Sānyuán qīzhèng èrshíbāxiù zhōutiān jīngjiàn 三垣七政二十八宿周天精鑒
Refined Mirror of the Whole Heaven — Three Enclosures, Seven Regulators, and Twenty-Eight Lodges by 章士純 (撰)
About the work
This is a Míng-period one-juǎn astronomical primer by Zhāng Shìchún 章士純, organised around the three canonical components of the Chinese sky-inventory named in the title: the Sānyuán 三垣 (Three Enclosures — Zǐwēi 紫微, Tàiwēi 太微, Tiānshì 天市), the Qīzhèng 七政 (Seven Regulators — Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn), and the Èrshíbā xiù 二十八宿 (Twenty-Eight Lunar Lodges). The work belongs to the same family of compact astronomy primers as Cài Rǔnán’s KR3fa010 Tiānwén lüè and the late Míng anonymous KR3fa018 Sānyuán lièshè rùxiù qùjí jí; it is a representative of the popularising zǐbù genre that flourished between the Wǔjīng canon-centric HànSòng tradition and the Jesuit-collaboration Qīng tradition.
Abstract
Composition window: Míng dynasty (1368–1644); no narrower date recoverable. The work belongs to the fù-and-biǎo (rhapsody and tabulation) tradition that combines verse mnemonics with star-tables. The jīngjiàn 精鑒 (“refined mirror”) of the title is a conventional self-deprecating-yet-claiming-precision label for such compact reference manuals.
The text is preserved in the late-Míng Wànjuǎnlóu private library tradition and was reprinted in the Sìkù wèishōu shū jíkān and (in modern reproduction) in the Zhōngguó kēxué jìshù diǎnjí tōnghuì (catalog refid KX03-07-011). The work is consulted by historians of Míng popular astronomy as one of the few datable witnesses to the asterism-inventory current outside the Sītiānjiān before the Jesuit-led reform.
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language translation located.
- Sun Xiaochun 孫小淳 and Jacob Kistemaker. 1997. The Chinese Sky During the Han: Constellating Stars and Society. Leiden: Brill.
- Pan Nai 潘鼐. 1989. Zhōngguó héngxīng guāncè shǐ 中國恆星觀測史.
- Peterson, Willard J. 1973. “Western Natural Philosophy Published in Late Ming China.” PAPS 117: 295–322. — sets the pre-Jesuit Míng astronomical context.