Download or read book Astronomy and Mathematics in Ancient China written by Christopher Cullen and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1996-04-18 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher Description
Download or read book Astrology and Cosmology in Early China written by David W. Pankenier and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-10-10 with total page 617 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on a vast array of scholarship, this pioneering text illustrates how profoundly astronomical phenomena shaped ancient Chinese civilization.
Download or read book Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy written by Clive L.N. Ruggles and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-08-16 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How human communities interpret what they perceive in the sky is vital in fulfilling humankind’s most basic need to comprehend the universe it inhabits, both from a modern scientific perspective and from countless other cultural standpoints, extending right back to early prehistory. Archaeoastronomy, which is concerned with cultural perceptions and understandings of astronomical phenomena, is a rich cross-disciplinary field. The central aim of “Handbook of Archaeoastronomy” is to provide a reliable source for theory, method, interpretation and best practices that will give a definitive picture of the state of the art research in this field for serious scholars regardless of the discipline(s) in which they are qualified. It will be equally suitable for those already contributing to the field and those interested in entering it. Also included are studies in ethnoastronomy, which is concerned with contemporary practices related to astronomy, particularly among modern indigenous societies. A major part of this MRW is comprised of a set of wide-ranging archaeoastronomical case studies both geographically and through time, stretching right back to Palaeolithic days, and also in terms of the types of human society and nature of their astronomical ideas and practices. However, these are chosen in order to best illuminate broader issues and themes, rather than to attempt, for example, to provide systematic coverage of recent ‘discoveries.’ Thematic articles cover general themes such as cosmologies, calendars, navigation, orientations and alignments, and ancient perceptions of space and time. They also highlight various aspects of the social context of astronomy (its relationship to social power, warfare, etc) and how we interpret astronomical practices within the framework of conceptual approaches. There are also discussions of broad issues such as ethnocentrism, nationalism, and astronomical dating. The “methods and practices” articles cover topics from field methodology and survey procedures to social theory, as well as providing broad definitions and explanations of key concepts. We are also including a number of “disciplinary perspectives” on approaches to archaeoastronomy written by leading figures in the constituent fields. These articles cover material that, generally speaking, would be familiar to graduates in the relevant discipline but, critically, not so to those with different backgrounds.
Download or read book Chinese Astrology And Astronomy An Outside History written by Xiaoyuan Jiang and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2021-01-04 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chinese Astrology and Astronomy: An Outside History discusses the ancient Chinese's needs and reasons for engaging in astronomy. It presents the study on ancient astronomical phenomena and manuals, and analyzes the cosmological views of ancient Chinese. It also expounds the nature and functions of astronomy to ancient Chinese, as well as its difference from the western modern astronomy of today, exploring on new issues in a bold but logical fashion, and offering arguments that challenge even the views of authority.This book stands as a translated version, by Chen Wenan, an associate professor of Ningbo University, of the original Chinese publication Tianxue Waishi by Jiang Xiaoyuan.
Download or read book Granting the Seasons written by Nathan Sivin and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-12-19 with total page 663 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: China’s most sophisticated system of computational astronomy was created for a Mongol emperor who could neither read nor write Chinese, to celebrate victory over China after forty years of devastating war. This book explains how and why, and reconstructs the observatory and the science that made it possible. For two thousand years, a fundamental ritual of government was the emperor’s “granting the seasons” to his people at the New Year by issuing an almanac containing an accurate lunisolar calendar. The high point of this tradition was the “Season-granting system” (Shou-shih li, 1280). Its treatise records detailed instructions for computing eclipses of the sun and moon and motions of the planets, based on a rich archive of observations, some ancient and some new. Sivin, the West’s leading scholar of the Chinese sciences, not only recreates the project’s cultural, political, bureaucratic, and personal dimensions, but translates the extensive treatise and explains every procedure in minimally technical language. The book contains many tables, illustrations, and aids to reference. It is clearly written for anyone who wants to understand the fundamental role of science in Chinese history. There is no comparable study of state science in any other early civilization.
Download or read book The Prehistoric Maritime Frontier of Southeast China written by Chunming Wu and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-10-05 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This open access book presents multidisciplinary research on the cultural history, ethnic connectivity, and oceanic transportation of the ancient Indigenous Bai Yue (百越) in the prehistoric maritime region of southeast China and southeast Asia. In this maritime Frontier of China, historical documents demonstrate the development of the “barbarian” Bai Yue and Island Yi (岛夷) and their cultural interaction with the northern Huaxia (华夏) in early Chinese civilization within the geopolitical order of the “Central State-Four Peripheries Barbarians-Four Seas”. Archaeological typologies of the prehistoric remains reveal a unique cultural tradition dominantly originating from the local Paleolithic age and continuing to early Neolithization across this border region. Further analysis of material culture from the Neolithic to the Early Iron Age proves the stability and resilience of the indigenous cultures even with the migratory expansion of Huaxia and Han (汉) from north to south. Ethnographical investigations of aboriginal heritage highlight their native cultural context, seafaring technology and navigation techniques, and their interaction with Austronesian and other foreign maritime ethnicities. In a word, this manuscript presents a new perspective on the unique cultural landscape of indigenous ethnicities in southeast China with thousands of years’ stable tradition, a remarkable maritime orientation and overseas cultural hybridization in the coastal region of southeast China.
Download or read book East Asian Archaeoastronomy written by Zhenoao Xu and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2000-11-17 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historical astronomical records can play an important role in modern research, especially in the case of ancient Chinese observational data: sunspot and aurora records are important for the study of solar variability; solar and lunar eclipse records for the study of the Earth's rotation; records of Comet Hally for the study of orbital evolution; "guest star" records for the study of supernova remnants; planetary conjunction records for research in astronomical chronology. In the past, Western scientists have not been able to exploit these valuable data fully because the original records were difficult to gather and interpret, and complete English translations have not been available. East-Asian Archaeoastronomy is the first comprehensive translation into English of such historical records for modern research. The book also features an introduction to East Asian astronomy and offers guidance on how to use the records effectively. It will not only be a valuable research tool for astronomers but should also be of great interest to historians of China and Chinese science.
Download or read book Heavenly Numbers written by Christopher Cullen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Lost Discoveries written by Dick Teresi and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-05-11 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *A New York Times Notable Book* Boldly challenging conventional wisdom, acclaimed science writer and Omni magazine cofounder Dick Teresi traces the origins of contemporary science back to their ancient roots in this eye-opening and landmark work. This innovative history proves once and for all that the roots of modern science were established centuries, and in some instances millennia, before the births of Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton. In this enlightening, entertaining, and important book, Teresi describes many discoveries from all over the non-Western world—Sumeria, Babylon, Egypt, India, China, Africa, Arab nations, the Americas, and the Pacific islands—that equaled and often surpassed Greek and European learning in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, cosmology, physics, geology, chemistry, and technology. The first extensive and authoritative multicultural history of science written for a popular audience, Lost Discoveries fills a critical void in our scientific, cultural, and intellectual history and is destined to become a classic in its field.
Download or read book Astronomy Across Cultures written by Helaine Selin and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 678 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Astronomy Across Cultures: A History of Non-Western Astronomy consists of essays dealing with the astronomical knowledge and beliefs of cultures outside the United States and Europe. In addition to articles surveying Islamic, Chinese, Native American, Aboriginal Australian, Polynesian, Egyptian and Tibetan astronomy, among others, the book includes essays on Sky Tales and Why We Tell Them and Astronomy and Prehistory, and Astronomy and Astrology. The essays address the connections between science and culture and relate astronomical practices to the cultures which produced them. Each essay is well illustrated and contains an extensive bibliography. Because the geographic range is global, the book fills a gap in both the history of science and in cultural studies. It should find a place on the bookshelves of advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars, as well as in libraries serving those groups.
Download or read book The Chinese Sky during the Han written by Xiaochun Sun and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-09-13 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A reconstruction of the Chinese sky of two thousand years ago, based on analysis of the first star catalogue in China and other sources. Presented in six well-sized star maps for 100 BC, it is especially important for the history of astronomy. The Han sky, with five times more constellations than Ptolemy knew, reflects diverse human activities. The way in which constellations were grouped discloses a systematic cosmology, uniting universe and the state. The work of the three Han schools is comparable to Ptolemy's Almagest. With three detailed Appendices on the constellations of the three schools, well illustrated to demonstrate the relation between sky and human society, this book is valuable not only for astronomy historians and sinologists, but in general for scholars interested in the ancient cultures of Asia.
Download or read book Picturing Heaven in Early China written by Lillian Lan-ying Tseng and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2011-07-25 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Preliminary Material -- Images and References -- Constructing the Cosmic View -- Engraving Auspicious Omens -- Imagining Celestial Journeys -- Highlighting Celestial Markers -- Mapping Celestial Bodies -- Visibility and Visuality -- Illustration Credits -- Endnotes -- Works Cited -- Index -- Harvard East Asian Monographs.
Download or read book Astronomy in the Ancient World written by Alexus McLeod and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-06-17 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alexus McLeod explores every aspect of the lesser-known history of astronomy in the Americas (Mesoamerica and North America), China and India, each through the frame of a particular astronomical phenomena. Part One considers the development of astronomy in the Americas as a response, in part, to the Supernova of 1054, which may have led to a cultural renaissance in astronomy. He then goes on to explore the contemporary understanding of supernovae, contrasting it with that of the ancient Americas. Part Two is framed through the appearances of great comets, which had major divinatory significance in early China. The author discusses the advancement of observational astronomy in China, its influence on politics and its role in the survival or failure of empires. Furthermore, the contemporary understanding of comets is also discussed for comparison. Part Three, on India, considers the magnificent observatories of the Rajput king Jai Singh II, and the question of their purpose. The origins of Indian astronomy are examined in Vedic thought and its development is followed through the period of Jai Singh, including the role played by solar eclipses. The author also includes a modern explanation of our understanding of eclipses to date. In the final section of the book, McLeod discusses how ancient traditions might help modern civilization better understand Earth’s place in the cosmos.
Download or read book The Astronomy Revolution written by Donald G. York and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-04-19 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some 400 years after the first known patent application for a telescope by Hans Lipperhey, The Astronomy Revolution: 400 Years of Exploring the Cosmos surveys the effects of this instrument and explores the questions that have arisen out of scientific research in astronomy and cosmology. Inspired by the international New Vision 400 conference held
Download or read book Encyclopaedia of the History of Science Technology and Medicine in Non Western Cultures written by Helaine Selin and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-03-12 with total page 2428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here, at last, is the massively updated and augmented second edition of this landmark encyclopedia. It contains approximately 1000 entries dealing in depth with the history of the scientific, technological and medical accomplishments of cultures outside of the United States and Europe. The entries consist of fully updated articles together with hundreds of entirely new topics. This unique reference work includes intercultural articles on broad topics such as mathematics and astronomy as well as thoughtful philosophical articles on concepts and ideas related to the study of non-Western Science, such as rationality, objectivity, and method. You’ll also find material on religion and science, East and West, and magic and science.
Download or read book Ancient Astronomy written by Clive L. N. Ruggles and published by . This book was released on with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Ancient Chinese Thought Modern Chinese Power written by Yan Xuetong and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-08-25 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From China's most influential foreign policy thinker, a vision for a "Beijing Consensus" for international relations The rise of China could be the most important political development of the twenty-first century. What will China look like in the future? What should it look like? And what will China's rise mean for the rest of world? This book, written by China's most influential foreign policy thinker, sets out a vision for the coming decades from China's point of view. In the West, Yan Xuetong is often regarded as a hawkish policy advisor and enemy of liberal internationalists. But a very different picture emerges from this book, as Yan examines the lessons of ancient Chinese political thought for the future of China and the development of a "Beijing consensus" in international relations. Yan, it becomes clear, is neither a communist who believes that economic might is the key to national power, nor a neoconservative who believes that China should rely on military might to get its way. Rather, Yan argues, political leadership is the key to national power, and morality is an essential part of political leadership. Economic and military might are important components of national power, but they are secondary to political leaders who act in accordance with moral norms, and the same holds true in determining the hierarchy of the global order. Providing new insights into the thinking of one of China's leading foreign policy figures, this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in China's rise or in international relations.
