The Issue of"Calendar Testing"in the Process of Making Ancient Chinese Calendar
"Calendar testing"is an important process of making calendars in ancient China.Whether a calendar can be used and its pros and cons must be tested by astronomical phenomena.When the official institutions organize calendar reforms,astronomers participate in the competition,and finally choose the calendar which can most accurately predicts the astronomical phenomena.Taking the calendar reforms from the Han Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty as the background,this paper discusses the role of calendar testing in Ancient Chinese Astronomy,as well as studies how ancient Chinese treat and organize calendar testing.The astronomical phenomena adopted in the calendar testing had experienced the expansion from the solar and lunar events to planetary events with the increase of accuracy and difficulty,reflecting the progress of ancient Chinese mathematical astronomy.The content and methods of calendar testing reflect the natural view of ancient Chinese.Recording and judging works in calendar testing show some statistical thoughts,indicating that the way ancient Chinese used to understand nature was not completely deterministic,so that leaving room for the occasional phenomena and the idea of"Interaction of Heaven-Man".
Calendar testingTaichu calendar reformPlanetary movementAstronomical recordsInteracti-on of Heaven-Man
国家科技期刊平台
NSTL
万方数据
