Classic Book 天文典籍 English - 邝楚嘉 Chujia Kuang

Classic Book 天文典籍｜ English ｜中文｜栏目索引

Overview. The books of traditional Chinese calendrics and uranography — the calendars themselves, the calendrical chapters of the standard histories, the excavated documents, and the transmitted texts. 144 works under seven heads, with dates and compilers — only what you cannot get around when reading the articles on this site. The words themselves are defined in Glossary. For the computation of dates and solar-term instants, see the dataset under Publications. Every entry has its counterpart on the Chinese page.

The last column gives the full text where one could be found: Wikisource for reading online, PDF for a scanned edition on Wikimedia Commons. A work is linked only where a text of the same title was located; nothing is linked on a near match. Where no text exists — many of the calendars in the first group are systems rather than books — a link to a Wikisource search is given instead, and is not a claim that the title is held there.

Books — 书籍

The works behind this line, in seven groups. Dates and compilers are given for finding the works; where the sources disagree on a date, the common reckoning is given and no claim is made for it.

1 · The calendars

Title	中文	Date · compiler	Note	Read / Download
The Six Ancient Calendars	古六历	先秦 · 撰人不详	The collective name for six early calendars — Huangdi, Zhuanxu, Xia, Yin, Zhou and Lu. The texts are lost and survive only in quotations in the Han shu.	search
Zhuanxu Calendar	颛顼历	秦至汉初 · 撰人不详	In use under the Qin and the early Han; its year began with the tenth month.	search
Taichu Calendar	太初历	前 104 年 · 邓平、唐都、落下闳等	Promulgated in 104 BCE; restored the first month as the head of the year, and was the first to carry the full twenty-four solar terms.	search
Santong Calendar	三统历	西汉末（前 7 年起行用）· 刘歆	Compiled on the basis of the Taichu Calendar. The first calendar whose working methods survive in full, in the “Lü-li zhi” of the Han shu.	search
Later Han Quarter-Remainder Calendar	后汉四分历	85 年 · 编䜣、李梵等	Brought back because the Santong Calendar had drifted too far; in use from the Eastern Han into Shu Han.	search
Qianxiang Calendar	乾象历	206 年 · 刘洪	The first to fix the first of the month by the actual conjunction, replacing the mean new moon.	search
Jingchu Calendar	景初历	237 年 · 杨伟	Promulgated under Wei; later used by the two Jin, by Liu Song and by Northern Wei.	search
Sanji Calendar	三纪历	384 年 · 姜岌	Promulgated under the Later Qin. Jiang Ji was the first to locate the sun from a lunar eclipse, a method later calendars used for the sun’s course.	search
Xuanshi Calendar	玄始历	412 年 · 撰人旧题北凉赵氏	Promulgated under Northern Liang and afterwards taken up by Northern Wei.	search
Yuanjia Calendar	元嘉历	445 年 · 何承天	Introduced the method of adjusting the day divisor by strong and weak rates; He Chengtian also argued for correcting the solstitial mansion by observation.	search
Daming Calendar	大明历	成于 5 世纪中叶 · 祖冲之（510 年始颁行）	The first to allow for precession, and changed the intercalation cycle from seven in nineteen years to 144 in 391.	search
Zhengguang Calendar	正光历	北魏正光年间 · 张龙祥、李业兴等	Nine submitted calendars were merged into one, and the year’s phenological entries were formally carried in the almanac.	search
Xinghe Calendar	兴和历	540 年 · 李业兴	In use under the Eastern Wei, also from the hand of Li Yexing and in line with his Zhengguang Calendar.	search
Tianbao Calendar	天保历	550 年 · 宋景业	Promulgated under Northern Qi.	search
Tianhe Calendar	天和历	556 年 · 甄鸾	Promulgated under Northern Zhou.	search
Daxiang Calendar	大象历	579 年 · 冯显	In use in the later Northern Zhou and kept for some years into the Sui.	search
Kaihuang Calendar	开皇历	584 年 · 张宾、刘晖等	Promulgated in the early Sui.	search
Huangji Calendar	皇极历	隋 · 刘焯	Proposed equal-interval quadratic interpolation for the sun’s and moon’s motion; never promulgated.	search
Daye Calendar	大业历	608 年 · 张胄玄	In use under the Sui, contemporary with the Huangji Calendar and differing from it.	search
Wuyin Calendar	戊寅元历	619 年 · 傅仁均	The first calendar promulgated throughout the empire in the early Tang.	search
Linde Calendar	麟德历	665 年 · 李淳风	Adopted the true new moon and abolished the fixed intercalation cycle; one of the longer-lived Tang calendars.	search
Dayan Calendar	大衍历	729 年 · 一行	Compiled after the observations Yi Xing directed; the most celebrated calendar of the Tang.	search
Wuji Calendar	五纪历	762 年 · 郭献之	In use under the Tang, derived from the Dayan Calendar with small changes.	search
Zhengyuan Calendar	正元历	785 年 · 徐承嗣	In use under the Tang; also known as the Zhenyuan Calendar.	search
Xuanming Calendar	宣明历	822 年 · 徐昂	In use in the later Tang and carried to Japan.	search
Chongxuan Calendar	崇玄历	893 年 · 边冈	In use at the end of the Tang. It already used the names of years and months in fixed values, which had to be divided by a common divisor to give days.	search
Futian Calendar	符天历	唐 · 曹士蒍	A calendar used among the people. It dropped the grand epoch for a nearby one — a forerunner of the simplified calendars of later ages.	search
Jiuzhi Calendar	九执历	唐 · 瞿昙悉达译	An Indian calendar, preserved in full in the Kaiyuan Zhanjing — material evidence of exchange between calendars.	search
Qintian Calendar	钦天历	956 年 · 王朴	Promulgated under the Later Zhou.	search
Yingtian Calendar	应天历	963 年 · 王处讷	The calendar with which the Northern Song began.	search
Qianyuan Calendar	乾元历	981 年 · 吴昭素	In use under the Northern Song.	search
Yitian Calendar	仪天历	1001 年 · 史序	In use under the Northern Song.	search
Chongtian Calendar	崇天历	1024 年 · 宋行古	One of the longer-lived calendars of the Northern Song.	search
Mingtian Calendar	明天历	1064 年 · 周琮	In use under the Northern Song.	search
Fengyuan Calendar	奉元历	1074 年 · 卫朴	Recommended by Shen Kuo and revised on observation — a reform of the Northern Song grounded in measurement.	search
Guantian Calendar	观天历	1092 年 · 黄居卿	In use in the later Northern Song.	search
Zhantian Calendar	占天历	1103 年 · 姚舜辅	In use at the end of the Northern Song, abandoned after only a few years.	search
Jiyuan Calendar	纪元历	1106 年 · 姚舜辅	In use in the last years of the Northern Song; its tables for the five planets were comparatively dense.	search
Jin Daming Calendar	金大明历	1127 年 · 杨级	In use under the Jin. It shares a name with Zu Chongzhi’s calendar but is not the same work.	search
Tongyuan Calendar	统元历	1135 年 · 陈德一	In use under the Southern Song.	search
Qiandao Calendar	乾道历	1167 年 · 刘孝荣	In use under the Southern Song.	search
Chunxi Calendar	淳熙历	1177 年 · 刘孝荣	In use under the Southern Song.	search
Reformed Daming Calendar	重修大明历	1180 年 · 赵知微	A revision of the Jin Daming Calendar, in use until the fall of the Jin.	search
Huiyuan Calendar	会元历	1191 年 · 刘孝荣	In use under the Southern Song.	search
Tongtian Calendar	统天历	1199 年 · 杨忠辅	Its tropical year came extremely close to the modern value.	search
Kaixi Calendar	开禧历	1207 年 · 鲍澣之	In use under the Southern Song.	search
Chunyou Calendar	淳祐历	1251 年 · 李德卿	In use in the last years of the Southern Song.	search
Huitian Calendar	会天历	1253 年 · 谭玉	In use in the last years of the Southern Song.	search
Chengtian Calendar	成天历	1271 年 · 陈鼎	The last calendar of the Southern Song.	search
Shoushi Calendar	授时历	1281 年 · 郭守敬、王恂、许衡	Promulgated under the Yuan. Its tropical year of 365.2425 days equals the Gregorian value three centuries before it.	search
Datong Calendar	大统历	1368 年 · 刘基等	Promulgated under the Ming. Its methods are those of the Shoushi Calendar under a new name.	search
Huihui Calendar (Islamic)	回回历	元明 · 回回司天监	Brought in under the Yuan and used alongside the Datong Calendar under the Ming, with a separate Islamic astronomical bureau to keep it.	PDF
Shixian Calendar	时宪历	1645 年 · 汤若望（据《崇祯历书》删定）	Promulgated under the Qing; it entered the terms by their true values and is the direct ancestor of the present lunisolar calendar.	search

2 · The calendrical chapters of the standard histories

Title	中文	Date · compiler	Note	Read / Download
Shiji — “Treatise on the Calendar”; “Treatise on the Celestial Offices”	《史记·历书》《史记·天官书》	约前 91 年 · 司马迁	The beginning of dedicated calendrical and astronomical chapters in the dynastic histories.	Wikisource PDF
Han shu — “Treatise on Pitch Pipes and the Calendar”	《汉书·律历志》	约 82 年 · 班固	Preserves the working methods of the Santong Calendar, the first source for studying the Taichu and Santong calendars.	search
Hou Han shu — calendrical treatise	《后汉书·律历志》	3 世纪 · 司马彪	Records the Eastern Han debates on reform and the framing of the Quarter-Remainder Calendar.	search
Jin shu — astronomical and calendrical treatises	《晋书·天文志》《律历志》	648 年 · 房玄龄等	Carries the Qianxiang and Jingchu calendars, and the arguments of Jiang Ji, He Chengtian and others.	Wikisource PDF
Song shu — calendrical treatise	《宋书·历志》	488 年 · 沈约	Carries the Yuanjia and Daming calendars in full; Zu Chongzhi’s precession argument survives through it.	PDF
Nan Qi shu — astronomical treatise	《南齐书·天文志》	6 世纪初 · 萧子显	Records the sky and its portents under the Southern Qi, with the calendar’s history alongside.	search
Wei shu — treatises on celestial phenomena and on the calendar	《魏书·天象志》《律历志》	554 年 · 魏收	Records how the Zhengguang Calendar was revised.	Wikisource PDF
Sui shu — calendrical and astronomical treatises	《隋书·律历志》《天文志》	656 年 · 魏征等	Records the Sui reforms and the making of instruments, and preserves parts of the Northern and Southern Dynasties calendars.	search
Jiu Tang shu — calendrical treatise	《旧唐书·历志》	945 年 · 刘昫等	Records the succession of Tang calendars.	Wikisource PDF
Xin Tang shu — calendrical treatise	《新唐书·历志》	1060 年 · 欧阳修、宋祁	Carries the Dayan Calendar in full, with the history of the other Tang calendars.	Wikisource
Jiu Wudai shi — calendrical treatise	《旧五代史·历志》	974 年 · 薛居正等	Records the Qintian Calendar and others used in the Five Dynasties.	Wikisource
Xin Wudai shi — “Inquiry into the Astronomy Bureau”	《新五代史·司天考》	1053 年 · 欧阳修	Titled an inquiry into the astronomy bureau rather than a calendrical treatise — a genre of its own.	Wikisource PDF
Song shi — calendrical and astronomical treatises	《宋史·律历志》《天文志》	1345 年 · 脱脱等	Seventeen chapters on the calendar — the fullest calendrical record in any dynastic history.	Wikisource PDF
Liao shi — treatise on the calendar and its signs	《辽史·历象志》	1344 年 · 脱脱等	Records the calendar used under the Liao, with the sky alongside.	search
Jin shi — calendrical treatise	《金史·历志》	1344 年 · 脱脱等	Carries the Jin Daming Calendar and its later revision.	Wikisource
Yuan shi — calendrical treatise	《元史·历志》	1370 年 · 宋濂等	Carries the working methods of the Shoushi Calendar — the first source for Guo Shoujing’s work.	Wikisource
Ming shi — calendrical treatise	《明史·历志》	1739 年 · 张廷玉等	Records the Datong Calendar and the late Ming debates on reform, including the arrival of Western methods.	Wikisource
Qing shi gao — treatise on the calendrical ordinances	《清史稿·时宪志》	1928 年 · 赵尔巽等	Records the Shixian Calendar and the line of works descending from the Lixiang Kaocheng.	Wikisource PDF

3 · Excavated documents and objects

Title	中文	Date · compiler	Note	Read / Download
The oracle-bone inscriptions of Yinxu	殷墟甲骨卜辞	商代后期	They carry an unbroken stem-branch day-count — the earliest material witness to the reckoning.	search
Lunar-phase terms in Western Zhou bronze inscriptions	西周金文月相	西周	Bronze inscriptions date by four terms for the moon’s phases. Which days each covers is still not agreed.	search
The lacquered chest from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng (E.66)	曾侯乙墓漆木箱（E.66）	约前 433 年	Excavated in 1978 at Suixian (now Suizhou), Hubei. The inscription on the lid gives some of the twenty-eight mansion names.	search
The Chu silk manuscript from Changsha	长沙楚帛书	战国	Found at Changsha in the early 1940s. Its text gives the prescriptions for the twelve months, with one of the earliest known divination diagrams around it.	search
The Day Book from the Chu tomb at Jiangling Jiudian	江陵九店楚简《日书》	战国	The earliest day-selection text yet found, for choosing auspicious times.	search
The Day Book from the Shuihudi Qin tomb	睡虎地秦简《日书》	约前 217 年	It records day-selection and the prescriptions of the hours, and shows the time-scale of everyday Qin life.	search
The Day Book from the Qin tomb at Fangmatan	放马滩秦简《日书》	战国末至秦	Excavated in 1986 at Fangmatan, Tianshui, Gansu; it holds both calendar days and day-selection text.	search
The calendrical tables from the Qin tomb at Zhoujiatai	周家台秦简历谱	秦	Tables for four Qin years, giving either the whole year’s stem-branch days or each month’s first day.	search
The multiplication-table tablet from Liye, Qin	里耶秦简乘法口诀木牍	秦	Found at Liye in western Hunan — the earliest multiplication table on an object yet found.	search
The Tsinghua bamboo manuscript “Five Norms”	清华简《五纪》	战国（约前 300 年）	Some 4,500 characters: the first complete picture of calendrical reckoning joined to cosmology in the pre-Qin. Its variant mansion names and order show several star systems coexisting.	search
The Tsinghua bamboo manuscript “Four Seasons”	清华简《四时》	战国	A solar calendar of thirty-day months and 360-day years, the year in thirty-seven periods, each with its stars and its weather signs.	search
The Tsinghua bamboo manuscript “Directing the Year”	清华简《司岁》	战国	The earliest document recording the twelve counter-Jupiter year-names, to be read against the Erya and the Shiji.	search
The Tsinghua bamboo manuscript “Weighing Conduct”	清华简《行称》	战国	It gives the six weighing days of a month and their outcomes — the first known pre-Qin text on the prescriptions of government within a month.	search
The Peking University bamboo manuscripts “Nodes” and “Book of Rain”	北大汉简《节》《雨书》	西汉	Their year lengths of 360 and 364 days differ from the 365.25 of the quarter-remainder calendar — proof that the lunisolar system was not the only one.	search
The Yinqueshan bamboo manuscript “Thirty Periods”	银雀山汉简《三十时》	西汉	It divides the year into thirty periods with their signs and prescriptions — a working instance of a solar calendar.	search
The Yinqueshan calendar table for the first year of Yuanguang	银雀山汉简《元光元年历谱》	前 134 年	Thirty-two slips joined, from the tenth month to the second ninth, noting the winter and summer solstices, the beginnings of spring and autumn and the fu. The calendar in use was the Zhuanxu.	search
The calendrical tables from the Han tomb at Zhangjiashan	张家山汉简《历谱》	西汉	It gives each month’s first day from 202 to 186 BCE — the earliest practical calendar table of the early Han.	search
The Zhangjiashan bamboo manuscript “Book of Numbers”	张家山汉简《算数书》	西汉	A mathematical work earlier than the Nine Chapters, showing the arithmetic that calendrical reckoning rested on.	search
The Fuyang bamboo manuscripts on the five planets and on astrology	阜阳双古堆汉简《五星》《星占》	西汉	On the motion of the five planets and on divination by them; to be read with the Mawangdui silk manuscript.	search
The round table of the twenty-eight mansions from Fuyang	阜阳西汉二十八宿圆盘	西汉	Excavated in 1977 from a Western Han marquis’s tomb at Fuyang, Anhui. Two discs turn on each other, marked with the mansions’ extents — the earliest such instrument yet found.	search
The silk manuscript “Divination by the Five Planets” from Mawangdui	马王堆帛书《五星占》	约前 168 年	It records the planets’ motions and periods; the planetary data of about the third century BCE survive through it.	Wikisource
The silk manuscript “Miscellaneous Prognostications from Astronomy and Weather”	马王堆帛书《天文气象杂占》	约前 168 年	Text and pictures together: clouds, vapours, comets, each with its prognostication. Its thirty comet drawings are the earliest of their kind anywhere.	search
The Day Book from the Han tomb at Kongjiapo	孔家坡汉简《日书》	西汉	Found in 2000 at Kongjiapo, Suizhou, Hubei; it holds a day book and calendar tables, to be read with the Shuihudi and Fangmatan finds.	search
The Hujia Caochang bamboo manuscript “Solstice”	胡家草场汉简《日至》	西汉	Its year is a round number of days, unlike the quarter-remainder calendar — further evidence of several systems side by side.	search
The Dunhuang calendar table for the first year of Dijie	敦煌清水沟汉简《地节元年历谱》	前 69 年	Twenty-seven slips survive, one day to a slip — the earliest and most complete Taichu calendar table known.	search
Dunhuang manuscript P.2512, the “Star Classic of Three Schools”	敦煌写本 P.2512《三家星经》	唐初	It copies the star-officials of the three schools, and witnesses the system Chen Zhuo settled being still in circulation under the Tang.	search

4 · The classics and transmitted texts

Title	中文	Date · compiler	Note	Read / Download
The Book of Documents — “Canon of Yao”	《尚书·尧典》	先秦	It tells of the four brothers sent to the four quarters, fixing the seasons by the four culminating stars — the earliest account of observation and time-giving.	search
The Book of Songs — “Seventh Month”	《诗经·豳风·七月》	先秦	Month by month it sets out the farm work and the signs of the season — the liveliest record of pre-Qin knowledge of the year.	Wikisource
Xia Xiao Zheng	《夏小正》	先秦	Month by month it notes the signs and the farm work — one of the earliest surviving phenological records.	PDF
Yizhou shu — “Explanation of the Seasonal Instructions”	《逸周书·时训解》	先秦至汉	It records all seventy-two periods in name and order — the standard source for the phenological calendar.	Wikisource PDF
The Book of Rites — “Proceedings of Government in the Different Months”	《礼记·月令》	先秦至汉	It sets out month by month the sky, the signs and the acts of government — the summation of the monthly-ordinance tradition.	search
The Rites of Zhou — “Records of Trades”	《周礼·考工记》	先秦至汉	It describes measuring the shadow with the earth-gnomon — the early textual basis for fixing direction and the solstices.	Wikisource PDF
Lüshi Chunqiu	《吕氏春秋》	前 239 年 · 吕不韦等	Its twelve records give the sky, the signs and the government month by month; its “You Shi Lan” divides the sky into nine fields and lists the mansions — the earliest full list of their names.	Wikisource PDF
Huainanzi — “Treatise on Astronomy”	《淮南子·天文训》	前 139 年 · 刘安等	It gives systematically the names of the twenty-four terms and the direction of the Dipper’s handle — one of their earliest complete records.	Wikisource PDF
Erya — “Explaining the Heavens”	《尔雅·释天》	先秦至汉	An explanation of the year-names, month-names, winds, rains and stars; the twelve year-names and the ten stem-names survive through it.	Wikisource
Zhoubi Suanjing	《周髀算经》	西汉	The earliest systematic treatise on astronomy in China: it argues from the right triangle and shadow measurement, and sets out the umbrella-heaven cosmology.	Wikisource PDF
Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art	《九章算术》	约 1 世纪	The first mathematical treatise of ancient China. Its methods for levies and for excess-and-deficit are the arithmetic calendrical reckoning used.	PDF
Taixuan jing	《太玄经》	西汉末 · 扬雄	Modelled on the Book of Changes with eighty-one heads matched to calendar days — an attempt to join calendar and mantic scheme.	Wikisource PDF
Yueling Zhangju	《月令章句》	东汉 · 蔡邕	It explains that ganzhi was originally written “trunk and branches” — the key text on where the word comes from.	search
Huangji Jingshi	《皇极经世》	北宋 · 邵雍	It reckons historical ages by cycles of epochs and revolutions — a scheme of time running beside the calendar, not from it.	Wikisource
Mengxi Bitan	《梦溪笔谈》	约 1090 年 · 沈括	On calendar reform, water clocks and eclipses; Shen Kuo’s proposed twelve-term calendar appears here.	Wikisource PDF
Pingzhou Ketan	《萍洲可谈》	1119 年 · 朱彧	It records the pilots who “watched the stars by night, the sun by day, and the compass when overcast” — and so shows how direction was found before the needle went to sea.	Wikisource

5 · Astrology and star catalogues

Title	中文	Date · compiler	Note	Read / Download
The Gan-Shi Star Classic	《甘石星经》	战国 · 甘德、石申（今本为唐宋人所辑）	The union of Gan De’s and Shi Shen’s works. The coordinates of 121 stars survive through the Kaiyuan Zhanjing — among the oldest star catalogues in the world.	search
Tianwen Daxiang Fu	《天文大象赋》	隋 · 李播撰，唐 · 苗为注	A rhapsody setting out the star-officials across the sky, annotated under the Tang — another recitable guide to the skies besides the Bu Tian Ge.	Wikisource
Yisi Zhan	《乙巳占》	唐 · 李淳风	One of the earlier astrological compendia to survive, with field-allocation, wind-divination and calendrical argument.	Wikisource PDF
Kaiyuan Zhanjing	《开元占经》	729 年 · 瞿昙悉达	A compendium of astronomical and calendrical writings from high antiquity, preserving part of the ancient calendars’ data.	Wikisource
Lingtai Miyuan	《灵台秘苑》	北周 · 庾季才（北宋 · 王安礼等重修）	An astrological compendium of long descent, tidied into better order in its Northern Song revision.	search
Guanxiang Wanzhan	《观象玩占》	唐 · 李淳风（旧题）	It treats the sky and its portents by category, and was much used by popular astrologers in the Ming and Qing.	Wikisource PDF
Bu Tian Ge	《步天歌》	隋 · 丹元子	Verses arranging every star-official in the order of the enclosures and mansions — the frame on which later charts and catalogues were built.	PDF
Qianxiang Tongjian	《乾象通鉴》	南宋	A large gathering of celestial phenomena and astrological writings from earlier ages.	search
Qing Lei Tianwen Fenye zhi Shu	《清类天文分野之书》	明 · 刘基等	Arranged by field-allocation, it matches the stations and mansions to prefectures and counties one by one — the summation of that doctrine.	search

6 · Works on calendrical astronomy and instruments

Title	中文	Date · compiler	Note	Read / Download
Xin Yixiang Fayao	《新仪象法要》	1094—1096 年 · 苏颂	The manual for the water-driven astronomical clock tower: over sixty drawings of the armillary, the globe and the gearing, with star charts that are the earliest complete ones in China.	PDF
Liujing Tianwen Bian	《六经天文编》	宋末 · 王应麟	Passages on astronomy and the calendar gathered from the six classics by category — a handbook on the border of classical learning and astronomy.	Wikisource PDF
Gexiang Xinshu	《革象新书》	元 · 赵友钦	On astronomy and the calendar, with eclipses and instruments; revised in the Ming.	search
Datong Lifa Tonggui	《大统历法通轨》	明 · 元统	The detailed methods and tables of the Ming Datong Calendar — the first source for the Ming calendar.	search
Shengshou Wannian Li	《圣寿万年历》	明 · 朱载堉	Zhu Zaiyu’s own calendar, with a discussion of the fundamental problems of the art — a private calendar beside the official one.	search
Gujin Lüli Kao	《古今律历考》	明 · 邢云路	A study of the history of pitches and calendar, with the reform controversy of the day.	PDF
Chongzhen Lishu	《崇祯历书》	1634 年 · 徐光启、李天经（邓玉函、汤若望等参与）	The great reforming series of the late Ming, in over a hundred chapters. It brought in the earth as a globe, spherical and plane trigonometry, and the ecliptic coordinate system.	Wikisource
Xiyang Xinfa Lishu	《西洋新法历书》	1645 年 · 汤若望删定	The abridged and revised Chongzhen Lishu, on which the Shixian Calendar was promulgated in the early Qing.	search
Tianxue Huitong	《天学会通》	清初 · 薛凤祚	An early Qing attempt to bring Chinese and Western astronomy and mathematics into one account.	search
Lisuan Quanshu	《历算全书》	清 · 梅文鼎	The collected calendrical and mathematical works of Mei Wending, joining Chinese and Western methods — a centre of Qing learning in the field.	search
Zhongxi Jingxing Tongyi Kao	《中西经星同异考》	清 · 梅文鼎	A comparison, entry by entry, of Chinese star-officials with Western constellations — the first work of its kind.	Wikisource PDF
Xiao’an Xinfa	《晓庵新法》	清 · 王锡阐	A calendar of Wang Xichan’s own, taking from both traditions; he was especially strong on eclipses.	PDF
Lixiang Kaocheng	《历象考成》	1722 年 · 康熙敕撰	The official Qing calendar treatise, one of the three parts of the Lüli Yuanyuan.	search
Lixiang Kaocheng Houbian	《历象考成后编》	1742 年 · 乾隆敕撰	Its sequel, which adopted elliptical orbits — another step in the Qing calendar.	search
Shuli Jingyun	《数理精蕴》	1723 年 · 康熙敕撰	The official mathematical compendium of the Qing, containing the arithmetic and algebra calendrical work required.	search
Suanxue	《算学》	清 · 江永	A scholar’s treatise on calendrical mathematics, with much critical correction.	search

7 · Compendia and reference works

Title	中文	Date · compiler	Note	Read / Download
Shoushi Tongkao	《授时通考》	1742 年 · 鄂尔泰等	The official Qing agricultural compendium, arranging farm work and seasonal signs by the calendar — a summation of knowledge of the year.	Wikisource
Lüli Yuanyuan	《律历渊源》	1723 年 · 康熙敕撰	The official Qing series in three parts, on the calendar, on pitch and on mathematics — the authorised body of early Qing calendrical learning.	search
Gujin Tushu Jicheng — “Canon of the Calendar”	《古今图书集成·历法典》	1726 年 · 陈梦雷、蒋廷锡等	The calendrical section of the great encyclopaedia, gathering the sources of many ages — a convenient place to look things up.	Wikisource
Siku Quanshu — the astronomy and mathematics class	《四库全书》天文算法类	1782 年 · 纪昀等	The class of the imperial library devoted to astronomy and mathematics — the authorised list of the old calendrical works.	search
Chouren Zhuan	《畴人传》	1799 年 · 阮元	Biographies of astronomers and calendrical mathematicians through the ages — the profession’s collective record.	PDF
Lidai Changshu Jiyao	《历代长术辑要》	清 · 汪曰桢	It reckons the old calendar days from the calendars themselves — a common tool for checking dates in old books.	search