Granting the seasons: the chinese astronomical reform of 1280, with a study of its many dimensions and an annotated translation of its records

China’s most sophisticated system of computational astronomy was created for a Mongol emperor who could neither read nor write Chinese, to celebrate victory over China after forty years of devastating war. This book explains how and why, and reconstructs the observatory and the science that made it possible. For two thousand years, a fundamental ritual of government was the emperor’s ‘granting the seasons’ to his people at the New Year by issuing an almanac containing an accurate lunisolar calendar. The high point of this tradition was the‘Season-granting system’ (Shou-shih li, 1280). Its treatise records detailed instructions for computing eclipses of the sun and moon and motions of the planets, based on a rich archive of observations, some ancient and some new. Introductory chapters provide a very accessible overview of the history of Chineseastronomy Provides a detailed commentary along with a complete translation Nathan Sivin is the West’s leading scholar of Chinese science, and this book is the result of 30 years of research INDICE: Preface.- Introduction.- Astonomical reform and occupation politics.- Orientation.- The Project: origins and process.- The Astronomers.- The Observatory and its instruments.- The Records.- Evaluation of the season-grantingsystem, part 1.- Evaluation of the season-granting system, part 2.- Canon of the season-granting system, part 1.- Canon of the season-granting system, part2.- Conclusion.- Appendix a: the instruments of kuo shou-ching.- Appendix b: the account of conduct of kuo shou-ching.- Appendix c: technical terms.- Acknowledgments.- Bibliography.- Index-glossary.

• ISBN: 978-0-387-78955-2
• Editorial: Springer
• Encuadernacion: Cartoné
• Páginas: 664
• Fecha Publicación: 01/12/2008
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés