IsisCB Explore

Article ID: CBB186105653

A Chinese Innovation Based on Western Methods: The Double-Epicycle Solar Model in the Lixiang kaocheng, 1722 (2019)

Wang, Guangchao (Author)
Sun, Xiaochun (Author)

Journal for the History of Astronomy
Volume: 50
Issue: 2
Pages: 174-191

URI: https://journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/doi/full/10.1177/0021828619843431

DOI: 10.1177/0021828619843431

Outside Links

WorldCat

Google Scholar

JSTOR

Academia.edu

This article attempts to show how an effort was made by Chinese astronomers to improve on the solar model under the auspice of Emperor Kangxi, in circumstances of the merging of Western and Chinese mathematical astronomy. The result of this effort is the Lixiang kaocheng. Different from the eccentric solar model in the previous calendars, Lixiang kaocheng invented a double-epicycle model to describe the solar motion, aiming at bringing computations into agreement with observation. The observational data used for determining the parameters of solar model might be obtained with Tychonic instruments. But it is also possible that these “observational data” might have been derived from Western astronomical tables. Although actual observations did become more accurate, it did not reflect upon the revision of the solar model. The accuracy of the solar model in the Lixiang kaocheng did not increase very much compared with the previous models.

...More

Citation URI

https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB186105653/

Citations Indexes

Similar Citations

Article Chu, Longfei; Shi, Yunli; (2012)
The Theory of Solar Motions in the Chongzhen Lishu Series (/isis/citation/CBB001200180/)

Article Shi, Yunli; (2008)
Reforming Astronomy and Compiling Imperial Science in the Post-Kangxi Era: The Social Dimension of the Yuzhi lixiang kaocheng houbian (/isis/citation/CBB001021344/)

Thesis Sela, Ori; (2011)
Qian Daxin (1728--1804): Knowledge, Identity, and Reception History in China, 1750--1930 (/isis/citation/CBB001562728/)

Article Hsia, Florence C.; (2008)
Chinese Astronomy for the Early Modern European Reader (/isis/citation/CBB000850573/)

Article Iannaccone, Isaia; (2000)
Documents relatifs à l'histoire de l'astronomie chinoise et aux rapports scientifiques entre l'Europe et la Chine (XVIIe-XIXe siècles) conservés à la Bibliothèque de l'Observatoire de Paris. Première partie (/isis/citation/CBB000111518/)

Article Juznic, Stanislav; (2008)
Letters from Augustin Hallerstein, an Eighteenth-Century Jesuit Astronomer in Beijing (/isis/citation/CBB001034782/)

Article Han, Qi; (2011)
Science, Knowledge, and Power: Observations of the Shadows of the Sun and the Kangxi Emperor's Role in the Calendrical Reform (/isis/citation/CBB001210020/)

Article Xu, Fengxian; He, Nu; (2011)
A New Explanation on the Origination of the Idea of 1 cun for 1000 li for the Variation Rate of the Sun's Shadow (/isis/citation/CBB001210025/)

Article Mercier, Raymond; (2003)
Solsticial Observations in Thirteenth Century Beijing (/isis/citation/CBB000411103/)

Article Cullen, Christopher; (2007)
Huo Rong's Observation Programme of A.D. 102 and the Han Li Solar Table (/isis/citation/CBB000771287/)

Article Zhang, Qi; (2007)
Textual Research on the Time of Midwinter in Yimei of Jiang Yong (/isis/citation/CBB000760539/)

Article Clemency Montelle; (2019)
Philippe de La Hire in India. Comparing True Solar Longitude Computations in Latin and Sanskrit (/isis/citation/CBB742105118/)

Article Schröder, W.; (2008)
How Many Aurora Were Observed during the Maunder Minimum? (/isis/citation/CBB001020638/)

Article Stefano Salvia; (2020)
The Battle of the Astronomers: Johann Adam Schall von Bell and Ferdinand Verbiest at the Court of the Celestial Emperors (1660–1670) (/isis/citation/CBB046191643/)

Article Sun, Chengsheng; (2011)
The Transmission of Crystalline Spheres Theory to Late Ming China and Its Influence (/isis/citation/CBB001210026/)

Article Deshpande, Vijaya J; (2015)
Allusions to Ancient Indian Mathematical Sciences in an Early Eighth Century Chinese Compilation by Gautama Siddha (/isis/citation/CBB001551747/)

Article Keizo Hashimoto; (2019)
The Eastern Assimilation of Western Astronomical Knowledge in Late Ming and Early Qing Dynasties (/isis/citation/CBB776807960/)

Book H. Floris Cohen; (2015)
The Rise of Modern Science Explained: A Comparative History (/isis/citation/CBB557444466/)

Article Tan, Wei Yu Wayne; (2014)
Science, Politics and Networks: Shibukawa Harumi and the Birth of the New Almanac in Seventeenth-century Japan (/isis/citation/CBB001321006/)

Article Yao, Chuansen; (2004)
Astronomy Activities of the Qintianjian during the Qing Dynasty (/isis/citation/CBB000411111/)

Comments

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}