Lisuan Quanshu

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Overview

Key data

The author and his standing

Mei Wending wrote abundantly and commanded both Chinese and Western calendrical mathematics.

The Lisuan Quanshu gathers his calendrical and mathematical works, the synthesis of the field in the early Qing.

The Kangxi emperor received him, and his learning was held in esteem.

Its divisions

The work is arranged by subject: on the calendar, on mathematics,

on geometry and trigonometry, and on measurement.

It draws on both Chinese and Western learning, and is usually able to explain their meanings and distinguish their differences.

The claim of reconciling China and the West

Mei Wending held that Chinese and Western learning each had its strengths and should be reconciled rather than either neglected.

He also held that “Western learning has its source in China,” believing the essentials of Western method to derive from ancient Chinese methods.

The claim was influential in the early Qing; seen today, its forced comparisons must also be recognized.

Value

The Lisuan Quanshu is the summary of early Qing calendrical mathematics.

For the scholarly face of Qing calendrical mathematics it is a necessary door.

Full text

Simplified Chinese (TXT)　｜　Traditional Chinese (TXT)

The reader shows the text section by section, with the original tables preserved; the first few lines give source and licence. If scripts are disabled, use the TXT links above.

The title, date, summary and index structure compiled here are offered under CC BY 4.0 (attribution: Chujia Kuang · kuangchujia.com).
The full electronic text (about 667,978 characters) is taken from the Kanseki Repository text of 歷算全書; that part is offered under CC BY-SA 4.0 (attribution — share alike); source: github.com/kanripo/KR3f0026.
The electronic text has not been collated by us; please check the original before citing.

Compiled and arranged by Chujia Kuang.