Japanese scholars' selected translations of Chinese historical treatises (Volume 10: Science and Technology)

Author: Liu Junwen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1993-08-01
Features:
Fragment: Jia Kui said: "Earlier, I submitted that Fu An and others used the Yellow River degree to measure the positions of the sun and moon, and the results were very close. However, the court historians consistently used the equinoctial degree, which did not match the sun and moon. As a result, when measuring the positions of the sun and moon today, the difference exceeds one degree, and they often report it as a variation. Although it is not yet clear when Fu An lived, the "·" includes Jia Kui's discussion on calendars, which is generally believed to have been written around the fourth year of the Yongyuan era. Therefore, it can be considered that by the fifteenth year of the Yongyuan era, instruments similar to the Yellow River bronze instrument already existed.
Facing Fu An's measurements of the positions on the Yellow River, as mentioned in the above quote, it seems that government officials specializing in observations, such as court historians, did not yet have instruments capable of measuring the positions on the Yellow River. The instrument created in the fifteenth year of the Yongyuan era, specifically named the "," is particularly noteworthy. Therefore, it can be inferred that before the fifteenth year of the Yongyuan era, in addition to court historians, there were already in the world equipped with a Yellow River ring. In China, new astronomical observations and research were often carried out by non-specialized officials outside the court historians, and the above is one such example.
Jia Kui's discussion on calendars mentions Fu An, but it is unclear whether with a Yellow River ring existed before Fu An. For the pre-Han period, let us set it aside for now. According to legend, during the Han Dynasty, those who used included Luo Xuhong during Emperor Wu's reign and Geng Shouchang during Emperor Xuan's reign. The "·" and "·" mention Luo Xuhong only as having "calculated the rotation of the calendar," without any clear record of him using a .
In the "" written by Yang Xiong at the end of the pre-Han period, it is recorded: "Someone asked about the , and the answer was: Luo Xuhong designed it, Xian Yu Wanger measured it, and Geng Zhongcheng modeled it." Another text, the "·," which accepted this view, described the "" section as follows: "During the era of the Han Dynasty, Luo Xuhong, Xian Yu Wanger, and Geng Shouchang created to examine the calendar." Later, during Emperor He's reign, Jia Kui further refined it and added a Yellow River ring.
As mentioned earlier, there are several doubts about the created by Jia Kui. In the above quote from the "," the instruments created by Luo Xuhong, Xian Yu Wanger, and Geng Shouchang are referred to as "," where "" is the same as "," meaning they can be understood as . However, in the above quote, all three are listed as figures during the era of calendar reform, whereas in reality, only Luo Xuhong actively participated in the reform. After the calendar reform, until the third year of the Yuanfeng era (78 BC), someone opposed the new calendar. To clarify the issue, the chief calendar Xian Yu Wanger and others conducted observations, and the is believed to have been created by Geng Shouchang in the second year of the Ganlu era (52 BC). The "·" records: "According to the second year of the Ganlu era, Geng Shouchang, the Zhongcheng of the Grand Minister, submitted a report using the diagrammatic instrument to measure the paths of the sun and moon, examining the state of the celestial movement. The sun passed through [one] degree when it reached the Ox and East Well, while the moon moved fifteen degrees when it reached Lou and Jiao. The sun moved one degree, and the moon moved thirteen degrees along the equator, a fact well-known since ancient times."
In the "·," the "" is referred to as "" here. Even if "" is also interpreted as , it remains unclear whether it was equipped with a Yellow River ring. In the above quote, if the part up to "the moon moved thirteen degrees" is what Geng Shouchang said, then it can be said that his measurements were based solely on the equator. As for Luo Xuhong and Xian Yu Wanger, there is no definitive evidence to confirm the existence of a Yellow River ring during their time.
The "·" also mentions the "": "The starts at the initial position of the Ox twenty degrees from the celestial pole, twenty-five degrees away, and twenty-one degrees on the equator." Alongside the equatorial values, the values for the winter solstice position of the sun are also provided. The winter solstice position of the sun on the equator is twenty-one degrees, which corresponds to around 70 BC. This value is then converted into the corresponding value.