The History of Astronomy and Its Achievements in China

China is the one of the earliest country that develops astronomy all over the world. The astronomy achievements of China are marvelous and get the attentions of other countries. The origin of Chinese astronomy begins in primitive society and constructs a complete system of the calendar and astronomical observations in Qin and Han dynasty. When China entered the period of Three Kingdoms and Five Dynasties, Chinese astronomy develops prosperously. However, after the merge with Western astronomy in Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty and also the influence of the opium war, the decadent federal system severely impeded the further progress of the astronomy in China. The unstable political environment lasted for a long time until the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The new China gave the development of Chinese astronomy great impetus. The successful projection of Red East 1 marked China enter into a brand new stage of the astronomy development. And series of the Divine and Land spacecrafts presented the world the highly-speed of astronomy development.

This essay will expound the historical development of astronomy and its great achievements in China from six stages, which aims to help people to have a thorough understanding of Chinese astronomy. Through the historical reviews of the astronomical development in China, the essay aims to summarize the progress rules of Chinese astronomy and analyze the factors causing the track of the development of astronomy in China.

First of all, during the 21 B. C. to 16 B. C., Xia Dynasty controlled the whole China. The Xiaozheng Chinese Calender probably represented the calendar knowledge of Xia dynasty, in which it used prominent astronomical observations as marks to represent each month except for February, November, and December (Zhu 356). Besides, in this book, it also depicted the changes of stars, like “Hun Zhong star” and “Dan Zhong star”, as well as the directional alterations of the Big Dipper (Zhu 446).

On the basis of oracle inscriptions of the bones in Shang Dynasty, it showed abundant materials about the lunar calendar. And it could infer that Chinese calculated time using the heavenly stems and earthly branches. The oracle inscriptions also recorded the astronomical events, like solar eclipse and lunar eclipse. The descriptions of solar eclipse also appeared in Book of Songs, where Venus and Galaxy were depicted (Chen 145).

The astronomical development of the ancient Chinese before 770 B.C. just started. However, from Chunqiu period to Qian and Han dynasties, Chinese astronomical system formed. The Spring and Autumn Annals recorded 37 times of solar eclipse, among which 32 times were proved to be credible. Also, it was the first book keeping the record of the Lyrid meteor shower (Zheng 48-90).

Around the middle time of the Spring and Autumn period, Chinese astrologists began to use earth sundial to observe the changes of shallow’s length so as to determine the exact date of the winter solstice and the summer solstice (Zheng 221). During that time, ancient Chinese astrologists designed a method to calculate calendar. They believed that the cycle of Jupiter was 12 years. Therefore, if Zodiac and Equator were divided into 12 parts when Jupiter passed, it was one part or 1 times. As a result, the motion of Jupiter could be used as a mark to record calendar (Zheng 256).

In the book of Zuo Zhuan, it described two times of the winter solstice and the range of these two records was 133 years. During the 133 years, records presented 49 times of leap month, equaling 19 years and seven leap months (Zhu 142). Still, the intervals of two winter solstice were 809 Jia Cycles with 38 days, namely, 48, 578 days, which converted as days per year (Zhu 142). This record showed the calculation of the calendar of the tropical year named “calendar quarter”.

With great social changes of China at that time, it also fostered the development of astronomy. People began to wander the structure of the universe and how the sky and earth were formed. Huai Nan Zi explained the origin and evolution of the heaven and earth and introduced the 24 solar terms (Zhu 230).

When Qin dynasty united the whole China, it issued a unified calendar, Zhuanxu calendar. But the adaptation of the development of the agriculture, craftsman and business, Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty reformed the calendar and created the Tai Chu calendar, which was the first calendar with complete records. In Eastern Han dynasty, China appeared a talented scientist named Zhang Heng. He was famous for the invention of the Hou Feng Seismograph and advocated the theory of canopy heavens and theory of sphere heavens (Zhang 149). Based on Geng Shouchang’s invention of an armillary sphere, Zhang Heng became the ancestor of Chinese water meter tradition.

The astronomy development of China was in a prosperous stage when calendar, instruments and theory of universe had made numerous innovations illustrated by a plenty of scientists. Yang Wei created Jing Chu calendar and discovered the point of the intersection of sun and moon shifted. This founding provided great assistance for calculating the date of solar eclipse and lunar eclipse. Chen Zhuo constructed a system of Chinese constellations on the basis of Shishi, Ganshi, and Wuxian. Jiang Jizao used lunar eclipse to locate the sun and improved the accuracy of astronomical observation. He discovered that the kerma sinus color of sunrise and sunset was the result of the atmosphere on Earth, which was the beginning of the light absorption.

Zhao Zuan broke the frames of 19 years with seven calendrics and proposed to establish 221 leap months so that it could improve the accuracy of the tropical year without reducing the exactness of the synodic months. Zu Zhongchi brought procession into the calendar and separated sidereal year and a tropical year. Moreover, he measured the day of the nodical month as 27.21223, which was very close to the current measurement. Zhang zixin devoted to astronomical observations for 30 years and found that the movement of the sun and other planets were asymmetrical. When the new moon located in the south or north of the Zodiac would have an effect on the appearance of the polar eclipse while the lunar eclipse was not affected by this phenomenon. Another great scientist, Li Chunfeng, created Lin De calendar, where it depended on the observations and calculations to obtain the accurate statistics of the tropical year. Seng Yixing carried the first actual measurement of Meridian all over the world and completed the Da Yan calendar. Liu Zongyuan elaborated the infiniteness of the universe and dialectical relations between Yin and Yang.

The chaotic situation of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms ended by the integration of Song Dynasty. In 1054, the record of supernova became the most valued subject of modern astronomy in China. During this time, there were five times measuring the location of stars. Among them, the fourth observation result was pictured and preserved on the stele.

Thinkers in Song Dynasty discussed the operation and formation of heavenly bodies, such as Zhang Zai and Zhu Xi. Zhang Zai argued that the length change of day and night lied in the up-and–down the atmosphere and the track of sun was the result of the earth that influenced by the left-handed gasses. Zhu Xi, on the other hand, believed the formation of the solar system was similar to the objects in the vortex center by vortex flow.

In Yuan dynasty, many new instruments were created, such as giant Chinese gnomon, abridged armilla, shadow definer, direction-determining board and Ling Nong instrument. Guo Shoujing invented Shou Shi calendar.

With the economic development of Ming Dynasty, Chinese astronomy became to merge with Western astronomy. During this period, the main development of Chinese astronomy entered a low wave. Zheng He used navigation astronomy technology to locate the direction in the long distance of navigation and developed navigation astronomy. The embryotic appearance of capitalism propelled the progress of scientific development in the late of Ming Dynasty.

At that time, European Christian came into China and knew the pursuit of new knowledge in China, so they adopted the means of academic missionary work. Li Madou reported Europe the need and interests of China to astronomical knowledge. Thus, most Christian came into China with the astronomical knowledge. The works introduced the European astronomy knowledge were concerned with the astronomical instruments of Europe, such as astrolabe and telescope. With the help of Western missionaries, Chong Zhen calendar was written. It was different from the previous astronomy system because it adopted the calculating system of space system and geometry, introduced the concepts of earth and longitude and latitude, applied spherical trigonometry, and used the universal unit of measurement which divided a day into 24 hours and 96 quarters (Needham 171-494). During the time of Kang Xi and Qian Long, Qing dynasty carried on two large scale measurements of the longitude and latitude of 630 places in China and constructed a longitude and latitude web of Beijing (Needham 265). These measured initiated an achievement that was the combination of length unit with the arc of one degree and in these measurements, it was the first time to obtain the material that Earth was an oblate spheroid.

In 1543, Copernicus’s De Revolutions marked the beginning of the modern astronomy. Copernicus’s thoughts were brought into China in 1744, which was 200 years later than its appearance. Outlines of Astronomy translated by a Chinese scholar, Li Shanlan, opposed the theories of Copernicus, which was an advance (Needham 278).

The development of astronomy in modern times was entirely different from that in antiquity, and it required accurate instruments and expensive equipment to support the further development of modern astronomy. However, in late imperial China, it did not show any interests to invest on astronomy and push it go ahead. China fell behind of other countries in the world.

After 1911, China started to adopt the universal Gregorian calendar. Imperialist countries took up the land of China and built many astronomy observatories. When the People’s Republic of China was constructed, the astronomic development of China started to a right path.

In 1955, Zhang Juezhe discovered the first asteroid and named it as Zijin Number One. And later, Chinese Academy of Sciences constructed the satellite observation system and built 12 observation stations all over the China. Video magneto heliograph was the unique patent of China, which focused on the observations of a solar magnetic field, the velocity field, and sunburst activities. On the basis of this instrument, China had a series of significant discoveries, such as flare precursor redshift, contravariant chromosphere magnetic field and magnetic fibers, and the alteration of the life of supergranule. Also, the large sky area multi-object fiber spectroscopy telescope was constructed.

All the constructions of infrastructures of astronomy in China paved the way for the development of the aerospace industry. In 1970, the Red East One projected successfully, which marked China had become the fifth country that controlled the technology of satellite projection. Then the projection of Long March 2A and Long Mark 4A carrying Fengyun 1C projected successfully. The achievements of Shen Zhou series made the world pay much attention to China’s aerospace industry.

In 1999, the Divine Land No. 1 entered into the outer space and traveled 21 hours before its landing. Then in 2001, the Divine Land No. 2 projected successfully. This spacecraft was an unmanned spacecraft and its technology corresponded to the manned spacecraft. The Divine Land Three carried the devices that simulated the human metabolism and fake bodies that could provide the significant physiological parameters to simulate quantitatively the breathing and blood circulation system of the real astronauts. The Divine Land Four experienced the projection under the 29 degrees Celsius below zero and completed the all the testified content. This flight completed the observation about the earth, material science and life science experiment and also the observation about the space astronomy and space environment detection. The successful projection of the Divine Land Five represented that China had been the third country behind Russia and America to carry independently on the mission of manned aircraft. And the Divine Land Six carried two astronauts and finished the space experiment with human beings involved. The Divine Land Seven made Chinese astronauts out of the external space possible. The Divine Land Eight realized the dock with the space station at the first time. The eight times projection of the Divine Land series made China famous in the astronomical development.

Apart from the observations about the outer space, China focused on the observations of the moon as well. This astronomical program was made in 2003. It designed the first satellite to detect around the moon, called Chang’ e 1. This satellite aimed to obtain the three dimensional images of the surface of the moon and divided the basic configuration of the moon’s surface, which would provide some beneficial references for the soft landing. Moreover, it targeted at analyzing the concentration of the useful elements and features of the forms of the objects. Furthermore, it would detect the soil characteristics of the moon and measure the thickness of the soil on the surface of the moon. Finally, it would observe the space environment of the moon and record the original data of the solar wind so as to explore the influence of the solar activities on the space environment of the moon. The series of Chang’e satellites would be projected in the next ten years in sequence.

From all the discussions above, it can be deduced that the astronomy development in China develops unevenly. In ancient China, the astronomy made great achievements and advanced the whole world, but in modern times, Chinese astronomy did not make much progress with more accomplishments on the applications of the astronomy. There are several reasons that can explain the uneven development of the astronomy in China.

On one hand, the astronomical development is correlated with the politics. It is obvious that when the feudal system became increasingly corrupt, it also impeded the further evolution of the astronomy, which can be testified by the late period of the Ming and Qing dynasty. At that time, much knowledge concerning astronomy was brought by Western missionaries. And in modern times, the competitions among advanced countries focus on the control of the outer space. Thus, many countries endeavor to develop their aerospace business, with no exception of China.

On the other hand, the astronomical development depends on the current historical times. During ancient China, it was of virtual significance to observe the astrology and concentrated on the calendar because these two things had a direct effect on the agriculture that was the foundation of the ancient economy. However, nowadays, owing to the advanced technologies, Chinese farmers can change the natural condition to plant crops.

All in all, the astronomy development in China is uneven. The ancient Chinese scientists made significant achievements in the aspect of calendar, instruments, and equipment, while the current astronomy development of China focuses on the aerospace business. Politics and different historical backgrounds decide the path of the development of the astronomy in China. Although the unbalanced development of the astronomy in China, China has made great achievements both in ancient times and nowadays.