination of different
seasons, because looking eastward from the Dawenkou site, one
can find
a skyline with five mountain peaks (Wang 1986). Further evidence
for this
interpretation comes from the altar unearthed in 2003 at Taosi,
a site in the
middle south of Shanxi, dating from 2300 to 1900 BC, which some
scholars
believe to be an observatory using sunrise alignments for the
determination of
the seasons (see Chap. 201, Taosi Observatory).Oracle-bone
inscriptions show that the calendar of the Shang () dynasty
(eighteenth to twelfth century BC) reached a more sophisticated
level, although
views on its detailed nature have been quite divergent. A
luni-solar calendar was
adopted together with certain intercalation rules, while the
system of 60 heavenly
stems and earthly branches was used to count days, initiating a
tradition believed to
have been uninterrupted all the way up to the present. Simple
instruments such as
the gnomon and clepsydra might have been used. Records of
celestial phenomena
in the divinatory oracle-bone inscriptions, such as eclipses and
names of stars, hint
at the institutionalized development of astrology in the era
(Feng 2011). At least
from the following Zhou dynasty (mid-11th century to 256 BC),
astronomical and
astrological activities became wholly controlled by the emperor,
the Son of Heaven
tianzi (), the only one who had the right to maintain an
establishment like thePlatform for Heavenly Communication, or
lingtai (), both an observatory forsky-gazing and a site for the
worship of heaven.
Growing Need for More Exact Study
Since at least the Spring and Autumn period (722481 BC), the
precision of the
calendar has been deemed a key factor concerning the peace and
prosperity of the
country. To maintain a precise calendar became a sign of the
power, capacity, and
legitimacy of a monarch. Up to the Warring States period (481221
BC) and the
Qin dynasty (221206 BC), more sophisticated forms of celestial
divination were
developed and required more precise results from calendrical
astronomy, which
now covered not only the motions of the sun and moon but also
those of the five
major planets.
Important evidence of this new trend comes from the Divination
of the FivePlanets, or Wuxing zhan (Fig. 193.3), a silk book
unearthed in 1973 fromthe tomb of the son of the prefecture chief
of Changsha buried in 168 BC at
Mawangdui, Changsha City, Hunan Province. The book concerns the
astrological
2034 Y. Shi
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meaning of the phenomena of the five naked-eye planets,
especially the accompany-
ing lunar lodges of their first heliacal rising as well as the
times of their first heliacal
rising and last heliacal setting, which needed to be calculated
from an exact knowl-
edge of the synodic and sidereal motions of the planets. As an
astronomical basis for
astrology, the book gives not only the synodic and sidereal
cycles of the five planets,
but also tables detailing the accompanying lunar lodges of the
first heliacal risings
of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars from 246 BC to 177 BC, as well as
their motions in 246
BC, the first year of the founding emperor of the Qin dynasty
(Liu 1974). These
contents testify the existence, and are the results, of the need
for more precise
observation, documentation, and study of the motions of the
celestial bodies.
Other evidence includes the emergence and popularization of a
type of divina-
tion involving the use of the cosmic board shi (), for which
more exact data aboutthe calendar and the motion of the celestial
bodies were necessary (Ho 2003). The
Cosmic Board for Six Ren Divination (Fig. 193.4) and the Cosmic
Board for Grand
Monad and Nine Lodges Divination (Fig. 193.5) unearthed in 1977
from the tomb
of Xiahou Zao () (?165 BC), in Fuyang City, Anhui Province, are
theoldest examples of the instruments used in this type of
divination. The inscriptions
on the two boards range from an image of Ursa Major to the names
of the 28 lunar
lodges, 12 months, 12 earthly braches, and eight of the 24 solar
terms, which are
indications of the need for an exact form of calendar and
astronomy (Yin 1978; Yan
1978; Harper 19781979; Cullen 19801981).
Fig. 193.3 The silk bookDivination of the Five Planets
193 Ancient Chinese Astronomy - An Overview 2035
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Fig. 193.4 A drawing of thecosmic board for six Ren
divination
Fig. 193.5 A drawing of thecosmic board for Grand
Monad and nine lodges
2036 Y. Shi
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The new trend also coincided with the emergence of the first
star catalogs in
China, believed to be compiled by Shi Shen () and Gan De () of
the
Warring State period, which provided a quantitative reference
framework for more
exact observation and the study of celestial phenomena (Ho
1985).
New Inventions in Instrumentation
Amore exact instrument is a key step to more exact astronomy.
The most important
instruments for this purpose in ancient China are the gnomon
with template guibiao() and the armillary sphere hunyi ().
Although the use of the gnomon can be traced back to the Shang
dynasty, the
combination of a gnomon with a fixed template occurred much
later. The oldest
example comes again from the tomb of Xia Houzao. It is a
foldable object originally
named by the archaeologists as the Lacquerwork Object of Unknown
name
(Fig. 193.6), for nobody has been able to identify it.
Paleographical study indicates
that the inverted T-shaped symbols on the object (Fig. 193.7)
may represent a toolfor the observation of the shadow of the sun.
Computational analysis shows that,
while placed in the meridian plan at Fuyang, the fief territory
of the Marquis of
Ruyin, the device could be used to mark the position of the
shadow cast by the erect
tablet at noon on the solstices and equinoxes (Shi et al. 2012).
In other words, the
object is a foldable gnomon with template. A later example of
this device is the
foldable gnomon unearthed in 1965 from a tomb of the Eastern Han
dynasty located
in Yizhen City, Jiangsu province (Fig. 193.8) (Nanjing Museum
1977; Che et al.
1988), which turns out to be a one-tenth-scale model of the
standard gnomon with
template used on the official observatory of the dynasty in Luo
Yang. The main
Fig. 193.6 A drawing andreconstruction of the
Lacquerwork object of
unknown name
193 Ancient Chinese Astronomy - An Overview 2037
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Fig. 193.7 The componentswith the inversed T-shaped
symbols
Fig. 193.8 The foldablegnomon from the tomb of the
Eastern Han dynasty
2038 Y. Shi
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function of the instrument is the measurement of the length of
the tropical year and
different seasons (see Chap. 202, Dengfeng Large Gnomon).The
Chinese armillary sphere is said to have been invented in about 104
BC
during the first major calendar reform of theWestern Han dynasty
(seeChap. 204,Chinese Armillary Spheres), but such an instrument
cannot be invented overnight.
Consequently, historians of Chinese astronomy have been
wondering about its pre-
history. Some of them have suggested that the circular
instrument, yuanyi,mentioned in the astronomical literature of the
Western Han dynasty, might have
been its direct ancestor (Cullen 19801981; Liu 1983).
A key clue comes from the disk with 28 lunar lodges (Fig.
193.9), again an
object from the tomb of Xiahou Zao. Its upper disk has been
divided around its
circumference into 365 du, the ancient Chinese division of the
celestial circle. Thelower disk bears the names of the 28 lunar
lodges in anticlockwise sequence, and
the number of du actually occupied by each lodge is marked below
its name.Experts suggest that the disk could be the circular
instrument (Yan 1978; Cullen
19801981; Liu 1984), another type of cosmic board for
astrological purposes
(Harper 19781979 and Harper 19801981), or even an astronomical
ready-
reckoner for practicing astrologers (Cullen 19801981), but none
of these sugges-
tions is supported by sound evidence.
A recent study shows that a lacquer work case unearthed together
with the disk
and described in the first report of the excavation (Wang 1978)
is actually a support
for the disk (Fig. 193.10) that can hold the disk in the local
equatorial plane at
Fig. 193.9 A drawing of thedisk with twenty-eight lunar
lodges
193 Ancient Chinese Astronomy - An Overview 2039
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Fuyang (Fig. 193.11). Plugging a long pointer vertically into
the hole in the middle
of the disk, it is possible to measure the right ascension of
any celestial body visible
from the place (Shi et al. 2012). Therefore, such a device might
be really the
circular instrument, the direct ancestor of the Chinese
armillary sphere.
Fig. 193.10 A drawing of the Lacquer Work Case
Fig. 193.11 Areconstruction of the function
of the disk with twenty-eight
lunar lodges
2040 Y. Shi
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Conclusion: The Formation of a Paradigm
All these new developments paved the way for the calendar reform
in 104 BC, which
led to the birth of the Grand Commencement System of Calendrical
Astronomy, or
Taichu li (). The system covers nearly all themajor subjects of
ancient Chinesecalendrical astronomy, and themotions of the sun,
themoon, and the fivemajor planets
are reduced to quantitative cycles or tables, which form the
basis for the arithmetic
calculation of their future movements and positions (Sivin
1969). This system formed
a paradigm for the later development of calendrical astronomy
inChina. Togetherwith
ever-changing socio-political interests, the consistent pursuit
of higher precision
remained a powerful driving force behind the development of
ancient Chinese calen-
drical astronomy, leading to a long series of inventions and
discoveries in astronomical
observation, instrumentation, theorization, and calculation,
which reached its summit
in the Yuan dynasty (12711368).
Cross-References
Chinese Armillary SpheresDengfeng Large GnomonTaosi
Observatory
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193 Ancient Chinese Astronomy - An OverviewIntroductionOrigin
and Early DevelopmentGrowing Need for More Exact StudyNew
Inventions in InstrumentationConclusion: The Formation of a
ParadigmCross-ReferencesReferences