Bǔxiū Sòng Zhàntiān shù 補修宋占天術
Supplementary Reconstruction of the Sòng Zhàn-tiān Calendar by 李銳 (述并注)
About the work
李銳 Lǐ Ruì’s (1768–1817) supplementary evidential reconstruction in 1 juàn of the Zhàntiān lì 占天曆, one of the short-lived supplementary calendrical systems of the Northern Sòng. The Zhàntiān was designed in Chóngníng 崇寧 4 (1106) by Yáo Shùnfǔ 姚舜輔 and used briefly before being superseded by the Jìyuán lì 紀元曆 of the same Yáo Shùnfǔ in Chóngníng 5 (1107).
Abstract
The Zhàntiān lì is one of the more obscure Northern-Sòng calendars: it was promulgated only briefly, and the same designer immediately produced the superseding Jìyuán lì. The procedural detail in the Sòngshǐ Lǜlì zhì 宋史律曆志 is correspondingly thinner than for the major Sòng calendars. Lǐ Ruì’s 1-juàn bǔxiū 補修 reconstruction is precisely a supplementary reconstruction — recovering the algorithmic content as far as the abbreviated source permits, with cross-reference to the Fèngyuán (cf. KR3fc054) and the Jìyuán for parallel evidence.
This is the fifth and final member of Lǐ Ruì’s calendrical reconstruction sequence (KR3fc051–KR3fc055). The selection of texts is informative: rather than reconstructing the major and well-documented Sòng systems (Tǒngtiān, Jìyuán, Shòushí), Lǐ Ruì chose the less-well-preserved supplementary systems where his philological-mathematical method could make the most distinctive contribution. The pair Fèngyuán / Zhàntiān fills two specific gaps in the Sòng calendrical record.
Dating: composed during Lǐ Ruì’s mature productive period in 阮元 Ruǎn Yuán’s patronage circle. notBefore 1795; notAfter 1817.
Translations and research
- Sivin, Nathan. 2009. Granting the Seasons: The Chinese Astronomical Reform of 1280. New York: Springer.
- Qū Ānjīng 曲安京. 2005. Zhōng-guó lì-fǎ yǔ shù-xué 中國曆法與數學. Běi-jīng: Kē-xué chū-bǎn-shè.
- Wú Wénjùn 吳文俊, ed. 1985. Zhōng-guó shù-xué shǐ dà-xì 中國數學史大系, vol. 7.
Links
- Companion reconstructions: KR3fc051–KR3fc054
- CBDB (author): https://cbdb.fas.harvard.edu/cbdbapi/person.php?id=77136