At night, stars descend from the sky, most of them stars, including a small number of planets and moons.
Ancient people 7,000 years ago believed that behind these stars were hidden the codes about the operation of the world, and the ancients 3,000 years ago believed that these codes could be found and even used through stargazing.
Why do they think this way?
Is it speculation or is it true?
Let's first explain that ancient astronomy can be roughly divided into two categories: explicit and hidden.
Xianxue refers to the orbital cycle of the planet, the invention of various instruments, and the setting of legislation, which are relatively scientific astronomical knowledge.
And hidden science refers to stargazing, judging auspiciousness by astrological signs, etc., which are not scientific, but have always served the emperor, and the astrological knowledge that has been handed down to this day has a general concept that can start from seven thousand years ago.
We refer to this period collectively as decline.
Some friends may wonder, shouldn't this be enlightenment?
Strange is strange, and it is not difficult to find out through research here that the astronomical knowledge of people in this period is far greater than that of their descendants.
It's like saying that people seven thousand years ago learned multiplication and division, and then five thousand years ago people were learning addition and subtraction, and there was a regression.
What's going on?
We tried to speculate, and we found that there is no, in the remains of ancient civilizations that have been excavated so far, there is a particularly strange phenomenon, although these ancient civilizations are backward, but they all have astronomical knowledge that is beyond the times.
For example, the earliest Sumerian civilizations had image carvings of the sun and its surrounding planets in their murals.
In the Case of the Book of Hetuluo in the Chinese civilization and the I Ching derived from the Book of Hetuluo, we all know that the Book of Hetuluo and the Book of I Ching should be the products of the calendar, representing the development cycle of things.
But the strange thing is that before the full legislation appeared, the Book of River Tuluo appeared.
If there are no chickens, where are the eggs?
The only explanation is that there are "chickens" that we don't know about.
According to the Sumerian civilization, their astronomical knowledge came from the guidance of extraterrestrial civilizations.
According to the Mayan civilization, the earth is in a cycle, and our birth means the destruction of the previous higher civilization, and their astronomical knowledge comes from the legacy of the previous civilization.
According to the Chinese civilization, the Hetuluo Book was created by Fuxi under the guidance of Ryoma and Linggui, and then Fuxi created the I Ching according to these guidances, which seems to be more magical.
But in any case, the River Tuluo book and the carved frescoes are real.
As to whether it is the guidance of extraterrestrial civilization or the legacy of the previous civilization, we will not argue.
But what is certain is that there has indeed been some astronomical knowledge that is beyond the times, so this stage can only be called decline.
Decline, like the withering of grass, will gradually rise into the earth, but it also means that a seed is about to sprout.
Time comes to the ancient times, which is about the time period from Yao Shunyu to the end of summer, which we collectively call the bud.
It is recorded in the Book of Shang.
It is the fate of Xi He, Qin Ruohao Heaven, the calendar is like the sun, the moon and the stars, and the time of honoring people.
That is to say, in ancient times, Emperor Yao suddenly established a post responsible for observing and recording celestial phenomena.
Why do they suddenly pay attention to the celestial signs?
At present, there are two theories, the first of which is because of the concept of the unity of heaven and man, which holds that the celestial sign represents the will of the gods, and the observation of the celestial sign is to judge the auspiciousness.
The second theory is that because of the influence of ancient times, people have found through the study of the I Ching that the stars in the sky seem to really affect their lives, so they think that there must be some inexplicable secrets hidden in this.
Astronomy of this period is generally used to determine the calendar, record how long it takes from sunrise to sunset each day, how many days there are in a month, how many months there are in a year, etc., and only observe the sun and moon.
In the Shang and Zhou dynasties, while recording the calendar, people began to study the stars, pay attention to the layout of the stars, and record the position of each star and the changes in the sky, that is, the scope of observation is wider.
But being broader also means less memorable.
We can imagine that the official in charge of studying celestial phenomena has to look up and count the stars every night, make up a name for each star, and it is easy to remember it over time.
The best way is to draw a picture.
Therefore, in the Western Weekend period, the concept of twenty-eight houses was born, and the stars were divided into a region, so that the position of the stars could be determined according to the region.
In fact, it can also be seen from here that the astronomical knowledge mastered in this period is obviously more backward than that of seven thousand years ago, but it will eventually break ground after its bud.
Time comes to the Spring and Autumn period and the Qin and Han Dynasties, and we call this stage growth.
Because the ancestors determined the astrological region, people in this period gave a name to each star in the area, and there was a complete record of the changes in the celestial signs.
This can be detected in both the Book of Rites and the Spring and Autumn Period.
For example, from the beginning of the Lu Yin A.D. to the end of the fourteenth year of the Duke of Lu'ai, in this 242 years, there were a total of thirty-seven solar eclipses, and for example, in the fourteenth year of the Duke of Lu wen, there was a record of "autumn and July, there were stars entering the Big Dipper", which is the earliest record of Halley's Comet.
Now that there is a complete astrological map, it means that you can judge the impact of a certain part of the galaxy on yourself by observing their anomalies.
So astrology also began to enlighten.
The person who invented astrology was called Shi Shen, and he was considered the earliest astronomer in the middle of the Warring States period.
Shi Shen's Shi Shi Xingjing is also considered to be the earliest astronomical work, which is recognized worldwide.
One of the craters on the far side of the moon is named after Shi Shen, but unfortunately, this "Shi Shi Xing Jing" has long been lost, but the concept of Shi Shen can be roughly seen from the sporadic records of later generations.
Shi Shen believes that the relative position and relative movement of celestial bodies represent human fate and behavior, respectively.
That is to say, a person's place of birth and birth time can correspond to a certain star, so that by observing the changes of this star, it is also possible to judge the direction of a person's life.
You may sound a little old, but the astrology of later generations is basically the same.
In addition, the controversy of a hundred schools in the Warring States period also promoted the development of ancient astronomy, especially the Taoist inheritors, who were thinking about how the universe was formed every day. What does it have to do with humans and so on.
In order to explain these problems, a theory of covering the sky is also proposed, that is, the sky is round, and the sky covers the whole earth like a dome.
In the same way, this hundred schools of thought also promoted the transformation of the calendar, in addition to dividing the time, it evolved into twenty-four solar terms, which were integrated into the changes in the weather.
In the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty once again improved the calendar, called the Taichu Calendar.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was another "four-point calendar", in fact, it constantly corrected deviations to make the calendar more accurate.
In addition, during this time, people have also been observing and recording celestial phenomena.
In terms of astrology, the "Taiyi Shen number" and the "Great Six Ren" were born in this period.
However, these two techniques have always been used as court secrets, serving the emperor, and have not been lost to the people.
It is worth mentioning that the emperors of the Han Dynasty were very superstitious about the stars, and whenever there was a vision, they always thought that it was the anger of the gods, so they also issued a sin edict, which can be understood as a review book, and wrote a review for all the people in the world.
In addition, a heavyweight astronomer appeared during the Eastern Han Dynasty.
That is, Zhang Heng also proposed the "Hun Tian Theory", that is, the sky is round like a projectile, and the earth is like yellow in an egg.
Zhang Heng we are all more familiar with, in fact, in addition to Zhang Heng's Hun Tian theory, there is also a folk astrologer called Xi Meng, he put forward a hypothesis called Xuan Ye Theory, that the sky is not hard, the universe is an infinite space, there is the existence of qi everywhere, celestial bodies are floating in the air, their movement is also restricted by qi, which is very similar to our conclusion today.
In addition, the "Five Star Astrology" in the Mawangdui Han Tomb is from this period, because the Han Dynasty's emphasis on celestial phenomena also made the people of the world gradually realize this special knowledge, which also pushed ancient astronomy to its heyday.
The Three Kingdoms and the end of the Tang Dynasty, we call this stage the peak, the Three Kingdoms period is not only the official study of celestial phenomena, but also because of the chaotic world, the people of the aspirant can also judge the general trend of the world by observing the celestial signs.
Therefore, during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, a group of senior astrologers suddenly emerged, including Zu Chongzhi.
This is also another heavyweight astronomer after Shi Shen and Zhang Heng, who re-measured the orbital period of the five stars of gold, wood, water, fire and earth, and the error from today's measurement is not more than 0.095 days, which is quite accurate.
However, the real heyday should still be the heyday of the Tang Dynasty.
The Li Chunfeng we know is an astrologer and an astronomer.
Li Chunfeng not only improved the calendar, but also wrote a book of "Meteorological Miscellaneous Occupations", which is equivalent to today's weather forecast.
The difference is that Li Chunfeng used last night's stars to predict today's weather.
Here we would like to explain that after Li Chunfeng, there were also monks and their party who compiled the "Great Yan Calendar", which is a more precise legislation.
Before the Tang Dynasty, although there was already the concept of twenty-eight lodges, all the stars had not yet been recorded.
The true perfection of the Thirty-Eight Houses of the Three Walls was during the Tang Dynasty, and it was from this time that astrology truly became a magic skill.
Tang Taizong also asked Li Chunfeng to use this to speculate on the tang qi rhyme.
Instruments that appeared in this period include Li Chunfeng's Huntian Zodiac Instrument, which directly simulates the movement of the planets, and Liang Lingzhen's water transport hunky elephant, which is the earliest self-chiming bell so far, and the zodiacal travel instrument of the monk's line, which can observe the position of more than one hundred and fifty stars.
Including Liu Zongyuan, one of the eight masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties, he also put forward a concept called no green and no yellow, no red and no black, no middle and no side, and wu ji tianze.
That is to say, the universe has no boundaries, no centers, and no colors.
How should this be divided?
It is consistent with our observations today, it can be said that the astronomy of the entire Tang Dynasty is at least three hundred to five hundred years ahead of the world, but things will be reversed, and after the peak, it will naturally usher in a cold winter.
From the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, we call this stage a decline.
In fact, the Song Dynasty is also a heyday, but also retained the tradition of stargazing, and in the Song Dynasty astrology also ushered in a great development.
Chen Zhuo of the Northern Song Dynasty invented the "Purple Micro Bucket Number" according to ancient astrology, and on the observation instrument, Shen Kuo improved the armillary celestial sphere, and nearly twenty calendars appeared throughout the Song Dynasty, and the improvement of the calendar also meant the progress of astronomy.
The way of observation and measurement is more accurate.
In the Yuan Dynasty, astronomy, which was about to decline, ushered in another ZTE, because the last heavyweight in the ancient astronomical world appeared, this person was called Guo Shoujing, who improved the armillary sphere, which was more than three hundred years ahead of the world, and then improved the calendar several times, and forcibly renewed the life of ancient astronomy.
In fact, during this period of time at the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, astronomy did not go into decline.
Because without Guo Shoujing, there was Liu Bowen again, although the Xianxue was no longer developing, but the hidden learning was at its peak, but the problem really appeared in Liu Bowen's body.
It is said that Liu Bowen's calculation is extremely accurate, he has a special love for astrology, and can even predict the luck of the entire dynasty through astrological signs.
After Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the throne, he believed that astronomy and astrology, which could know the destiny of heaven, should be the privilege of the emperor, and there would be no more Liu Bowen in the world, so he ordered that the people be banned from reading astrological books, and all violators would be cut off.
It was also from this time that ancient astronomy was cut off by a knife and began to be overtaken by the West, and in the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi even asked Western foreign teachers to explain astronomical knowledge to himself.
It was also at this time that Western astrology began to take root in the land of China.
It is worth mentioning that after experiencing the darkness, today our astronomy has gone to the leading position.
Above the Eyes of China' Heavenly Eyes, we seem to be looking at our ancestors again, and through their wings, we have re-ascended to the top of the world.
Due to the limited space, there may be some deletions, and there are doubts about which development is in question, and perhaps we will continue to update.