Quánshǐ rìzhì yuánliú 全史日至源流
Source-and-Stream of Solar Events Throughout the Whole [Dynastic] Histories by 許伯政 (Xǔ Bózhèng, 清, zhuàn 撰)
About the work
Xǔ Bózhèng’s 30-juan systematic chronological-and-calendrical reconstruction of the celestial events (winter-and-summer-solstice dates, the seasonal-nodes, new-moons, and intercalary months) recorded in the Confucian classics and the dynastic histories — from the legendary Xuānyuán (Yellow Emperor) period through the end of the Míng (a span of approximately 4,000 years), with each recorded event verified against the calendrical computation of the KR3f0018 Yùzhì lìxiàng kǎochéng (the canonical KāngxīYōngzhèng 1724 imperial astronomical synthesis). The work’s structure: the first 3 juàn set out theoretical-methodological foundations; the remaining 30 juàn (or 27 — the Sìkù 提要 says 30 juàn total but says the latter 30 are chronological tables, suggesting the 提要’s juàn-count is somewhat inconsistent) present the chronological tables themselves, organized by dynasty.
The work’s value is primarily as a chronological-verification tool: by computing what the Lìxiàng kǎochéng method predicts for each historical date, Xǔ Bózhèng provides an independent test of the reliability of received historical chronologies. Where the recorded dates check against the computation, the historical record is corroborated; where they fail to check, either the historical record contains a copyist error or there is a genuine ancient-modern calendrical discrepancy worth investigating.
The 提要 commends the methodological positions Xǔ Bózhèng adopts in the first 3 juàn: (a) using 360 degrees for the celestial circle (Western convention) rather than 365.25 (Chinese Shòushí convention); (b) using 96 kè per day (post-Jesuit convention) rather than 100 kè (Yuán Shòushí convention); (c) recognizing that the zodiacal palaces are not the stellar configurations themselves but conventional divisions; (d) recognizing that the annual real-year (suìshí) is a small odd-fraction whose accumulation over time produces the suìshí xiāozhǎng phenomenon, rather than being exactly 1/4 day. These methodological positions place Xǔ Bózhèng squarely within the post-Lì Guāngdì / Méi Wéndǐng synthetic position.
The 提要 takes issue with two specific theoretical claims: Xǔ Bózhèng’s proposal that the annual real-year decreases by exactly 20 arc-seconds every 216 years (a numerically-precise but empirically-unjustified rate of suìshí secular variation), and his claim that the sun’s mean and apparent motions are exactly equal at the apsidal high-and-low (gāobēi) points. The 提要 calls these positions zhìài 滯礙 (stuck and obstructive) — i.e., theoretically over-determined.
Tiyao
[Sub-classification: 子部, Tiānwén suànfǎ class 2, tuībù sub-category. Edition: WYG.]
Respectfully examined: Quánshǐ rìzhì yuánliú, 32 juàn, by Xǔ Bózhèng of Our Dynasty. Bózhèng’s Yì shēn is already catalogued.
This book follows the Imperial-composed Lìxiàng kǎochéng Earlier-Edition’s method, retrospectively examining what the classics and histories’ commentaries-and-notes record of solstice-and-shuò seasonal-and-intercalary [data] — verifying whether they agree-or-not, correcting their errors-and-mistakes.
The first 3 juàn all discuss the methods of step-computation: as saying the celestial cycle should use 360 degrees, the day-method should use 96 kè, the [zodiacal-]palace-stations are not the constant-stars’ fixed dwellings, the annual real-year [carries] odd-fractions [that] accumulating over years are first noticed [in their] gain-and-loss, [and] should not be summarily [taken as] 1/4 of a day. His arguments are all quèdāng (correct-and-fitting).
Only what he discusses of the annual real-year — periodically every 216 years gradually decreasing by 20 seconds, and [his claim that] the sun at the high-low [points] — the mean motion and the actual motion are precisely equal — measured against calendrical principle, [these are] not exempt from being zhìài (stuck-and-obstructive).
As for the latter 30 juàn — arranging long-calendars dividing-by-dynasty narrating-the-years, upward starting from Xuānhuáng (the Yellow Emperor), downward reaching to the end of the Míng, [a span of] within 4,000 years, threaded together by silk-and-rope, making the stellar-positions and seasonal-nodes one-by-one to be examined according-to-table — this also can be a resource for later [scholars’] examination-and-measurement.
Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 46, second month [March 1781].
Chief Compilers: (subject) Jì Yún 紀昀, (subject) Lù Xíxióng 陸錫熊, (subject) Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. Chief Collator: (subject) Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
Composition window: c. 1724 (the Lìxiàng kǎochéng’s publication, which Xǔ Bózhèng’s work depends on as its computational foundation) – 1781 (the date of the Sìkù 提要; the work was probably substantially complete by the early Qiánlóng period). The catalog meta gives 30 juàn; the 提要 says 32 — a discrepancy of 2 juàn, possibly reflecting different counting conventions for the front-matter or different recensions.
The work’s significance:
(a) Chronological-historiographical verification: the Quánshǐ rìzhì yuánliú belongs to a small but important high-Qīng genre of works that subjected historical chronological data to independent astronomical-computational verification. By computing what the Lìxiàng kǎochéng method predicts for each historically-recorded eclipse, solstice, conjunction, etc., the work provides a systematic test of the reliability of received historical dates. The work is one of the most thorough-going early-Qīng exercises in this verificational genre.
(b) The methodological synthesis: Xǔ Bózhèng’s adoption of post-Lì-Guāngdì / MéiWéndǐng synthetic methodological positions — Western-degree convention, 96-kè day, conventional zodiacal palaces, secular-variable annual-year — and his integration of these with the Chinese-historical chronological tradition demonstrates the early-Qián-lóng diffusion of the Kāngxī mathematical synthesis into Chinese-classical-historical scholarship.
(c) The 提要’s critique: the editorial critique of Xǔ Bózhèng’s two specific over-precise claims (216-year / 20-second secular variation; apsidal mean-equals-apparent motion) demonstrates the late-Qián-lóng editorial sensitivity to mathematical over-determination. The editors’ position — that one can defend specific methodological principles (the existence of secular variation; the structure of apsidal motion) without committing to specific over-precise numerical claims — articulates an empirically-tempered methodology characteristic of high-Qīng synthetic mathematical-astronomical work.
The work’s institutional position is that of a learned-private-scholar’s contribution to the broader high-Qīng calendrical-historical project. Like many of the works in the latter half of KR3f, it represents the ongoing expansion-and-application of the KāngxīYōngzhèngQiánlóng imperial mathematical-astronomical synthesis into the broader Chinese scholarly literature.
For Xǔ Bózhèng’s biographical context, see 許伯政. For the foundational KR3f0018 Lìxiàng kǎochéng whose method this work applies, see that entry.
Translations and research
- No substantial secondary literature located on the Quán-shǐ rì-zhì yuán-liú in any European language. Treated occasionally in Chinese-language histories of Chinese astronomy (e.g. in Han Qi’s Tōng-tiān zhī xué).
Other points of interest
The work’s 4,000-year chronological span — from the legendary Xuānyuán (Yellow Emperor, traditionally 2697–2597 BCE) through the end of the Míng (1644 CE) — represents one of the most ambitious chronological-tabulation projects in late-imperial Chinese scholarship. The earlier portions (pre-Han) necessarily rest on traditional rather than empirically-verifiable dating; the post-Han portions (where dynastic histories provide eclipse and seasonal-node records) are where the work’s computational verification has substantive content.