How is the different between ancient Chinese astronomy and the western
Astronomy is one of the most ancient disciplines and it can be traced back to around thousands of years ago. (Unsold et al 2001, p.6) As for the ancient Chinese astronomy and ancient western astronomy during their origin period both had a very similar purpose – fate and surviving. More specifically, when ancient human realized to observe stars by naked eyes, they all thought the stars and sky are holy; during the ancient time, surviving is the most important thing for humans so through observing the movement of moon and sun they began to make calendar for food surplus and planting.( Cicotello&Louisa 2007 ) However, along with the time going on, the usage, purposes and observing …show more content…
Moreover, the main social system in ancient western countries like ancient Greece was commercial society but china is thoroughly an agricultural society, which limited the function should be relative to agriculture that is why the solar terms in ancient western countries just had four. And the social system also shaped western people with the characters like freedom, independence rather close interpersonal relationship.( Hamilton1990) Thus the people who researched astronomy regarded astronomy as their hobby and the purpose is for knowing the sky, which is also the reason why astronomy was more popular for the public than in ancient China.
In terms of observing methods, there are still many differences existing between these two. For ancient western countries they put astronomy as a branch of mathematics and they preferred to build models by geometry such as the ‘two-sphere model’ from ancient Greece (Martyn n.d). But for Chinese they preferred to use algebra to analog astronomical phenomena. As for the question why there are so different should be thinking from the perspective of philosophy. (Hongru …show more content…
and Louisa, A.J. eds., 2007. Forbes Field: Essays and Memories of the Pirates ' Historic Ballpark, 1909-1971 (Vol. 1). McFarland.
Hamilton, G.G., 1990. Patriarchy, patrimonialism, and filial piety: A comparison of China and Western Europe. British Journal of Sociology, pp.77-104.
Hongru Lan 2015 Comparison of Chinese and Western astronomy Available from: http://wenku.baidu.com/link?url=TmtXXLFO6KpvJgZmyy8lbfefzC6D1KidV7ekJIpZpRWDnNsgzKmvY7Hw4SBnmghaS_eouEa_BVnnWNbyNkKYnVzto0_5VNJx0teMBaxOt0u (in Chinese) [7 October 2016].
IDP n.d History of Astronomy in China Available from: http://idp.bl.uk/4DCGI/education/astronomy/history.html [7 October 2016].
IDP n.d The Chinese Sky Available from: http://idp.bl.uk/4DCGI/education/astronomy/sky.html [7 October 2016].
Martyn Shuttleworth n.d Ancient Astronomy, Science And The Ancient Greeks Available from: https://explorable.com/greek-astronomy [8 October 2016].
Muze Huang 2013 Why do some Westerners believe in the existence of God? Why some Westerners believe "the Bible"? Available from: https://www.zhihu.com/question/21191022 (in Chinese) [8 October 2016].
Ruggles, C.L., 2015. Calendars and Astronomy. In Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy (pp. 15-30). Springer New
Astronomy is one of the most ancient disciplines and it can be traced back to around thousands of years ago. (Unsold et al 2001, p.6) As for the ancient Chinese astronomy and ancient western astronomy during their origin period both had a very similar purpose – fate and surviving. More specifically, when ancient human realized to observe stars by naked eyes, they all thought the stars and sky are holy; during the ancient time, surviving is the most important thing for humans so through observing the movement of moon and sun they began to make calendar for food surplus and planting.( Cicotello&Louisa 2007 ) However, along with the time going on, the usage, purposes and observing …show more content…
Moreover, the main social system in ancient western countries like ancient Greece was commercial society but china is thoroughly an agricultural society, which limited the function should be relative to agriculture that is why the solar terms in ancient western countries just had four. And the social system also shaped western people with the characters like freedom, independence rather close interpersonal relationship.( Hamilton1990) Thus the people who researched astronomy regarded astronomy as their hobby and the purpose is for knowing the sky, which is also the reason why astronomy was more popular for the public than in ancient China.
In terms of observing methods, there are still many differences existing between these two. For ancient western countries they put astronomy as a branch of mathematics and they preferred to build models by geometry such as the ‘two-sphere model’ from ancient Greece (Martyn n.d). But for Chinese they preferred to use algebra to analog astronomical phenomena. As for the question why there are so different should be thinking from the perspective of philosophy. (Hongru …show more content…
and Louisa, A.J. eds., 2007. Forbes Field: Essays and Memories of the Pirates ' Historic Ballpark, 1909-1971 (Vol. 1). McFarland.
Hamilton, G.G., 1990. Patriarchy, patrimonialism, and filial piety: A comparison of China and Western Europe. British Journal of Sociology, pp.77-104.
Hongru Lan 2015 Comparison of Chinese and Western astronomy Available from: http://wenku.baidu.com/link?url=TmtXXLFO6KpvJgZmyy8lbfefzC6D1KidV7ekJIpZpRWDnNsgzKmvY7Hw4SBnmghaS_eouEa_BVnnWNbyNkKYnVzto0_5VNJx0teMBaxOt0u (in Chinese) [7 October 2016].
IDP n.d History of Astronomy in China Available from: http://idp.bl.uk/4DCGI/education/astronomy/history.html [7 October 2016].
IDP n.d The Chinese Sky Available from: http://idp.bl.uk/4DCGI/education/astronomy/sky.html [7 October 2016].
Martyn Shuttleworth n.d Ancient Astronomy, Science And The Ancient Greeks Available from: https://explorable.com/greek-astronomy [8 October 2016].
Muze Huang 2013 Why do some Westerners believe in the existence of God? Why some Westerners believe "the Bible"? Available from: https://www.zhihu.com/question/21191022 (in Chinese) [8 October 2016].
Ruggles, C.L., 2015. Calendars and Astronomy. In Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy (pp. 15-30). Springer New