Qīndìng tiānwén zhèngyì 欽定天文正義
Imperially Commissioned Correct Meaning of Astronomy
About the work
The Qīndìng tiānwén zhèngyì is a Qīng imperial compilation in eighty-one juǎn — an extraordinary length that places it among the largest single astronomical works in the Chinese tradition. The catalog meta lists no author (者不详 zhě bù xiáng), confirming the typical anonymity of imperial compendia where the editorial commission has collective authorship under the umbrella of imperial commission (qīndìng 欽定). The work belongs to the high-Qīng imperial-encyclopaedia tradition that includes the Lǐxiàng kǎochéng 曆象考成 (1724), the Lǐxiàng kǎochéng hòubiān 曆象考成後編 (1742), and the Yíxiàng kǎochéng 儀象考成 (1744).
Abstract
Composition window: the work is undated but its scale and the qīndìng designation place it firmly in the high-Qīng imperial editorial period — the Yōngzhèng (1723–35), Qiánlóng (1736–95) or Jiāqìng (1796–1820) reigns are the candidate frames. The bracket adopted here is 1730–1799 with Qiánlóng as the most probable.
The eighty-one-juǎn extent presupposes a structure something like: (a) cosmological foundations and the history of astronomy; (b) extensive treatment of the Schall-Verbiest Xīyáng xīnfǎ apparatus; (c) the Lǐxiàng kǎochéng lunar / solar / planetary theory; (d) the Hòubiān additions including the equation-of-orbits and the lunar evection; (e) the Yíxiàng kǎochéng asterism catalog; (f) eclipse theory and prediction; (g) the qīzhèng and èrshíbāxiù coordinate systems with reduction tables; (h) historical Chinese astronomical literature digested by topic; (i) imperial-bureau procedures.
The work is preserved in palace and provincial-library copies and is reprinted in the Sìkù wèishōu shū jíkān and the Zhōngguó kēxué jìshù diǎnjí tōnghuì (refid KX03-07-026).
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language translation located.
- Jami, Catherine. 2012. The Emperor’s New Mathematics: Western Learning and Imperial Authority during the Kangxi Reign (1662–1722). Oxford: OUP. — sets out the Kāng-xī imperial-astronomical project that produced the Lǐ-xiàng kǎochéng tradition that the Tiānwén zhèngyì extends.
- Han Qi 韓琦 2004. “The Compilation of the Yíxiàng kǎochéng and the Reform of the Chinese Astronomical Bureau in the Eighteenth Century.” Historia Scientiarum 14: 1–18.
- Elman, Benjamin A. 2005. On Their Own Terms: Science in China, 1550–1900. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP.
- Hashimoto Keizo 橋本敬造. 1988. Hsü Kuang-ch’i and Astronomical Reform. Osaka: Kansai University.
Links
- Sister imperial works: Lǐxiàng kǎochéng 曆象考成 (1724); Lǐxiàng kǎochéng hòubiān 曆象考成後編 (1742); Yíxiàng kǎochéng 儀象考成 (1744); KR3fa037 Qīndìng yíxiàng kǎochéng xùbiān.