["It Was Ta-Nao, Minister To The
Emperor Hwang-Ti, Who, By Command Of His Sovereign, Devised The Sexagenary
Cycle.
Hwang-ti began to reign 2697 B.C., and the 61st year of his reign
was taken for the first cyclical sign." P. Hoang, Chinese Calendar; p.
11.
- H. C.] The characters representing what we have called the ten
coefficient epithets are called by the Chinese the "Heavenly Stems"; those
equivalent to the twelve animal symbols are the "Earthly Branches," and
they are applied in their combinations not to years only, but to cycles of
months, days, and hours, such hours being equal to two of ours. Thus every
year, month, day, and hour will have two appropriate characters, and the
four pairs belonging to the time of any man's birth constitute what the
Chinese call the "Eight Characters" of his age, to which constant
reference is made in some of their systems of fortune-telling, and in the
selection of propitious days for the transaction of business. To this
system the text alludes. A curious account of the principles of
prognostication on such a basis will be found in Doolittle's Social Life
of the Chinese (p. 579 seqq.; on the Calendar, see Schmidt's Preface to
S. Setzen; Pallas, Sammlungen, II. 228 seqq.; Prinsep's Essays,
Useful Tables, 146.)
["Kubilai Khan established in Peking two astronomical boards and two
observatories. One of them was a Chinese Observatory (sze t'ien t'ai),
the other a Mohammedan Observatory (hui hui sze t'ien t'ai), each with
its particular astronomical and chronological systems, its particular
astrology and instruments. The first astronomical and calendar system was
compiled for the Mongols by Ye-liu Ch'u-ts'ai, who was in Chingis Khan's
service, not only as a high counsellor, but also as an astronomer and
astrologer. After having been convinced of the obsoleteness and
incorrectness of the astronomical calculations in the Ta ming li (the
name of the calendar system of the Kin Dynasty), he thought out at the
time he was at Samarcand a new system, valid not only for China, but also
for the countries conquered by the Mongols in Western Asia, and named it
in memory of Chingis Khan's expedition Si ching keng wu yuean li, i.e.,
'Astronomical Calendar beginning with the year Keng wu, compiled during
the war in the west.' Keng-wu was the year 1210 of our era.
Ye-liu Ch'u-ts'ai chose this year, and the moment of the winter solstice,
for the beginning of his period; because, according to his calculations, it
coincided with the beginning of a new astronomical or planetary period. He
took also into consideration, that since the year 1211 Chingis Khan's glory
had spread over the whole world. Ye-liu Ch'u-ts'ai's calendar was not
adopted in China, but the system of it is explained in the Yuen-shi, in
the section on Astronomy and the Calendar.
"In the year 1267, the Mohammedans presented to Kubilai their astronomical
calendar (wan nien li, i.e.), the calendar of ten thousand years. By
taking this denomination in its literal sense, we may conclude that the
Mahommedans brought to China the ancient Persian system, founded on the
period of 10,000 years. The compilers of the Yuen-shi seem not to have
had access to documents relating to this system, for they give no details
about it. Finally by order of Kubilai the astronomers Hui-Heng and Ko
Show-King composed a new calculation under the name of Shou-shi-li
which came into use from the year 1280. It is thoroughly explained in the
Yuen-shi. Notwithstanding the fame this system generally enjoyed, its
blemishes came soon to light. In the sixth month of 1302 an eclipse of the
sun happened, and the calculation of the astronomer proved to be erroneous
(it seems the calculation had anticipated the real time). The astronomers
of the Ming Dynasty explained the errors in the Shou-shi-li by the
circumstance, that in that calculation the period for one degree of
precession of the equinox was taken too long (eighty-one years). But they
were themselves hardly able to overcome these difficulties." (Palladius,
pp. 51-53.) - H. C.]
[1] Besides the works quoted in the text I have only been able to consult
Gaubil's notices, as abstracted in Lalande; and the Introductory
Remarks to Mr. J. Williams's Observations of Comets ... extracted
from the Chinese Annals, London, 1871.
[2] Pinnula. The French pinnule is properly a sight-vane at the end of
a traversing bar. The transverse lines imply that minutes were read
by the system of our diagonal scales; and these I understand to have
been subdivided still further by aid of a divided edge attached to the
sight-vane; qu. a Vernier?
[3] Verbiest himself speaks of the displaced instruments thus ... "ut nova
instrumenta astronomica facienda mihi imponeret, quae scilicet more
Europaeo affabre facta, et in specula Astroptica Pekinensi collocata,
aeternam Imperii Tartarici memoriam apud posteritatem servarent,
prioribus instrumentis Sinicis rudioris Minervae, quae jam a
trecentis proxime annis speculam occupabant, inde amotis.
Imperator statim annuit illorum postulatis. et totius rei curam,
publico diplomate mihi imposuit. Ego itaque intra quadriennis spatium
sex diversi generis instrumenta confeci." This is from an account of
the Observatory written by Verbiest himself, and printed at Peking in
1668 (Liber Organicus Astronomiae Europaeae apud Sinas Restitutae,
etc.). My friend Mr. D. Hanbury made the extract from a copy of this
rare book in the London Institution Library. An enlarged edition was
published in Europe. (Dillingen, 1687.)
[4] On the contrary, he considered the photographs interesting, as showing
to how late a period the art of fine casting had endured.
[5] This ancient instrument is probably the same that is engraved in
Pauthier's Chine Ancienne under the title of "The Sphere of the
Emperor Shun" (B.C. 2255!).
[6] After the death of Kublai astronomy fell into neglect, and when
Hongwu, the first Ming sovereign, took the throne (1368) the subject
was almost forgotten. Nor was there any revival till the time of
Ching.
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