China's ancient calendar and star distribution

Dates: 28 and 29 October 2014

Organised by the Faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University.

On 28 and 29 October, Dr Chen Chunhong (Tianjin University), will give two related lectures, addressing (1) the relationship between China's traditional calendar and the stars and their influence on traditional Chinese philosophy, culture and architecture, and (2) the current state of the study of Chinese archaeological astronomy and its potential research value.

There will be time for questions and discussion.

Lecture 1: China's ancient calendar and the distribution of the stars

China is one of the oldest countries of astronomy development in the world. Ancient Chinese astronomy was leading in many areas. At the core of China’s ancient astronomy was China’s ancient calendar, which not only described the system of calendar days, but also provided rules to calculate the location of the sun, the moon and of the five planets of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury. 

China also has a very very rich history of astrological observations, which, combined with the ancient Chinese astronomical regime, lead to the formation of a unique ‘Chinese Heaven’ star system. Many stars in this system held special positions in the sky. They were rich in cosmological meaning, and had a profound impact on the system as well as on the ancient Chinese philosophy and traditional Chinese culture.

Lecture 2: The study of Chinese ancient astronomy and its potential research value

China is one of the oldest countries of astronomy development in the world. It has long held a leading position in the world. But in the later development of astronomy, this declined because of various reasons.

Archaeological astronomy research in China started in the early 20th century. After a hundred years of development, nowadays, it has formed a series of relatively stable theory and research methods. In the past 20 years, a large number of prehistoric sites were found, these promoted and strengthened the study of Chinese prehistoric archaeology astronomy. These results gradually revealed the brilliant achievements of ancient Chinese astronomy. Based on many years of work experience, the author will describe the current status of the study of Chinese archaeological astronomy, and explore its potential research value. 

Dr Chen Chunhong is an affiliated fellow at IIAS within the framework of the Urban Knowledge Network Asia (UKNA). She hold a Ph.D. in Engineering from Tianjin University, China, where she works and serves as the Assistant Dean of Tianjin University School of Architecture.

During her training, Chen took courses in architectural design and architectural history. In scientific research, her long-term focus is on the history of architecture and archaeology astronomy. She is involved in the preparation of the Chinese national textbook History of foreign gardens and Chinese construction design engineering data sets (architectural design data set). In 2013, her research project Astronomical Characters Research on Chinese Ancient architecture won an award from the National Natural Science Foundation.

Registration

Everybody welcome. If you would like to attend one or both lectures, please send an eamil to: Please register by sending an email to: shuli0401@gmail.com