| Dewey Class |
510.9 (DDC 23) |
| Title |
Granting the Seasons (EB) : The Chinese Astronomical Reform of 1280, With a Study of its Many Dimensions and a Translation of its Records 授時暦叢考 / / by Nathan Sivin. |
| Author |
Sivin, Nathan |
| Other name(s) |
SpringerLink (Online service) |
| Publication |
New York, NY : Springer New York , 2009. |
| Physical Details |
VI, 664p. 49 illus. : online resource. |
| Series |
Sources and studies in the history of mathematics and physical sciences |
| ISBN |
9780387789569 |
| Summary Note |
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. Sivin, the Westâs leading scholar of the Chinese sciences, not only recreates the project's cultural, political, bureaucratic, and personal dimensions, but translates the extensive treatise and explains every procedure in minimally technical language. The book contains many tables, illustrations, and aids to reference. It is clearly written for anyone who wants to understand the fundamental role of science in Chinese history. There is no comparable study of state science in any other early civilization.: |
| Contents note |
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-granting system, part 1 -- Evaluation of the season-granting system, part 2 -- Canon of the season-granting system, part 1 -- Canon of the season-granting system, part 2 -- 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. |
| System details note |
Online access to this digital book is restricted to subscription institutions through IP address (only for SISSA internal users) |
| Internet Site |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-78956-9 |
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