Overview
Key data
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Author | Cai Yong (133–192) |
| Completed | Late Eastern Han |
| Nature | A chapter-and-verse commentary on the “Monthly Ordinances” |
| Core content | Explaining the stars, signs, orders and terms of the “Monthly Ordinances” |
The nature of the work
“Chapter and verse” was a Han form of expounding a classic: dividing it into chapters, parsing it into sentences, and explaining sentence by sentence.
Cai Yong’s work is a chapter-and-verse commentary on the “Monthly Ordinances,” explaining it in detail month by month and sentence by sentence.
⚠ Note that the Yueling Zhangju is a commentary, not the “Monthly Ordinances” itself; the two must not be treated as one.
What it explains
Cai Yong explains in detail the stars recorded in the “Monthly Ordinances” (the sun in such a mansion, the culminating stars at dusk and dawn) and its seasonal signs,
citing the astronomy and calendrics of his day in support.
The work also contains discussions of the calendar, material for studying Eastern Han calendrics and its relation to classical learning.
Value
The study of the “Monthly Ordinances” flourished in the Han, and Cai Yong’s commentary is its representative.
Though the work is lost, its outlines survive in quotations in the encyclopaedias and old commentaries,
making it an important basis for reading the “Monthly Ordinances” and for the calendrics of the Han.
Compiled and arranged by Chujia Kuang.