Astral Sciences in Early Imperial China : Observation, Sagehood and the Individual

Challenging Monolithic Modern Narratives About 'chinese Science', Daniel Patrick Morgan Examines The Astral Sciences In China C.221 Bce-750 Ce As A Study In The Disunities Of Scientific Cultures And The Narratives By Which Ancients And Moderns Alike Have Fought To Instil Them With A Sense Of Unity. The Book Focuses On Four Unifying 'legends' Recounted By Contemporary Subjects: The First Two, Redolent Of Antiquity, Are The 'observing Of Signs' And 'granting Of Seasons' By Ancient Sage Kings; And The Other Two, Redolent Of Modernity, Involve The Pursuit Of 'accuracy' And Historical 'accumulation' To This End. Juxtaposing Legend With The Messy Realities Of Practice, Morgan Reveals How Such Narratives Were Told, Imagined, And Re-imagined In Response To Evolving Tensions. He Argues That, Whether Or Not 'empiricism' And 'progress' Are Real, We Must Consider The Real Effects Of Such Narratives As Believed In And Acted Upon In The History Of Astronomy In China. Introduction -- The World Below -- Observing The Signs -- Granting The Seasons -- Reverent Accordance With Prodigious Heaven -- What The Ancients Had Yet To Learn -- Conclusion. Daniel Patrick Morgan, Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique (cnrs), Paris. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover -- Half-title page -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Conventions -- 1 The World Below -- 1.1 Intellectual Framework -- 1.1.1 Genre -- 1.1.2 Legend -- 1.1.3 Terminology -- 1.2 History of Events -- 1.2.1 A History of Policy -- 1.2.2 A History of Practice -- 1.3 Cast of Characters -- 1.3.1 Institutions -- 1.3.2 Individuals -- 1.3.3 Values -- 1.4 Conclusion -- 2 Observing the Signs -- 2.1 Instrument Repertoire -- 2.1.1 Water Clock -- 2.1.2 Gnomon -- 2.1.3 Diagram -- 2.1.4 Sphere -- 2.2 The Sphere World -- 2.2.1 The Philosophical Sphere -- 2.2.2 The Material Sphere -- 2.2.3 The Applied Sphere -- 2.3 The Ambiguities of 'Observation' -- 2.4 Conclusion -- 3 Granting the Seasons -- 3.1 Calendar Types -- 3.1.1 Day Tables -- 3.1.2 Lunation Tables -- 3.1.3 Sexagenary Rounds -- 3.2 The Ritual and Administrative Apparatus -- 3.2.1 Calendar Distribution -- 3.2.2 State Ritual -- 3.3 Calendar Making -- 3.3.1 Computer -- 3.3.2 Copyist -- 3.3.3 Theoretician -- 3.4 Conclusion -- 4 Reverent Accordance with Prodigious Heaven -- 4.1 Cause for Deliberation -- 4.1.1 Turns of Fortune, 168-196 CE -- 4.1.2 The Case for Reform, 223 CE -- 4.1.3 The Tabling of Reform, 226 CE -- 4.1.4 New Emperor, New Regrets, 227-239 CE -- 4.1.5 Collapse, 239-317 CE -- 4.2 The Oral Argument -- 4.2.1 Transcript -- 4.2.2 What to Believe -- 4.3 Keeping Score -- 4.3.1 Numbers That Speak -- 4.3.2 Masculinity, Missile Sports and Mathematical Precision -- 4.4 Conclusion -- 5 What the Ancients Had Yet to Learn -- 5.1 The Analyst: Looking Forward and Looking Up -- 5.2 The Annalist: Looking Back and Looking Down -- 5.2.1 Instrument-Cosmos, 220-479 CE -- 5.2.2 Li Numbers, 220-479 CE -- 5.2.3 The Mirror of History -- 5.3 The Ascetic: The Siddhis of Science and the Awakening of Man An innovative history of astronomy in China, 221 BCE-750 CE, stressing plurality, change and the unifying power of myth-making.