Deconstructing the"Axiomatic"Cosmological Model of the Zhoubi suanjing
The geometrical model in the Zhoubi suanjing represented the cosmological model of the Gaitian theory.The analysis of the model's basic hy-pothesis,the observation,the deduction and its explanation of the celestial phenomena,shows that the so-called"axiomatic"model was inconsistent and incomplete,full of unverified ad hoc hypotheses.The"one cun one thousand li"principle for the change of the length of gnomon shadow,which served as a sort of"axiom"for the whole system,was actually derived from the observation of the sun through a sighting tube,had nothing to do with actual measurement of gnomon shadows at different locations.This understanding of the Zhoubi model reveals the fundamental feature of ancient Chinese astrono-my,in which cosmological models had been detached from practical observation and mathematical astronomy.This had profound ramifications for the de-velopment of astronomy in ancient China,and even hindered the accept of the western cosmology well into the 17th century.
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