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This book is a history of the development of mathematical astronomy in China, from the late third century BCE, to the early 3rd century CE - a period often referred to as 'early imperial China'. It narrates the changes in ways of understanding the movements of the heavens and the heavenly bodies that took place during those four and a half centuries, and tells the stories of the institutions and individuals involved in those changes. It gives clear explanations of
technical practice in observation, instrumentation, and calculation, and the steady accumulation of data over many years - but it centres on the activity of the individual human beings who observed the heavens, recorded what they saw, and made calculations to analyse and eventually make predictions
about the motions of the celestial bodies.
It is these individuals, their observations, their calculations, and the words they left to us that provide the narrative thread that runs through this work.
Throughout the book, the author gives clear translations of original material that allow the reader direct access to what the people in this book said about themselves and what they tried to do.
List of contents
- 1: The astronomical empire
- 2: Li in everyday life: dates and calendars
- 3: The Emperor's Grand Inception, and the defeat of the Grand Clerk
- 4: The Triple Concordance system and Liu Xin's 'Grand Unified Theory'
- 5: The measures and forms of heaven
- 6: Restoration and re-creation in the Eastern Han
- 7: The age of debates
- 8: Liu Hong and the conquest of the moon
- 9: Epilogue
About the author
Christopher Cullen read Engineering Science at Oxford, and later did a PhD in Classical Chinese at SOAS, University of London. He taught in the Department of History at SOAS, and became Deputy Director, then Director, of the Needham Research Institute, Cambridge. He has served as editor of the Science and Civilisation in China series founded by Joseph Needham, and edits the Needham Research Institute monograph series.
Summary
This is a book about the history of astronomy during the foundation of imperial China. As the state believed that signs in the heavens contained vital messages about the way government should be conducted, China maintained a large staff of specialists whose job was to observe, record, and attempt to predict the movements of the heavenly bodies.
Foreword
Outstanding Academic Title 2018 - CHOICE
Additional text
Heavenly Numbers is an enlightening glimpse into Eastern mathematics and astronomy and the reader will finish the book with an appreciation of the depth of the connection between the two fields.
Report
This book is a welcome contribution to the literature on astronomy in early imperial China. Well written for the nonspecialist of history of Chinese science, the book nevertheless provides mathematical details, often in boxes, that set apart Cullen's lively historical narrative from technical aspects of mathematical astronomy in early imperial China. Andrea Bréard, MathSciNet
