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Wu Xian (astronomer)
Wuxian () was a Chinese shaman, or Wu () who practiced divination, prayer, sacrifice, rainmaking, and healing in Chinese traditions dating back over 3,000 years. Wuxian lived in the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC) of China, and served under king Tai Wu. He is considered one of the main ancient Chinese astronomers alongside more historical figures such as Gan De and Shi Shen, the latter two of whom lived during the Warring States (403–221 BC).Peng, Yoke Ho (2000). Li, Qi and Shu: An Introduction to Science and Civilization in China. Courier Dover Publications. He has also been represented as one of the "Three Astronomical Traditions" on the Dunhuang map which was made during the Tang dynasty (618–907). Whitfield, Susan. 004(2004). The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith. British Library Staff. Serindia Publications. . See also * Li Sao * Tai Wu Tai Wu () or Da Wu, personal name Zi Mi (), was a Shang dynasty King of China. In the ''Records of the Grand Hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shang Dynasty
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou dynasty. The classic account of the Shang comes from texts such as the '' Book of Documents'', '' Bamboo Annals'' and '' Records of the Grand Historian''. According to the traditional chronology based on calculations made approximately 2,000 years ago by Liu Xin, the Shang ruled from 1766 to 1122 BC, but according to the chronology based upon the "current text" of ''Bamboo Annals'', they ruled from 1556 to 1046 BC. Comparing the same text with dates of five-planet conjunctions, David Pankenier, supported by David Nivison, proposed dates of the establishment of the dynasty to 1554 BC. The Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project dated the establishment to c. 1600 BC based on the carbon-14 dates of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land, the most of any country in the world, tied with Russia. Covering an area of approximately , it is the world's third largest country by total land area. The country consists of 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macau). The national capital is Beijing, and the most populous city and financial center is Shanghai. Modern Chinese trace their origins to a cradle of civilization in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. The semi-legendary Xia dynasty in the 21st century BCE and the well-attested Shang and Zhou dynasties developed a bureaucratic political system to serve hereditary monarchies, or dyna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tai Wu
Tai Wu () or Da Wu, personal name Zi Mi (), was a Shang dynasty King of China. In the ''Records of the Grand Historian'' he was listed by Sima Qian as the ninth Shang king, succeeding his brother Yong Ji (). He was enthroned with Bo () as his capital. He appointed Yishe () and Chenhu () as his higher officers. In the 7th year of his reign a mulberry tree () and millet () were found growing together in his palace. According to the Records of the Grand Historian'','' surprisingly, they grew to very tall trees within 7 days. This young king was quite scared and turned to Yishe for explanation, which was in regard to the king's former incapable governance. Tai Wu listen to his intelligent ministers and worked diligently; then, those two unusual trees withered very soon after he became a good king. In the 11th year of his reign, he ordered Wu Xian () to pray at Shanchuan (). In the 26th year of his reign, the Queen of West Rong () sent an envoy to Shang, the king later sent Wangme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gan De
Gan De (; fl. 4th century BC), also known as the Lord Gan (Gan Gong), was an ancient Chinese astronomer and astrologer born in the State of Qi. Along with Shi Shen, he is believed to be the first in history known by name to compile a star catalogue, preceded by the anonymous authors of the early Babylonian star catalogues and followed by the Greek Hipparchus who is the first known in the Western tradition of Hellenistic astronomy to have compiled a star catalogue. He also made observations of the planets, particularly Jupiter. His writings are lost, but some of his works' titles and fragments quoted from them are known from later texts. Gan De may have been the first to describe one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter, usually invisible without the aid of telescopes. In the 20th century, a fragment of Gan's work, in a later compilation of astronomical texts, was identified by Xi Zezong as describing a naked-eye observation of either of the two largest and brightest moons, Ganymede ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shi Shen
Shi Shen (, fl. 4th century BC) was a Chinese astronomer and astrologer. He was a contemporary of Gan De born in the State of Wei, also known as the Shi Shenfu. Observations Shi is credited with positioning the 121 stars found in the preserved texts. Shen also made the earliest surviving deliberate sunspot observation, sometimes erroneously credited to Gan De. He assumed that these spots were eclipses that began at the center of the sun and spread outward. Although he was wrong, he recognised the spots for what they were – solar phenomena. His works included the 8-volume ''The rocks of Space'', the one-volume ''Celestial Map'' and the one-volume ''Star Catalogue of Shi''. The latter two are now believed to be written by his school followers. Most of his works did not survive intact, but a few of his crucial writings were preserved in the ''Treatise on Astrology of the Kaiyuan Era''. Books Shi Shen wrote the ''Astronomy'' (石氏天文, ''Tianwen''), later known as ''Shi's Cla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warring States
The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest that saw the annexation of all other contender states, which ultimately led to the Qin state's victory in 221 BC as the first unified Chinese empire, known as the Qin dynasty. Although different scholars point toward different dates ranging from 481 BC to 403 BC as the true beginning of the Warring States, Sima Qian's choice of 475 BC is the most often cited. The Warring States era also overlaps with the second half of the Eastern Zhou dynasty, though the Chinese sovereign, known as the king of Zhou, ruled merely as a figurehead and served as a backdrop against the machinations of the warring states. The "Warring States Period" derives its name from the ''Record of the Warring States'', a work compiled early in the Han dynasty. Geograph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dunhuang Map
The Dunhuang map or Dunhuang Star map is one of the first known graphical representations of stars from ancient Chinese astronomy, dated to the Tang Dynasty (618–907). Before this map, much of the star information mentioned in historical Chinese texts had been questioned.Whitfield, Susan. 004(2004)''The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith''. British Library Staff. Serindia Publications. . The map provides a graphical verification of the star observations, and are part of a series of pictures on one of the Dunhuang manuscripts. The astronomy behind the map is explained in an educational resource posted on the website of the International Dunhuang Project, where much of the research on the map has been done. The Dunhuang Star map is to date the world's oldest complete preserved star atlas. History Early in 1900s (decade), a walled-up cave containing a cache of manuscripts was discovered by Chinese Taoist Wang Yuan-lu in the Mogao Caves. The scroll with the star cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tang Dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Historians generally regard the Tang as a high point in Chinese civilization, and a Golden age (metaphor), golden age of cosmopolitan culture. Tang territory, acquired through the military campaigns of its early rulers, rivaled that of the Han dynasty. The House of Li, Lǐ family () founded the dynasty, seizing power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire and inaugurating a period of progress and stability in the first half of the dynasty's rule. The dynasty was formally interrupted during 690–705 when Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne, proclaiming the Zhou dynasty (690–705), Wu Zhou dynasty and becoming the only legitimate Chinese empress regnant. The devast ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Susan Whitfield
Susan Whitfield (born 1960) is a British scholar, currently Professor in Silk Road Studies at the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC), University of East Anglia. She previously worked at the British Library in London, England. She specialises in the history and archaeology of the Silk Road but has also written on human rights and censorship in China. Career Whitfield obtained a PhD in historiography from SOAS, University of London in 1995, with a dissertation entitled ''Politics against the Pen'' on the Tang dynasty poet Liu Zongyuan. Whitfield was the first director of the International Dunhuang Project, a position which she held for 24 years, from 1993 until July 2017. In this capacity she was involved in research and cataloguing of Central Asian manuscripts at the British Library and elsewhere. She has a particular interest in censorship and forgeries from Dunhuang. In an interview at the University of Minnesota in 2013, she talks about how ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Li Sao
"''Li Sao''" (; translation: "Encountering Sorrow") is an ancient Chinese poem from the anthology ''Chuci'' traditionally attributed to Qu Yuan. ''Li Sao'' dates from the late 3rd century BCE, during the Chinese Warring States period. Background The poem "Li Sao" is in the ''Chuci'' collection and is traditionally attributed to Qu Yuan of the Kingdom of Chu, who died about 278 BCE. Qu Yuan manifests himself in a poetic character, in the tradition of Classical Chinese poetry, contrasting with the anonymous poetic voices encountered in the ''Shijing'' and the other early poems which exist as preserved in the form of incidental incorporations into various documents of ancient miscellany. The rest of the ''Chuci'' anthology is centered on the "''Li Sao''", the purported biography of its author Qu Yuan. In "''Li Sao''", the poet despairs that he has been plotted against by evil factions at court with his resulting rejection by his lord and then recounts a series of shamanistic s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Chinese Astronomers
Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history covers all continents inhabited by humans in the period 3000 BCAD 500. The three-age system periodizes ancient history into the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age, with recorded history generally considered to begin with the Bronze Age. The start and end of the three ages varies between world regions. In many regions the Bronze Age is generally considered to begin a few centuries prior to 3000 BC, while the end of the Iron Age varies from the early first millennium BC in some regions to the late first millennium AD in others. During the time period of ancient history, the world population was already exponentially increasing due to the Neolithic Revolution, which was in full progress. While in 10,000 BC, the world population stood ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shang Dynasty People
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou dynasty. The classic account of the Shang comes from texts such as the ''Book of Documents'', ''Bamboo Annals'' and ''Records of the Grand Historian''. According to the traditional chronology based on calculations made approximately 2,000 years ago by Liu Xin, the Shang ruled from 1766 to 1122 BC, but according to the chronology based upon the "current text" of ''Bamboo Annals'', they ruled from 1556 to 1046 BC. Comparing the same text with dates of five-planet conjunctions, David Pankenier, supported by David Nivison, proposed dates of the establishment of the dynasty to 1554 BC. The Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project dated the establishment to c. 1600 BC based on the carbon-14 dates of the Erliga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
