Chinese astronomy
[2] Joseph Needham has described the ancient Chinese as the most persistent and accurate observers of celestial phenomena anywhere in the world before the Islamic astronomers.
The Chinese developed multiple cosmological models before Western influences changed the field:[5] The divisions of the sky began with the Northern Dipper and the 28 mansions.
Besides the 28 lunar mansions, most constellations are based on the works of Shi Shen-fu and Gan De, who were astrologists during the period of the Warring States (481–221 BCE) in China.
In his Shiji, the Western Han era historian Sima Qian (145–86 BCE) provided a star catalogue that includes 90 constellations.
In the fourth century BCE, the two Chinese astronomers responsible for the earliest information going into the star catalogues were Shi Shen and Gan De of the Warring States period.
[16] The Chinese classic text Star Manual of Master Wu Xian (巫咸星經) and its authorship is still in dispute, because it mentioned names of twelve countries that did not exist in the Shang dynasty, the era in which it was supposed to have been written.
In the subsequent period of the Three Kingdoms (220–280 CE), Chen Zhuo (陳卓) combined the work of his predecessors, forming another star catalogue.
The light pouring forth from the sun (tang jih chih chhung kuang) does not always reach the moon, owing to the obstruction (pi) of the earth itself—this is called 'an-hsü', a lunar eclipse.
When (a similar effect) happens with a planet (we call it) an occultation (hsing wei); when the moon passes across (kuo) (the sun's path) then there is a solar eclipse (shih).
[24] During the Western Han dynasty (202 BCE–9 CE), additional developments made by the astronomers Luoxia Hong (落下閎), Xianyu Wangren (鮮于妄人) , and Geng Shouchang (耿壽昌) advanced the use of the armillary in its early stage of evolution.
Zhang was well-known for his brilliant applications of mechanical gears, as this was one of his most impressive inventions (alongside his seismograph to detect the cardinal direction of earthquakes that struck hundreds of miles away).
The polymath Chinese scientist Shen Kuo (1031–1095 CE) was not only the first in history to describe the magnetic-needle compass, but also made a more accurate measurement of the distance between the pole star and true north that could be used for navigation.
[26] Islamic influence on Chinese astronomy was first recorded during the Song dynasty, when a Hui Muslim astronomer named Ma Yize introduced the concept of 7 days in a week and made other contributions.
[27] Islamic astronomers were brought to China in order to work on calendar-making and astronomy during the Mongol Empire and the succeeding Yuan dynasty.
[28] Several Chinese astronomers worked at the Maragheh observatory, founded by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi in 1259 under the patronage of Hulagu Khan in Persia.
[33] While formulating the Shoushili calendar in 1281, Shoujing's work in spherical trigonometry may have also been partially influenced by Islamic mathematics, which was largely accepted at Kublai's court.
[34] These possible influences include a pseudo-geometrical method for converting between equatorial and ecliptic coordinates, the systematic use of decimals in the underlying parameters, and the application of cubic interpolation in the calculation of the irregularity in the planetary motions.
[33] Emperor Taizu (r. 1368–1398) of the Ming dynasty (1328–1398), in the first year of his reign (1368), conscripted Han and non-Han astrology specialists from the astronomical institutions in Beijing of the former Mongolian Yuan to Nanjing to become officials of the newly established national observatory.
In order to enhance accuracy in methods of observation and computation, Emperor Taizu reinforced the adoption of parallel calendar systems, the Han and the Hui.
The translation of two important works into Chinese was completed in 1383: Zij (1366) and al-Madkhal fi Sina'at Ahkam al-Nujum, Introduction to Astrology (1004).
The telescope was first mentioned in Chinese writing by Manuel Dias the Younger (Yang Manuo), who wrote his Tian Wen Lüe in 1615.
[37] In 1626, Johann Adam Schall von Bell (Tang Ruowang) published the Chinese treatise on the telescope known as the Yuan Jing Shuo (The Far-Seeing Optic Glass).
After the Galileo affair early in the seventeenth century, the Roman Catholic Jesuit order was required to adhere to geocentrism and ignore the heliocentric teachings of Copernicus and his followers, even though they were becoming standard in European astronomy.
[39] Thus, the Jesuits initially shared an Earth-centered and largely pre-Copernican astronomy with their Chinese hosts (i.e., the Ptolemaic-Aristotelian views from Hellenistic times).
[39] Of course, the views of Copernicus, Galileo, and Tycho Brahe would eventually triumph in European science, and these ideas slowly leaked into China despite Jesuit efforts to curb them in the beginning.
In 1627, the Polish Jesuit Michael Boym (Bu Mige) introduced Johannes Kepler's Copernican Rudolphine Tables, with much enthusiasm, to the Ming court at Beijing.
[37] In Adam Schall von Bell's Chinese-written treatise of Western astronomy in 1640, the names of Copernicus (Ge-Bai-Ni), Galileo (Jia-li-lüe), and Tycho Brahe (Di-gu) were formally introduced to China.
[42] In contrast, the Copernican view was not accepted in mainstream China until the early nineteenth century, with the Protestant missionaries such as Joseph Edkins, Alex Wylie, and John Fryer.
[46] As calendar makers and people who understand the heavens, the Bureau also decided what days were auspicious and good for different events such as military parades, marriage, construction, and more.
However, astronomy was considered part of the "small dao", a title used to attempt to discourage Confucian scholars from studying subjects that, while interesting at first, could eventually bog them down.
