Overview
Key data
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Completed | 1928 |
| Compilers | Zhao Erxun and others |
| Chapters | Treatises 20–26 |
| Core content | Qing calendar |
The work
The Qing shi gao was compiled under Zhao Erxun in the early Republic, the last of the dynastic histories. Its treatise follows the precedent and is called “on the almanac.”
The treatise
The Qing used the Shixian calendar, which formally adopted the true solar term. The treatise records its framing and the series of revisions in the Lixiang Kaocheng and its sequel.
Chinese and Western methods continued to intermingle in the Qing, in instruments and computation alike, and all is in this treatise.
A closing note
From the Shiji and Han shu to the Qing shi gao, the calendrical treatises of the standard histories run through two thousand years. Each dynasty’s calendar was entered in its history, and so the calendar’s succession has a continuous record — rare in the historiography of any people.
Compiled and arranged by Chujia Kuang.