Astronomy and Calendar
China has a long history and a lot of traditions. Compared with other countries in the world, it is a typical agricultural country, with a long history of agricultural civilization. And all this, to a great degree, is based on the advanced astronomy and calendar.
Astronomy emerged quite early in ancient China. On some relics from the Neolithic Period there were astronomical signs and symbols. Sima Qin, the great historian of the Western Han Dynasty, writes in his Shi Ji (His topical Records): Emperor Huangdi made observations of stars and worked out a calendar. In the night sky the Chinese were able to view about 3,000 stars. From these 3,000 stars they, similarly to the Greeks, divided the stars into easier groups to allow for easy searching in the sky. The Greeks used about 88 constellations, where as the Chinese used about 283. One interesting thing to note about the Chinese constellations is their focus on the natural as opposed to the supernatural. While the Greeks and Babylonians named their constellations after gods and heroes, the Chinese named theirs after whatever the happened to see.
The Chinese are credited with having many of the first observations of significant events in the sky. All dynasties in ancient China carried a fine tradition or recording in detail the results of astronomical observations. From the Han to the Yuan dynasties 596 solar eclipses were recorded. The record of solar eclipses in china is 300 years earlier than the ancient Babylon record and more than 600years earlier than the first record in Europe. Ancient Chinese observers made detailed records of the eclipses, including the first contact, the maximum phase, and the last contact. The Chinese were the first to record Halley’s Comet. The recording mentions the "broom star" on the handle of Yin.
Ancient Chinese headlong led the world in making calendars. Legends said the Yellow Emperor, or ancestor of the Chinese nation, worked out the first calendar in ancient China. In the Spring and Autumn Period Chinese astronomers were the first in the world to intercalate seven months in 19years to reconcile the differences between the lunar calendar and the solar one. In 104 B.C., Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty, promulgated the Taichu calendar. In the Tang Dynasty (618-907), famous monk Yi Xing compiled the Dayan Calendar, the most comprehensive and thorough calendar in the Chinese history. The almanac consisted of 7 parts, explaining in details how to calculate the new moon, full moon, 24 solar terms, the movement of the sun and the moon, etc. The calendar had great influences as all the later ones were revised according to it before the introduction of western calendar. During the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), Guo Shoujing compiled the Shoushi Calendar. He employed several methods of calculation, including interpolation, spherical trigonometry to solve four main problems in the previous calendars. His calendar had 365.2425 days in a year, which was only 26 seconds different from the time it takes the earth to go around the sun. His achievement was 300 years earlier than the finalization of the modern calendar.
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