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The birth of Si Tianjian
Si Tianjian, you can guess by looking at the name, this is the institution responsible for observing stars in the Song Dynasty, that is, the National Astronomical Observatory at that time. In the middle and late Tang dynasty, a similar institution was called Si Tiantai, which destroyed Later Liang of the Tang Dynasty and renamed it Jian. When Later Liang was replaced by Later Tang, because it was once regarded as a pseudo-dynasty, the system changed during the Later Liang period was reverted to the old system of the Tang Dynasty, and the name of Si Tianjian was changed back. After that, the Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Zhou all inherited the name of Si Tiantai.
However, in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, scholars debated whether the institution was called Si Tiantai or Si Tianjian. Judging from the "Notes on the Calendar Days of the Three Years of the Song Taiping Xingguo Dynasty" preserved in the Dunhuang documents, it is mentioned in the text that "King Wentan of the Great Song Dynasty asked Si Tiantai to investigate the calendar day of the Great Ben", then "Si Tiantai" in the early Song Dynasty was still used as an official title. Scholars combing through Song Dynasty documents found that after the eighth year of Emperor Taizong's reign (983), the frequency of use of "Si Tianjian" began to exceed that of Si Tiantai. In this way, it is likely that during the Taizong era, Si Tiantai was renamed once.
An image of the Crab Nebula taken by the Liverpool telescope at the La Palma Observatory in Spain circa 2014. The appearance of the "guest star" recorded during the Song Renzong period recorded in the "Song Meeting" is the first supernova explosion with a definite time recorded by mankind, and the relic "crab nebula" left behind by it has always been one of the most studied space targets
From Taiwan to prison, what difference can there be in a word? It may be difficult to restore the psychological activities of Emperor Taizong of Song at that time, but there is no doubt that he has a strong guard against folk sorcerers who have mastered the ability to observe astronomy. In November of the first year of the Taiping Xingguo (976), Emperor Taizong of Song, who had just ascended the throne, issued a ban: "Let the prefectures of Dasuo know the number of astronomical techniques, teleport to the bottom, those who dare to hide abandon the market, and those who raise money will be rewarded with 300,000 yuan." "
It is equivalent to saying that Emperor Taizong tried to capture people with expertise in astronomy throughout the country, and for this reason, he did not hesitate to issue a decree that one person would get 300,000 money and those who were hiding would be directly executed. Just a year later, Emperor Taizong of Song reiterated that the warlocks sent to Bianjing from all over the world last time were simply a group of ignorant villains who were indiscriminate and swaggering. They pretend to be devils, but they are just trying to defraud the people of money, and "they are ignorant and have nothing to take." From then on, the folk collections of astronomy, physiognomy, six ren, dunjia, three lives and other yin and yang books were "limited to the month of January to send officials". The imperial court planned to completely monopolize the way to study astronomical knowledge, so as to firmly control the interpretation of Ji Qifu in its own hands.
In connection with the many hidden feelings in Emperor Taizong's seizure of the throne (such as the impatience to change the yuan when he took the throne), this may be done precisely to prevent hidden opponents from expressing doubts about his legitimacy by interpreting certain celestial phenomena. The change of Si Tiantai to Si Tianjian is also a part of this series of measures. Of the 351 folk sorcerers who had been summoned to the capital from all over the world, 68 of them were also recruited into the post of Si Tianjian, and the rest were sentenced to tattoos (tattoos on their faces) and exiled to the island. However, since the names of Si Tiantai and Si Tianjian have been changed several times, there is naturally a mixed use in the literature, which is not so clear.
Where does the "seven-day" cycle come from
It is worth mentioning that in the current research on the early Song calendar, some scholars believe that during the time of Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty, Arabs entered China to participate in the revision of the calendar, and wrote the Yingtian Calendar (used in 963-981). This statement is based on the Ming Dynasty "Ma Family Genealogy" discovered in the United States. This book was compiled in the fifth year of Emperor Xianzong's Chenghua Dynasty (1469), and the Ma clan called their ancestor Ma Yize, a native of the Rumu Kingdom (Arab) in the Western Regions. In the second year of Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty (961), Ma Yize was given an edict to enter the Chinese calendar, and two years later completed the "Ying Tian Calendar", which was presented to the emperor by Wang Zhine and promulgated to the world. Ma Yize was made a marquis for meritorious service, and his eldest son became a marquis in the Taizong dynasty and continued to serve in Si Tianjian.
Su Song (1020-1101), courtesy name Zirong, was a native of Fujian, who served as prime minister of the Zhezong Dynasty of the Northern Song Dynasty. Although he is not a professional astronomer, Su Song led the production of an unprecedented precision astronomical instrument and water transport instrument
The Ying Tian Calendar does have its characteristics, and it is now generally believed that this is the earliest calendar in ancient China to use "seven days for one week" to cycle the calendar. Because there is a custom of religious worship in the week in Islam, combined with the story of Ma Yize in the Ma Family Tree, some people believe that this is the evidence that Ma Yize really exists and introduced Islamic customs into the Ying Tian Calendar. Is it really so legendary?
The Ming and Qing dynasties themselves were a period of great genealogical falsification. It is worth mentioning that Ma Yize did not have any records in the historical records of the Song Dynasty, but he appeared out of thin air in the Ming Dynasty and became a great hero for the Song Emperor, which is very abrupt. And if you really want to say it, the "seven days" cycle is not unique to Islam. In the middle of the 8th century, the Buddhist scripture "Suyao Sutra" translated into the Tang Dynasty by the monk Bukong has the saying of the seven dawning days, and the commentary made by Bukong's disciple Yang Jingfeng also introduces it separately:
Those who have seven suns, the sun and the moon and the five stars under the straight world, one day and one change, seven days and one cycle, their use is suitable for each thing, and those who are not suitable, please use it carefully. I don't remember, but when I asked Hu and Persia, the five days Zhu people always knew. Niganzi and Momani fasted on the honey day, and this day is a great day, and these things are not forgotten, so that the people of all the kingdoms today call out for the seven days.
The "last Manichae" mentioned here is a Buddhist pejorative term for Manichaeism. In this way, even the Manichaeans have the consciousness of the seven suns. Attributing all the "weeks" that appear in the Calendar to the influence of Islam is probably not so appropriate at a time when there is no more historical evidence. After all, in the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism was the dominant philosophical thought. After hundreds of years of evolution, Qiyao was officially used by the new calendar of the imperial court in the early Song Dynasty, which is more logical.
Water transport instrument elephant platform
Since Si Tianjian is a national astronomical observatory, the imperial court will naturally organize the research and development of the most sophisticated observation instruments, the most famous of which is the water transport instrument observatory created by Su Song, which is also known as the world's earliest astronomical clock. The ancient dynasty had the so-called five virtues consistent theory, the Song Dynasty believed that it belonged to the virtue of fire, and water overcame fire, so Song Zhezong also renamed this water transport instrument observatory "armillary sky image". Su Song was not a professional astronomer, but a prime minister during the reign of Emperor Zhezong of Song. What is interesting is that he has a lot of contacts with the "Sansu" family and has a friendship with Su Xun. Therefore, although the water transport instrument was actually made by many people, with an outstanding scholar like Su Song leading it, the light of others was inevitably covered.
According to books such as "Shilin Yanyu", Su Song sent an envoy to the Khitan at the end of the tenth year of Xining (1077), when the calendars of the Song and Liao countries were different, and the winter solstice was exactly one day apart. Although Su Song, out of consideration for safeguarding the dignity of the country, insisted in front of the Khitan people that "the arithmetic of the previous family is small" and "each according to its own history", after returning to the dynasty, he had to confess to the Song Shenzong, saying that the accuracy of the Khitan calendar actually exceeded that of the Song Dynasty.
The Khitan, which has always been regarded as barbarians by the Song people, is superior to the Central Plains in terms of calendar, which will inevitably have a big impact on the Song Dynasty monarchs. After that, Su Song developed an unprecedentedly sophisticated water transport instrument elephant platform, which may be related to this incident. Fortunately, Su Song recorded the creative ideas of the water transport instrument observatory and the shape of the components, and compiled it into the book "New Instrument and Elephant Law". Scientists have thus succeeded in reconstructing this miracle weapon.
Water Observatory (1:4 size restored model), now in the Kaifeng City Museum. It is estimated that its actual height is between 8.73-8.82 meters, and it is a rectangular wooden building with a narrow upper and lower width, which is divided into three floors according to the functions of armillary sphere, armillary image and time signal, which is the pinnacle of astronomical instruments in the Song Dynasty
However, some mistakes will inevitably occur in this process. For example, when you search for information on the restoration of the water transport instrument, most people will say that it is 12 meters high and about 7 meters wide. But this is actually a mistake made by Wang Zhenduo, an expert in the history of science and technology in the 50s of the 20th century, when he directly converted the astronomical ruler of the Song Dynasty to 1 foot = 33.33 cm. However, according to the relics of ancient astronomical measurements such as the Han Dynasty copper gui watch unearthed by Jiangsu Yizheng, the Dengfeng Yuan Dynasty Stargazing Observatory in Henan, and the Ming Dynasty Jianyi, it can be seen that the length of the day's ruler has not changed much from the Han to the Ming and Qing dynasties, that is, 1 foot = 24-24.5 cm. Therefore, the actual height of the water transport observatory built under the auspices of Su Song should be between 8.73-8.82 meters. It's just that Wang Zhenduo, as a pioneer, the standards he used back then had too much influence, so that successors often followed the same old saying.
It is said that Su Song's water transport instrument observatory is the pinnacle of astronomical instruments in the Song Dynasty, and it is a conclusion that existed in the Yuan Dynasty. After the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, many of the astronomical instruments in Bianjing were relocated by the Jin people to Zhongdu (present-day Beijing), and many of them can still be seen by the Yuan Dynasty. When revising the "History of Song" at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he evaluated Zhang Sixun's Taiping Hunyi, Huang Youyi, Shen Kuo's Xining Hunyi, and Su Song's Water Transport Instrument in the "Astronomical Record", which were the four most famous astronomical observation instruments built during the Northern Song Dynasty. The first three stations all discuss their shortcomings, but Su Song's water transport instrument received all words of praise.
This machine is powered by water, integrating armillary sphere, armillary elephant and time telling functions as one of the upper narrow and lower width rectangular wooden structure, divided into three floors, the top floor is a armillary sphere for observing the starry sky, supported by a dragon column, and a sink is provided below to determine the horizontal orientation, and the roof plate above can be uncovered during observation; The middle layer is a muddy image that demonstrates the change of the starry sky, that is, the celestial globe is used to demonstrate the movement of the celestial sphere, half of which is under the horizon of the earth, and rotates once a day and night; The lowest level is the power unit and the time telling mechanism, which consists of day and night engine wheels and a five-story wooden pavilion, which is also the most magical.
The first wooden pavilion is called the "Zhengya Bell and Drum Tower", and at the beginning of each hour, wooden people dressed in red and purple ring bells at the left and right doors. Every quarter of an hour, a man in green beats a drum at the middle gate. On the second floor, there are 24 wooden people on the wheel, holding hour cards (written "Zichu", "Zizheng", and so on), and every time the beginning and timing of each hour, the wooden people will appear in front of the door in turn. There are 96 Sichen wooden people on the third floor, of which 24 report the beginning of the hour and the right time, and the rest are responsible for reporting the specific number. The fourth floor of the wooden pavilion is responsible for announcing the time at night, and the wooden people report more according to the different seasons. There are 38 wooden figures in the fifth floor of the wooden pavilion, which report dusk, dawn, sunrise and other conditions with the change of solar terms.
In total, there are 162 wooden figures in the five-story wooden pavilion, and under such a fine division of labor, the timing of the water transport instrument observatory is quite accurate, and it is said that the error is only one second a day and night. Of course, the cost of manufacturing the water transport instrument elephant platform is also staggering, and it costs more than 10,000 pounds of copper to cast the various parts of the armillary instrument alone. Therefore, it is no wonder that after Su Song, there are many people who want to restore the water transport instrument, but they all succeed.
Blind astronomer
Although the early Song Dynasty adopted a severe and suppressive attitude towards the study of astronomical knowledge by the people, the control of the ancient dynasty over the grassroots was weak after all, and even the stricter prohibition would be relaxed over time. When official institutions are stagnant, the resistance to reform is bound to be quite large, and instead of entanglement with vested interests, it is better to bring in new blood directly from the private sector. Shen Kuo then "recruited the world's tai shi zhan shu and miscellaneous scholars, and divided the technical disciplines into five." According to the "Compilation of the Continuation of Zizhi Tong", in the fifth year of Xining (1072), Shen Kuo even recommended to Song Shenzong Wei Pu, a blind man from Chuzhou who was skilled in arithmetic, to join Si Tianjian to participate in the creation of the new calendar.
Blind people seem to have been considered skilled in learning and arithmetic since ancient times. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, classics such as "Chinese" and "Zuo Chuan" recorded stories similar to the blind musician Shi Kuan of the Jin Kingdom who had the art of prophecy. Song Dynasty doctors who are familiar with such classics will naturally be influenced by this concept, believing that blind people have the talent of "knowing the divine machine". Wei Pu was able to enter Si Tianjian's work because of this. Unfortunately, because of the lack of historical data, we do not know what his early experience was. But Shen Kuo spent a lot of ink describing Wei Pu's superb computing talent in "Mengxi Pen Talks":
Pu Neng does not need to calculate the ancient lunar eclipse, but the oral recitation multiplication and division is not bad. Where the great calendar is arithmetic, it is easy for people to read it, that is, they can recite it secretly; The Pong Tong calendar is recited horizontally. Taste people to write almanacs, write obituaries, let the ears read it, and those who have a difference in calculation, read it to the point, then they know that they are wrong about a certain word, and their precision is so. Mahayana does not shine in place, and the operation is like flying, and the human eye cannot chase it. If people have a reason to move one of the calculations, Park from top to bottom, hand through the hand, to the transfer of the calculation, then correct and go.
Wei Pu can not use measurement tools, only use oral arithmetic to launch ancient and modern solar and lunar eclipses, not less than one number. But all formal almanacs are arithmetic, and Wei Pu can recite them by reading them once in their ears. He once asked people to copy the almanac, and when he finished writing, he had people recite it in his ear, and some of them had miscalculated, and when he read this place, Wei Pu would say: "A certain word here is wrong." "
It's just that even with the help of a talent like Wei Pu, Shen Kuo's improvement plan in Si Tianjian is not going so smoothly. First of all, because the instruments have not been used for a long time, many have long been damaged, and a new batch must be built to repair the calendar. In the seventh year of Xining (1074), Shen Kuo showed the newly made armillary apparatus and floating leaks to Song Shenzong and the ministers at Yingyang Gate, and was evaluated and unanimously rewarded.
However, as just mentioned, Si Tianjian has long ceased to make actual celestial observations, and the observation data recorded over the years are all forged, and if you want to revise the calendar, how can you do it without data as a reference? But observing celestial phenomena and accumulating enough material is not something that can be achieved overnight. It is precisely for this reason that although the "Fengyuan Calendar" presented by Shen Kuo in the leap April of the eighth year of Xining (1075) corrected many errors on the basis of the old calendar, the embarrassing situation of predicting the lunar eclipse occurred a few months after its promulgation. In this regard, Shen Kuo defended:
In the past life, most of them only added to and damaged the old calendar, and did not actually test the heavens. And Wei Pu made the calendar, which is both righteous and set a five-star waiting book. The method must be tested every night at dusk, half moon and five stars in the degree of seconds, after five years, excluding the clouds and the number of days of day, can be practiced for three years, and then embellished with arithmetic, the ancient so-called conjugation of the art is also here. It is the official of the Tianli of the time, all inheriting the world, subordinate to the name of the food lu, the ignorant of the calendar, the evil and simple art of his own, the group is depressed, and he has repeatedly been imprisoned. Although it cannot be shaken in the end, the waiting book has not been achieved so far. Park Yi had no waiting book and failed to do his best, but the addition and loss of the old calendar was very wrong, and it was only five or six out of ten, but it was already secret in other calendars.
"Mengxi Pen Talk", Northern Song Dynasty, Shen Kuo, Mingji Ancient Pavilion engraving, now in the National Museum of China. Shen Kuo was in charge of the Celestial Superintendent, participated in the work of detailing the armillary sphere, and reformed the calendar. In his later years, he settled in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, and wrote "Mengxi Pen Talks" in Mengxi Garden, which covers a large number of scientific and technological contents and is an important material for the study of the history of science and technology in China
It turned out that the astronomers who had inherited their positions for generations, seeing that Wei Pu's ability far exceeded their own, used all means to frame him and prevent the implementation of the new calendar. Wei Pu's original plan to remake the waiting book (i.e., the observation archive) was also lost. There was not enough data, and Wei Pu could not fully display his skills, so "Fengyuan Calendar" helplessly left shortcomings.
Stone carved astronomical map, now in the Suzhou Stone Carving Museum. Drawn by the Southern Song Dynasty Huangchang, this all-day star map was carved in 1247 and is 91.5 cm in diameter, located in the upper half of the stone carving, with captions attached to the lower half. This stone astronomical map is the world's oldest surviving full-day stone star map based on actual measurements, and the observation date is the Northern Song Dynasty (1078-1085)