Shíwù lùn 時務論
On the Pressing Tasks of the Time by 楊偉 (Yáng Wěi, fl. mid 3rd century, 魏)
About the work
A very short CáoWèi 曹魏 political essay by Yáng Wěi 楊偉 — best known as the Wèi-period astronomer who compiled the Jǐngchū lì 景初曆 (the calendar promulgated in 237 under Cáo Ruì). Surviving only as a brief cluster of citations in 《太平御覽》. Not in the Sìkù quánshū; sourced from CHANT (CH2a1476).
Abstract
Yáng Wěi was Director of the Tàishǐ 太史 (Grand Astronomer’s Office) under Wèi and presented the Jǐngchū lì 景初曆 — a major Wèi-period reform of the official calendar, promulgated in 237 and used through the WèiJìn period. He is known primarily as a lìfǎ 曆法 (calendrical-astronomical) specialist. The Shíwù lùn — preserved only as a fragment — is a short political essay rather than an astronomical text, on the duties of the ruler in addressing the pressing administrative tasks of the day (shíwù 時務). The single longer extract in Tàipíng yùlǎn is the only sustained passage; no programmatic structure can be reconstructed. The date-bracket follows Yáng Wěi’s Wèi-period career. The received recension is a 19th-century jíyì.
Translations and research
No substantial dedicated secondary literature located on the Shíwù lùn. For Yáng Wěi’s astronomical work see Jean-Claude Martzloff, Chinese Mathematical Astronomy, and Christopher Cullen’s work on the Jǐng-chū lì. Standard fragment-compilation: 嚴可均 Quán sān guó wén 全三國文 j. 50.
Links
- Sānguó zhì 三國志 (passim, on the Jǐngchū lì).
- Jìn shū lìzhì 晉書曆志.