歷代長術輯要

Lìdài chángshù jíyào 歷代長術輯要

Compendium of Long-Period Chronological Computations of Successive Dynasties by 汪曰楨 (撰)

About the work

The Lìdài chángshù jíyào 歷代長術輯要, in fourteen juàn, is the standard nineteenth-century Chinese chronological apparatus: a year-by-year shuòrùn 朔閏 (new-moon and intercalary-month) reference for the entire span from the Western Zhōu Gònghé 共和 regency (841 BCE) to the end of the Míng, computed for each historical period using the calendrical system actually in use at that time. It is the abridged form (10, later 14, juàn) of Wāng Yuēzhēn’s 汪曰楨 (1813–1881) much larger lost work Èrshísì shǐ yuèrì kǎo 二十四史月日考 in 53 juàn, which was “too bulky to be printed.”

Abstract

The opening files preserve a substantial unsigned senior-scholar preface that describes Wāng’s project. He found that Liú Xīsǒu’s 劉羲叟 Sòng-era Liúshì jíshù 劉氏輯術 (which had covered Hàn through the Five Dynasties) was lost; that Qián Tóngrén’s 錢同人 Sì shǐ shuòrùn kǎo 四史朔閏攷 was excellent but partial; and that no complete chronological apparatus existed for the post-Sòng dynasties. He therefore reconstructed the entire span, using the appropriate calendrical system for each period.

The preface enumerates seven concrete philological difficulties that Wāng had to solve: (i) the North/South Period using different parallel calendars; (ii) discrepancies between the Xīn Tángshū and other sources; (iii) systematic transmission errors in stem-branch graphs and intercalary placements; (iv) the unknown calendar in use under the early Liáo Tàizōng and the Southern Sòng’s first 5 years; (v) Northern Zhōu using Míng Kèràng’s 明克讓 method, Southern Táng using Zhōng Zhèng’s 鐘整 then Qí Zhèng’s 齊政; (vi) the Qín hàizhèng 亥正 / Wèi Jǐngchū chǒuzhèng 景初丑正 / Tang Wǔ Zétiān zǐzhèng 子正 divergences from popular Xiàshí 夏時 practice; and (vii) the Tang Wǔ Zétiān Shéngōng 1 (697) forced 10th-month intercalation, Kāiyuán 12 (724) forced 12th-month intercalation, plus the HòuJìn Tiānfú 天福 adjustment for a New Year’s eclipse. The preface closes by noting that Wāng spent nearly thirty years on the work, consulting “several hundred kinds” of sources.

The work was first printed in Guāngxù 3 (1877), establishing the terminus ad quem; bulk of composition spans c. 1847–1877. NotBefore is set at 1850 (consistent with the start of Wāng’s mature scholarly period); notAfter at 1877 (publication). CBDB confirms 1813–1881 (id 79282).

Translations and research

• Wilkinson, Endymion. Chinese History: A New Manual. — Cites this work explicitly as the standard Chinese chronological tool for the period to the end of the Míng, alongside Mathias Tchang’s Synchronismes chinois.
• Tchang, Mathias. 1905. Synchronismes chinois: Chronologie complète et concordance avec l’ère chrétienne de toutes les dates concernant l’histoire de l’Extrême-Orient. Shanghai: Imprimerie de la Mission Catholique. — The principal European-language adaptation of Wāng’s work (with attribution).
• Zhāng Péi-yú 張培瑜 et al. 2008. Zhōngguó gǔdài lì-fǎ 中國古代曆法. Beijing: Zhōng-guó kē-xué jì-shù chū-bǎn-shè. — The modern critical chronological apparatus that supersedes Wāng’s tables for technical use, but acknowledges his pioneering role.
• Sivin, Nathan. 2009. Granting the Seasons. New York: Springer. — Treats the longer history of Chinese chronological apparatus.

Other points of interest

The work survived as the single most-used Chinese chronological tool from 1877 through the mid-twentieth century; it was reprinted in the Zhōnghuá shūjú “Sìbù bèiyào” recension in 1934 and again in modern editions. The full 53-juàn parent Èrshísì shǐ yuèrì kǎo survives only in part — Wilkinson notes that the surviving fragment covers through the Xīn Tángshū but not the Wǔdài shǐ — though the present catalog’s edition extends to the Míng, suggesting that the abridgement is more comprehensive than the surviving full draft.

Links

• CBDB: https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=79282
• The standard modern successor: Zhāng Péiyú et al., Zhōngguó gǔdài lìfǎ.