Boundaries Crossing: Western Astronomy in Confucian China, 1600-1800

Pingyi Chu

Abstract

This paper discusses the transmission of Western astronomy into China by the Jesuits during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It situates this episode in its socio-cultural context in order to elicit connections between scientific practices and cultural beliefs. It analyzes the local power structure in which the agents manipulated their strategies in order to turn the structure to their benefit, and at the same time, change the power configuration within that structure. I hope to shed light on how the worlds of Chinese astronomy and Jesuit astronomy collided via this investigation.

The Jesuits ventured to China to seek converts during the early seventeenth century. To their surprise, they quickly became embroiled in the calendrical reforms of the late Ming dynasty. Seizing this opportunity, the missionaries established a foothold in the imperial court. Even though this did not mean routine contact with the emperor they hoped to convert, it put them much closer than they might have hoped. While the Jesuits ultimately failed to bring the emperor over to their spiritual cause, they wrought deep changes in the traditionally lunar Chinese calendar, producing the calendar that continues to be used in China today.

This paper situates this episode in its socio-cultural context in order to elicit connections between scientific practices and cultural beliefs. It analyzes the local power structure in which the agents manipulated their strategies in order to turn the structure to their benefit, and at the same time, change the power configuration within that structure. I hope to shed light on how the worlds of Chinese astronomy and Jesuit astronomy collided via this investigation.

In traditional China, astronomy was far from a purely scientific discourse in the modern sense. Its main function was politico-religious. Astronomy was used for making calendars, for predicting abnormal celestial events and for divination. Astronomy, numerology, and astrology were unified in an indissoluble entity.

The founders of the Ming dynasty 明 (1368-1644) preserved intact the calendar crafted under their predecessors, the Mongol emperors of the Yüan dynasty. But for a cosmetic change in the name of the calendar, no changes were made--even the personnel of the Yüan Bureau of Astronomy were retained. The Ming rulers had excellent reasons for this policy. After all, the famous Yüan astronomer Kuo Shou-ching 郭守敬 (1231-1316) had developed a complicated system of astronomical calculations which had brought traditional Chinese astronomy to its apex. Meanwhile, the Ming emperor ordered the translation of Muslim astronomical works in the early period of the dynasty. Muslim astronomy had done fine service in supplementing Chinese astronomy in the Yüan period, and it continued to be used under the Ming. Predictions of celestial abnormalities were made using both systems, and the results were compared with astronomical observations.

Despite such measures, by the middle of the fifteenth century Chinese astronomy was in dire straits. The Ming astronomers simply routinely followed the computation tables left by the Yüan astronomers to compile the calendar. They were unable to master the complicated calculating techniques and had difficulties revising the calendar once it lost precision. The officials of the Bureau of Astronomy could neither produce a correct calendar, nor predict with high precision events as significant as solar eclipses. The problems were due in part to errors accumulated as the same calendar was recycled for two hundred years, and in part to the failure to adjust for the transfer of the Ming capital from Nanking to Peking. However, a large portion of the responsibility must be assigned to incompetent court astronomers. Since private calendrical studies were forbidden during the Ming dynasty, the court astronomers were granted an utter monopoly on astronomical knowledge. Most of these men held hereditary offices and kept their knowledge secret. This intellectual legacy was sufficient to permit the generating of calendars, but proved inadequate to the task of correcting calendrical errors. As one of the official in the Bureau of Astronomy would later admit that they dared not revise the calendar for fearing once incorrect revision had been made, the discrepancy might even further enlarged.

For a long time scholar-officials were aware of profound problems with the calendar and proposed many reforms, but the jealous defensiveness of the court astronomers made corrections impossible. The political corruption which had been widespread since the mid-Ming further hindered any efforts at correcting the calendar. The emperor simply ignored these proposals, and the error-ridden calendar continued to be used.

The arrival of European Jesuits fueled longstanding impetus to reform. Although the primary goal of the Jesuits was religious, they seized upon the imperial need for a precise calendar to establish a foothold in the court. This strategic choice was in keeping with the top-down conversion strategy of the Jesuits. The offices of the Bureau of Astronomy lay within the imperial city. Spatial proximity to the monarch increased their chances, the Jesuits reckoned, of converting the emperor to Christianity. Moreover, by displaying the efficacy of their astronomy which occupied a low rank in Jesuit’s tree of knowledge, the Jesuits demonstrated the superiority of they religion. Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), the most influential Jesuit in Chinese history, was especially confident that this strategy would bear fruit and tried to obtain technological support from Rome. From that time on, playing the role of technological advisors became a fundamental tactic of the missionaries.

Following a failed attempt by the Chinese astronomers to predict a solar eclipse in 1610, one of the court astronomers, an acquaintance of Ricci, proposed the translation of Western astronomical books, noting the precedent set when Muslim astronomical texts had been translated in the early Ming. In 1613, Li Chih-tsao 李之藻 (1565-1629) ventured to suggest that the task of calendrical reform be vested in the hands of the foreign missionaries. However, the throne did not respond to this request, and efforts to involve the Jesuits were further aggravated by the persecutions of 1616.

In 1629, the court astronomers’ prediction missed a solar eclipse. The newly enthroned Ch'ung-chen 崇禎 emperor (1611-1644, r. 1628-1644) decided to wage a campaign of calendrical reform. The emperor’s support brought the Jesuits a new chance. A special division led by Hsü Kuang-ch'i 徐光啟 (1562-1633) was set up within the Bureau of Astronomy with the specific task of translating Western astronomical texts and manufacturing astronomical instruments based on Western models. By then, the grasp of the Ming rulers on the Mandate of Heaven was weak indeed: the rulers of China had been strongly challenged by the Manchu invasion from outside their borders and by violent peasant rebellions and bandits from within.

As they assisted in updating the Chinese calendar, the Jesuits made every effort to acquire the most recent European insights. This strategy meant that the Vatican was besieged by requests from the missionaries for astronomical information. Trips were made to Europe to obtain books, and Jesuits skilled in astronomy and other sciences were recruited. Among the recruits, James Rho (1593-1638) and Adam Schall von Bell (1591-1666) later played the most important parts in the reforms. Also approached were Galileo (1564-1642) and Kepler (1571-1630), two of the best minds in contemporary Europe. Although Galileo did not offer his hand, Kepler went so far as to send astronomical tables. Thanks to the efforts of the Jesuits, a semi-Tychonic system was transmitted to China, largely via the work of Longomontanus (1562-1647). Among the other Jesuits’ imports to China were telescopes, Tychonic instruments, trigonometry and logarithmic formulas. All of these had become indispensable tools for Chinese astronomers in the later period.

With the transmission of new instruments and tools of computation, the Jesuits profoundly transformed Chinese astronomy. The Chinese used a lunar-solar calendar, fundamentally different from the Western Gregorian calendar, which is primarily a solar calendar. While utilizing the new information and instruments from Europe, The Jesuits’ choices were also constrained. In order to bring the Chinese system into line with the European, the Jesuits inevitably rejected calendrical practices that had existed for thousands of years. For instance, the basic units of astronomical measurement were different. Chinese quadrants divided the day into 100 units, whereas the Europeans divided it into 96 quarters of an hour. The four unit discrepancy made Chinese astronomical tables completely useless for the Jesuits. It therefore became essential to import calendrical techniques from Europe in toto. To employ European astronomical techniques, the Jesuits had to use European unit of timing. The circumference of a circle was changed from 365.25 degrees to 360 degrees in order to use trigonometric tables. Cosmological concept as fundamental as the shape of the earth was transformed from flat to special in order to march geometrical astronomical model used in European. The definition of fortnightly periods (chieh-ch'i 節氣), which was critical for setting up intercalary month in the Chinese calendar, was redefined. The traditional Chinese method called p’ing-chieh-ch'i 平節氣 (averaged fortnightly period), equally divided the 365.25 days of a year into 24 fortnightly periods. The Jesuits used the so called ting-chieh-ch'i 定節氣 (fixed fortnightly period) setting up fortnightly periods by dividing the ecliptic into 24 points. Each fortnightly period occupied 15 degrees of the ecliptic. The change of these technical details meant that the court astronomers had to be reeducated, and that they could no longer monopolize the astronomical knowledge. Moreover, it led to the disappearance of simple rules which lay people relied on to identify dates, seasons, and calculating intercalary month. These rules had been circulated in the form of songs in Chinese society for thousands of years, After these changes, the calculation of intercalary month solely vested in the hands of calendrical experts. Such radical transformations in fact demonstrated the incompatibility of the two astronomical systems, and contributed to the mistrust among different groups in the Bureau of Astronomy.

Despite their efforts, the jettisoning of traditional Chinese astronomical methods did not proceed as smoothly as Hsü Kuang-ch'i and the Jesuits had expected. From the founding of the Western astronomical section, Hsü Kuang-ch'i and his Jesuit assistants faced competition from the astronomers in the Bureau and from private astronomers. Hsü 's routine defense was a general assertion of the superiority of Western astronomical methods. From 1629 to his death in 1633, Hsü presided over several demonstrations of the comparative excellence of Western astronomy. Such contests functioned both to demonstrate the superiority of Western astronomy and to verify the precision of the astronomical tables and instruments.

Although Hsü and his Jesuit colleagues clearly demonstrated their skill in predicting celestial phenomena, the emperor hesitated to give them his imprimatur. Even worse, another astronomical section, led by a private astronomer, was immediately set up after Hsü’s death. Thanks to these circumstances, four astronomical systems coexisted unhappily at the court during the last decade of the Ming.

The Ming emperor certainly had to be very careful of changing the calendar. On the one hand, many astronomical constants had to be measured according to Jesuit astronomy before a calendar could be produced. On the other hand, the Ming dynasty had successfully absorbed Muslim astronomy into the court astronomical system by giving it a place in the Bureau of Astronomy. Apparently, such a precedent was to be followed to handle Jesuit astronomy. The Ch’ung-chen emperor simply treated Jesuit astronomy as one of the astronomical systems serving his interests and considered astronomers from different astronomical traditions to be working for him together. More then once, he ordered all the astronomers to cooperate with each other so as to produce a consistent and precise calendar.

In addition to institutional and technological factors which prevented the Ming emperor from immediately endorsing the Jesuit calendar, cultural factors certainly played a role in the competition of the calendars in the late Ming. The Jesuits were not unaware of such issues. Adam Schall once pointed out that in their attacks upon the foreign missionaries, Chinese critics used the term "Western methods" to describe Jesuit astronomy, while the Jesuits and their defenders instead called their astronomy "the new methods". This symbolic struggle over wording clearly indicates the cultural nature of the conflict, and the Jesuits were depicted as foreigners in the same way as were the Manchus, who became an increasingly worrisome threat to the Ming dynasty while the calendrical reforms were under way.

The Ming emperor finally elected to recognize the superiority of Jesuit astronomy and proclaimed the adoption of a new calendar in 1643, with the proviso that the name of the calendar was to remain unchanged. This was, however, very late in the game, and next year the Ming was overwhelmed by the peasant rebellion. Ironically, the fruits of the calendrical reform fell into the hands of the Ming's enemies and came to authenticate the Manchu claim to the Mandate of Heaven.

As it turned out, the fall of the Ming was a great blessing for the Jesuits. As soon as the Manchus occupied Peking, the Jesuits presented them with a new calendar which they had originally prepared for the Ming emperor. In fact, all of the astronomers who remained in the bureau after the dynastic transition dedicated calendars to their new masters. To demonstrate the accuracy of his calendar, Schall requested permission to make new astronomic instruments for the prediction of solar and lunar eclipses. A month later, he brought the new tools to the emperor: a telescope, a map, a sundial and an armillary sphere. Accompanying these gifts was a statement attacking the traditional Chinese methods. The passage of a month proved that Schall's prediction of a solar eclipse was more accurate than those of the Chinese and Muslim astronomers. The Shun-chih 順治 emperor (1638-1661) issued an edict naming the new calendar "Shih-hsien," 時憲 (Following the Decree of Heaven) a gesture of endorsement. On the cover of the calendar, the phrase "i hsi-yang hsin-fa" 依西洋新法 ([this calendar was compiled] according to new Western methods) was written. At the end of 1644, Schall was appointed director of the bureau. He immediately declined the offer, affirming his identity as a servant of God even as he expressed a willingness to serve the emperor at any time. After all his protestations, Schall finally accepted the offer with the consent of the Church. This successful exchange between the technical knowledge of the Jesuits and the political power of the Manchu rulers resulted in the legitimation of both.

Although the emperor had accepted the Jesuit calendar, this did not yet mean the rejection of the Chinese and Muslim methods. After the Jesuits took over the Bureau of Astronomy, they tried to protect the fruits of their struggle through the strict control of astronomical knowledge. Soon after Adam Schall’s astronomical predictions of 1644 were confirmed, an imperial edict ordered all the officials in the Bureau of Astronomy to learn the new foreign methods or lose their positions. Examinations were then set up to test the qualifications of the officials and apprentices in the bureau. In the end, most of those who worked in the bureau were obliged to learn Jesuit astronomy in order to keep their posts. However, Schall strongly resisted teaching those who had already been trained in Chinese and Muslim astronomy because of hostility they had shown the Jesuit astronomers since the late Ming. It was the Christian converts who became his welcomed pupils. One could almost say that Schall converted the bureau into a church! At the end, the Muslim section was abolished. However, this did not mean that the Jesuits had vanquished their enemies once and for all. The personnel of the Muslim section were transferred to other sections in the Bureau, where they awaited their opportunity to take vengeance.

In 1657, Wu Ming-hsüan 吳明炫, the former director of the Muslim section, brought an accusation against Schall attempting to restore his status. Though Wu had failed, this incidence was a warning that the enemies of the Jesuits were ready to retaliate. In 1659 and 1660, Yang Kuang-hsien 楊光先 (1597-1669), a proponent of the orthodox Confucianism and businessman who had found a picture of the crufixion and decided to wage a campaign against this "evil" religion, brought a series of accusations against the Jesuits. In addition to charges against Christianity, he also pointed out an "error" of misplacing intercalary month in the 1661 calendar compiled by the Jesuit, changes of some calendrical practices which had long been associated with Confucian legacy, and wrongly choosing an auspicious date for the funeral of Shun-chih emperor’s favorite son. Yang’s labors ended in failure.

In the midst of the contest between Yang and the Jesuits, the political situation changed: the Shun-chih emperor died in 1661. The new emperor, K’ang-hsi, was only a child. As a result, imperial power was vested in the hands of four Manchu regents who faced resistance from various quarters: the remnants of the Ming dynasty who were using Taiwan as a base for raids on mainland China, Han Chinese gentry in Chiang-nan area, and the increasingly powerful Three Feudatories in south China. The pacification of the empire became the central occupation of the regents. To achieve their goal, the Manchu leaders did not shy away from violence; the "literary inquisition" of the Ming Dynastic History of 1663, which led to considerable bloodshed, was but one example. Due to this political change, the Jesuits were able to return to their attacks on Yang Kuang-hsien. They accused Yang of having been involved in the case within which the author slandered the Manchus as Barbarians. Yang, however, was acquitted for lack of evidence.

As it turned out, the change in the political winds was not beneficial only for the Jesuits; Yang also took the opportunity to launch another attack. This time, he carefully crafted his strategy to fit the new political situation: he accused the Jesuits of treachery. According to Yang, the Jesuits were collecting converts and setting up churches all over the empire. They behaved no differently from those secret religious sects that had caused the empire so much trouble in the past. Their treacherous intent, furthermore, was quite clearly enunciated on the cover of the calendar they had edited: the words "i hsi-yang hsin-fa" written there could not be clearer. These characters clearly showed that the Jesuits had impinged on the authority of the emperor. In addition to these accusations, Yang also represented the earlier memorial wherein he had attacked the Jesuits for altering Chinese calendrical practices so as to undermine the legitimacy of the empire.

Upon receiving these serious charges, the Ch’ing authorities responded immediately, jailing the Jesuits in Peking as well as the converted astronomers in the Bureau of Astronomy. A series of trials was held to investigate each of Yang Kuang-hsien’s separate accusations. During the proceedings, Yang filed further charges, ones that he had already presented to the Ch’ing authorities in 1660. In 1665 the verdict of guilty was delivered on the latest count that Yang had added--wrongly choosing the date for the funeral of the son of Shun-chih’s favorite concubine--and Schall and the converted astronomers were sentenced to death. The next day, a strong earthquake struck North China. Such a warning from Heaven suggested strongly that the verdicts were unjust. The officials in charge of the trial nervously turned the case over to the grand empress dowager, K’ang-hsi’s grandmother, who was on good terms with Schall. She promptly called for Schall’s release. An amnesty was later proclaimed, and all of the other charges were dismissed. Although Schall and his fellow Jesuits were released, the five converted Han Chinese astronomers were executed. The bloodshed constituted a proof of Manchu sovereignty over their Han subjects: even the converts’ symbolic betrayal of surrendering to the authority to the Pope was not allowed within the Chinese empire.

Schall died soon after his release. After the Jesuits were removed from the Bureau of Astronomy, Yang Kuang-hsien was appointed to the position of Director. Although Yang tried to decline the offer, saying that he was ignorant of the techniques of astronomy, he finally accepted it. The Chinese and Muslim astronomical systems were restored. However, the errors in the calendar remained and Yang was unable to overcome the problems. Although he tried to recruit private astronomers, his efforts ended in vain. Ironically, Yang eventually came to confront a situation similar to that which had doomed the Jesuits: many officials who remained in the Bureau of Astronomy trained in the Jesuit astronomy were reluctant to cooperate and worked only begrudgingly.

The young emperor K'ang-hsi expressed a great deal of concern about the astronomical irregularities and the imprecision of the calendar, which might undermine his legitimacy. In particular, he had to face the powerful and errant regents who remained a threat. In 1668, K'ang-hsi issued an edict ordering Yang Kuang-hsien and Wu Ming-hsüan to cooperate with the Jesuits so that they could make a good calendar. In another edict issued on the same day, the emperor demanded a series of predictions of the sun's position on the days followed. Yang and Wu tried to avoid the test but the emperor refused to excuse them. Before the high officials who served as witnesses, Jesuit father Verbiest performed successful predictions by using the gnomon. Both Yang and Wu denied the accuracy of the test because Verbiest’s predictions, though more accurate, were not without discrepancy. After Verbist’s successful performances, K'ang-hsi also authorized the Jesuits to review the 1669 calendar made by Wu Ming-hsüan. In order to assure himself of the credibility of Jesuit astronomy, K’ang-hsi ordered more astronomical observations to be performed in the following year. Once these had been successfully completed, K’ang-hsi proclaimed the Jesuits the victors by authorizing them to edit the calendar for the coming year. The Jesuits and the converted astronomers had been fully vindicated for their past actions. Yang, on the other hand, would have been punished were it not for his advanced age. The case was closed; the Jesuits had finally reclaimed their good name.

Since K'ang-hsi had to revive Jesuit astronomy to solve the problems with the calendar, he had to face the problems accompanying the Jesuit mission and the symbolic implications of its calendar. For a Manchu emperor who had to present himself as a Confucian ruler, Yang's accusation of the Jesuits had to be taken seriously whether or not it was in fact true. After the case was closed and the positions of the Jesuits and their Chinese followers in the Bureau of Astronomy had been restored, the official in charge of the trial memorialized to revive the Jesuit mission. However, K'ang-hsi resolutely turned down the request. He even went further by restricting the spread of the mission.

K'ang-hsi further ordered the five characters i hsi-yang hsin-fa to be replaced by Ch'in-t'ien-chien tsou-chun yin-tsao Shih-hsien li-jih 欽天監奏准印造時憲曆日 (the Shih-hsien calendar published by the Bureau of Astronomy with imperial authorization). Finally, the emperor claimed total control over the calendar rather than its creators, the Jesuits. K'ang-hsi accepted the astronomical knowledge of the Jesuits but declined their religious claims. He was a Confucian emperor of China, not a ruler under the Pope. He asserted exclusive responsibility for the calendar and thereby rejected the possible implication of a symbolic surrender to the West. The trial turned out to be a game rigged to display and legitimate the power of the emperor, a mere teenager, who had only just taken power.

Moreover, the Ming collection of the Jesuit mathematics and astronomy entitled Ch'ung-chen li-shu 崇禎曆書 (Mathematical Astronomy of the Ch'ung-chen Reign) was reissued in 1669 with a new title Hsin-fa li-shu 新法曆書 (Mathematical Astronomy in Accordance with the New Methods). This compendium was presented to the Shun-chih emperor in 1646 with the title Hsi-yang Hsin-fa li-shu 西洋新法曆書 (Mathematical Astronomy in Accordance with the New Western Methods). Both the Ming emperor Ch'ung-chen and K'ang-hsi cautiously avoided the association with the word "western" (hsi 西), whereas Schall never forgot his symbolic struggle to use the word "western."

Under these circumstances, the Jesuits could only barely protect their base at the court. To win imperial endorsement, they had to surrender their religious claim in exchange for assuring the legitimacy of their astronomy. This compromise destroyed the original goal of their mission.

The dispute between the Jesuits and Yang Kuang-hsien is no less about who was in the proper position to organize knowledge than about who was in the proper position to organize the social order. In his attack on the Jesuits, Yang contended that he knew only the li 理 (principle) of calendar making but not the methods. As long as one understood the li, the technological problems associated with the traditional methods could be solved by a group effort on the part of Confucian scholars. According to Yang, astronomy, a knowledge so crucial to state authority, should not have been monopolized by foreign experts who believed in an absolute authority higher than the emperor and knew nothing about the cultural practices associated with it. This knowledge had to be managed by Confucian scholars who understood every cultural aspect of astronomy because they had been participated in such a way of life. Moreover, astronomy should be a collaborative enterprise among Confucian scholars, the traditional leaders and the monopolizers of the Way in Chinese society. Experts who did not belong to this status group had no business interfering in astronomical affairs. Yang thus envisioned a social order in which Confucian scholars monopolized astronomical knowledge, in which the managers of the social order were unified with the masters of knowledge. Despite Yang's incompetence in astronomy, many other Ch’ing scholars shared his vision of astronomy and of the social order.

After the 1664 Calendar Case, Jesuit astronomy came to replace "Chinese" astronomy; Chinese astronomers had to confront the newly legitimate Jesuit astronomy, the orthodox and now "Chinese" system. Western astronomy and the mathematical methods upon which it rested had become indispensable to all who were interested in astronomical studies in China. The association of Western astronomy with Western religion was, however, problematic, as was the defeated Chinese traditional astronomical methods, which had been part of the legacy entrusted to the Chinese by ancient sage kings. Under such circumstances, an ideological reformulation was called for, one that incorporated Western astronomy into a revitalized Chinese astronomy so as to maintain the legacy of the sages. It was here that Mei Wen-ting 梅文鼎 (1633-1721) made his contribution to Chinese astronomy.

Unlike Yang Kuang-hsien, Mei Wen-ting was an expert of astronomy and mathematics. He was the first Chinese mathematician who wrote geometry following the format of Euclid’s Elements. Adopting the geometric knowledge transmitted by the Jesuits, Mei studied various polyhedron and correct some of the Jesuits’ mistakes. He also investigated inscribed figures and discussed some of the basic nature of this complicated geometric problem. He was able to reduce three dimensional geometric problem to two dimension by dexterous using projection. He also proved some trigonometry formulae by his own method. This list can go longer. However, Mei was commemorated as the greatest mathematician by later Confucian scholars not because he was an adroit mathematician but because he was a Confucian scholar who was able to forge a new linkage between Chinese and Western mathematical and astronomical traditions, and thereby reoriented the direction of research of the next generation.

In addition to studying Western astronomy and mathematics, Mei spend great energy in reconstructing ancient Chinese astronomy. He began his career as an astronomer with an effort to reconstruct the Ming calendar and provided a guideline of how he had completed his own project. His method was very similar to practices current in evidential studies (k’ao-cheng 考證) and involved correcting and reconstructing texts while preserving questions that he had been unable to solve. Mei Wen-ting took collation seriously and considered it the basis for astronomical investigation. Errors in copying, the corruption of printing boards, and other less technical factors such as astronomers' attempts to keep their knowledge secret were the major problems impeding the progress of knowledge. Unless the texts had been properly collated and reconstructed, no positive knowledge was possible.

Mei Wen-ting also laid down the metaphysical foundation of his methodology in this work. Mei argued that the calendar originated from shu 數 (quantifiable data), and shu from li. Shu, the objectification of li, constituted the pattern and conditioning of li, therefore, li could be elicited through an investigation of shu. Ancient astronomers had investigated Heaven thoroughly so as to create an astronomical system that corresponded to li. Therefore, when the ancient sages set up the calendar, its eternal li had already been established. However, the sages of antiquity were unable to foresee the minute heavenly variations. Later astronomers stood at a favorable vantage point in time and were able to discover these minute changes and take them into account in calendar-making. The enterprise of astronomy thus proceeded through accumulation, each past calendar a contribution to this progress. By meticulously studying the calendars of past, the heart/mind (hsin 心) of the scholar was able to communicate with the heart/mind of the ancient sages and apprehend the eternal li. Thus, even though the modern calendar of his day had in many ways surpassed its antecedents, it was necessary to preserve and study the ancient calendar.

Moreover, Mei Wen-ting considered calendrical studies the core of the Confucian pursuit of ke-wu ch'iung-li 格物窮理 (investigating things so as to understand li thoroughly). This emphasis on the great importance of astronomy led Mei to reject the claims of Confucian literatus like Yang Kuang-hsien who were satisfied with understanding the li of astronomy without bothering with detailed calendrical calculations. According to Mei, no shu went beyond li and li did not go beyond shu. Without engaging in complicated calendrical computation, li simply could not be attained.

Since astronomy and mathematics were a crucial part of the Confucian enterprise, Mei Wen-ting had to explain why the state had prohibited the study of astronomy. He argued that astronomy and astrology had traditionally been two different branches of knowledge, and that only astronomy was a Confucian art. What the law prohibited was astrology, not astronomy. While the former focused on foretelling the future, the latter led to kingly governance. The ban on astrology was not total--the law prohibited only those who manipulated omens from disturbing the social order.

Like Yang Kuang-hsien, Mei considered astronomy a collective endeavor for all Confucians. He suggested that the transmission of astronomy and mathematics be carried on in lineage schools and shu-yüan (書院 academy), the proper cultural space for learning in the early Ch'ing. He also consistently emphasized the importance of intellectual exchange among interested scholars and of a pool of information to be used for research. For Mei, the inefficiency of the network of astronomical exchange could be partially attributed to the astronomers who kept their knowledge secret and to the lack of interest among Confucian scholars. Mei also urged his contemporaries to give detailed citations so that other scholars could trace their sources and evaluate their contributions. Mei Wen-ting's vision of astronomical learning and efforts in the directions were typical of evidential scholars at this time.

In addition to escalating the importance of astronomy and legitimating the study of ancient Chinese astronomy, Mei Wen-ting systematically developed the idea of the "Chinese origins of Western learning" (hsi-hsüeh chung-yüan 西學中源) attempting to resolve the dispute over Chinese and Western astronomical methods. While the anti-Manchu loyalists had first used this idea to "expose" the alien nature of the Manchus by attacking the foreign astronomers who traced the origins of myriad things back to their omniscient God in the West, Mei, however, subverted this subtle meaning of "Chinese origins of Western learning" and argued that Western astronomy and mathematics were in fact lost Chinese art which were part of Confucians' cultural heritage. According to Mei, astronomy and mathematics originated in ancient China and had been spread by court astronomers who had fled China during a period of political chaos. Chinese astronomical knowledge spread, but was applied to calendar-making in ways unique to the cultural needs of individual societies which invented its own calendrical system. Thus, concluded Mei, the symbolic and cultural significance of the calendar could not be replaced, though the methods used to draw up the calendar could be imported. Further, he argued that since China was a Confucian state, the traditional Chinese ping-ch'i method and the method used to determine the intercalary month--the two vital elements constituting the cheng-shuo 正朔 (orthodox calendar)--should still be employed. Mei's arguments for the cultural significance of the Chinese calendar, especially this insistence on the use of the cheng-shuo, were in the tradition inaugurated by Yang Kuang-hsien.

Equally important, by making Western astronomy the legatee of traditional Chinese astronomical practices, Mei was able to legitimate the use of the Western method. By locating Chinese astronomy in the position of the originator, Mei was also able to urge China's astronomers and mathematicians to revive their own traditions through the search for and reconstruction of ancient texts. By so doing, Mei paved the way for a synthesis of astronomy, mathematics, and evidential studies and made technical knowledge a requirement for a Confucian. The "Chinese origins of Western learning" was the master narrative of legitimation that rationalized the existence of two competing astronomical systems and fit them into the regime of power constructed by the Manchus.

In fact, Mei Wen-ting did not invent his version of the "Chinese origins of Western learning" before he met the K’ang-hsi emperor in 1705. Thanks to Mei’s patron Li Kuang-ti’s 李光地 (1642-1718) mediation, the unprecedented meeting between a Confucian astronomer and the emperor was realized. K’ang-hsi and Mei discussed mathematics and astronomy for three consecutive days. The relationship between Chinese and Western astronomy was one of the key issues in their discussion. After the meeting, Mei developed the idea of the "Chinese origins of Western learning" in a systematic manner to resolve the emperor’s doubts.

By then, tensions between the missionaries and the Manchu emperor grew intense due to the interpretation and adoption of Chinese rites. The so-called Rites Controversy finally burst out in 1705. The loyalty of the Jesuits, who controlled the astronomical knowledge which legitimated the dynasty, was under suspicion. As K’ang-his confessed, ever since the Yang Kuang-hsien’s incidence, he had been troubled by the dispute between the two astronomical traditions and decided to learn astronomy personally. And now K’ang-his had to deal with the vexatious situation. As a result, the K'ang-hsi emperor commissioned the compilation of the astronomical and mathematical encyclopedia to publicize the scientific secrets of the Jesuits, so that his Chinese subjects could gain access to this knowledge. K'ang-hsi summoned Mei Wen-ting’s grandson Mei Chüeh-ch'eng 梅成 (1681-1763) to court to work on the project of grand encyclopedia of mathematics and astronomy. Mei's theory of the "Chinese origins of Western learning" constituted the genealogical mechanism by which Chinese and Western methods would be assigned their proper places. Mei Chüeh-ch'eng, though not serving at the Bureau of Astronomy, stayed at court and defended his family legacy. He would become the key figure to spread Mei Wen-ting’s astronomical studies to the Confucian astronomers in the eighteenth century.

While Mei's construction of the "Chinese origins of Western learning" was officially adopted, his proposal to restore the orthodox calendar was never accepted by the authorities. It was feared that a restoration of the cheng-shuo through the p’ing-ch'i method might lead to the same calendrical chaos that had occurred in the late Ming. Moreover, it was not clear whether the Chinese and Western methods were compatible. As a result, the Manchu emperors continued to entrust astronomical matters to the Jesuits. However, by appropriating both Mei's discourse and Jesuit astronomy, the Manchu emperor undermined the legacy of the Ming loyalists as well as the symbolic resources of the Jesuits while maximizing his own interests.

Chinese mathematics and astronomy underwent a dramatic change after Mei Wen-ting, the result of which persisted through the end of the Ch'ing. So profound was this change that Nathan Sivin has called the period a "scientific revolution" in China. The social status of the two disciplines and of their practitioners rose as more and more Confucian scholars came to engage in mathematical and astronomical researches. During the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Confucian scholars had not only to be familiar with the principles of astronomy; they also had to be able to perform a certain level of calculations. Numerical data from either calculation or classical texts came to constitute the foundation for astronomical discussion. A new concept of li was gradually fermented. Confucian scholars now believed that li could be deduced from number (shu). A proper understanding of li had to be based upon mathematical knowledge, the key to the technical contents of the Classics.

In the eighteenth century, mathematics and astronomy received attention as Confucian fields of study largely because of their relevance to classical studies rather than calendar making. Mathematics and astronomy were used to verify the dates of a work or a historical event, reconstruct ancient calendars, investigate ancient celestial phenomena, and to reconstruct the original shape of objects recorded in the classical texts. No longer were astronomy and mathematics handmaids to Confucian metaphysical and moral persuasion. Although the two disciplines remained under the umbrella of Confucianism, the relationship among these different intellectual fields had changed.

These changes in mathematics and astronomy left a deep impression on the consciousness of Confucian literati. During the Ch'ing, for the first time, the biographies of Chinese mathematicians and astronomers were granted a place in the dynastic history. At the end of the eighteenth century, Juan Yüan 阮元 (1764-1845), with help from Li Jui 李銳 (1768-1817) and others, constructed an intellectual genealogy of astronomers and mathematicians to legitimate and celebrate these changes. More and more Confucian scholars came to recognize the value of astronomy and mathematics as aids to evidential studies. As the Ch'ou-jen chuan 疇人傳 (Biographies of Astronomers and Mathematicians) was expanded by later Ch'ing scholars, more and more evidential scholars came to be enshrined in the pantheon of ch'ou-jen.

This new intellectual trend was, according to Lo Shih-lin 羅士琳 (1774-1853), the result of the labor of Mei Wen-ting, Chiang Yung 江永 (1681-1762) and Tai Chen 戴震 (1723-1777). Mei had enthusiastically advocated the ancient methods (ku-fa 古法); unfortunately, though, many of the ancient mathematical and astronomical texts had been lost. Chiang Yung and Tai Chen developed Mei Wen-ting's intellectual legacy, rediscovered and collated many of these valuable ancient texts and brought the ancient method back to life. Standing on the shoulders of these giants, Ch'ien Ta-hsin 錢大昕 (1728-1804) "searched for truth in material things" (shih-shih-ch'iu-shih 實事求是) and developed a comprehensive vision that earned him the title of 'most outstanding astronomer and mathematician of the Ch'ing.'

Although Chiang Yung and Ch'ien Ta-hsin were outstanding evidential scholars interested in astronomy, they obviously had very different opinions about it. A member of a new generation, Ch'ien attacked Chiang on technical and metaphysical grounds, which, in the final analysis, involved the distinction between Chinese and Western. Ch'ien's hostile attitude towards the Westerners later became infused in the Ch'ou-jen chuan. For Ch'ien and Juan and their contemporaries, the development of astronomy and mathematics had to take place within the indigenous Chinese tradition. Thus, the cultural boundaries between the Chinese and foreigners were their central concern. However, they were not so ignorant as to propose that Western astronomy be completely phased out. Like Mei Wen-ting, they sought to relocate the positions of Chinese and Western astronomy and mathematics to protect the tradition of the ancient sages, which evidential studies aimed to decipher. They employed Mei Wen-ting's notion of the "Chinese origins of Western learning" to justify their intellectual stance, developing a "Chinese" method which was in reality a synthesis of Western and ancient methods while preserving the social boundaries between the Chinese and the Westerners. In such an intellectual atmosphere, Chiang Yung's favorable attitude towards the Western method was disturbing due to its tacit advocacy of a more tolerating attitude towards the Westerners.

Chiang Yung's preference for Western astronomy was rooted in his belief that Western astronomy has described the truth of heaven. Such opinion was popular among Chinese astronomers like Mei Wen-ting who adopted Western astronomy in their research. Western astronomy thus helped not only the computations of astronomers, but also the Confucians search for li. Moreover, the Western methods also surpass the Chinese methods in precision and consistency. He emphasizes that an astronomer might concern himself only with the method of calculation, but a Confucian must also take li into account. The Western methods, therefore, satisfy the Confucian's demand better. Focusing on pursuing li rationally manifested in astronomy, Chiang subverts Yang Kuang-hsien's and Mei Wen-ting's arguments which suggests p’ing-ch’i method as the only legitimated method for the Confucian emperor and empire. Chiang Yung blatantly rejects Mei's proposal of accepting whatever method as long as its li is sound and useful. Chiang argues that li had its own true value. The seemingly true li cannot compare with the true li. Li and shu are profound and subtle. The long tradition of Chinese method proves only its antiquity, but not truth. If both truth and the antiquity cannot be attained, Chiang asserts that he would rather give up antiquity.

Despite his high regard for the Western methods, Chiang Yung could not disregard the cultural significance of the traditional Chinese calendrical methods which Yang Kuang-hsien and Mei Wen-ting had sought to defend. Chiang placed his tribute to Western astronomy beside Mei's argument regarding the superiority of Chinese civilization because of China's location at the facial part of the earth. Chiang praised Mei's opinion, asserting it was more than a mere proclamation of superiority, but a profound insight reaching into the ultimate Principle. Nevertheless, Chiang Yung's openness towards Western astronomy was not shared by the next generation of evidential scholars, represented by such figures as Ch'ien Ta-hsin and Juan Yüan who no longer believed that the university was as regular as Mei Wen-ting and Chiang Yung had thought. Such an attitude change largely lay in the inflow of new astronomical information.

After the Rite Controversy, the Jesuits remained to serve imperial astronomers and continued to improve the precision of the calendar. In 1742, the Jesuits introduced the use of ellipses to replace the deferent and epicycles system in the explanation of the orbits of the planets. In 1760, Copernicus's heliocentric system was presented to the Ch'ien-lung emperor as his fiftieth birthday gift by Michel Benoist (1715-1774). However, this seemed to cause more confusion than clarification because the Jesuits often failed to offer any explanation of the new theory. Although Benoist presented Copernican system only as a means of simplifying calculations and did not make claims about the truth of the system, the concept of a moving earth raised serious doubts among Confucian literati regarding the westerners' understanding of the universe. As Juan Yüan pointed out, this system reversed the positions of above (the moving celestial globe) and below (the static earth). Therefore, it was divorced from the normality/classics (ching 經) and betrayed the Tao.

The new theory, whether cryptic, decoded or perceived dimly, enhanced the belief among the generation of astronomers in the eighteenth century that ultimately irregularities beyond the comprehension of human beings existed in the universe. At best, human beings might approximately approach these irregularities. As Tai Chen later pointed out, the universe was extremely profound and exhausted the content of shu 數 (number, calculation). Astronomical calculation was bound to lose some accuracy over time. Minute variations could be detected only after a long time. Therefore, one needed instruments and methods to reconcile these variations and to revise the calendar whenever discrepancies appeared. Since human beings were unable to exhaust the secret of the cosmos, Tai Chen thus turned his attention to the relationship between the kingly way and astronomy. After all, that was the purpose of astronomical studies. Tai contended that the kingly way was defined by respecting heaven and diligently attending to the welfare of the people. The king was not, therefore, required to know the minute details of the heavenly bodies. Even if the motions of the five planets were abnormal, the sage was only expected to attend to his own conduct, not to predict planetary motions. The sage followed these heavenly ordinances to rule his people. The astronomical method and the motions of heavenly bodies would eventually fall out of alignment. Astronomers designed calendar in accordance with regularities, and recorded abnormalities for future revisions. The sage-kings utilized astronomical instruments to understand the operation of heaven so that they might match human affairs with the pattern and flux of heaven.

Tai's arguments reveal a deep belief in the fundamental irregularity of the universe, an irregularity which limited the success of human efforts to understand its ultimate secrets . Instead of pursuing a remote and elusive knowledge, then, Tai believed that it was better to focus on practical human affairs. Though the sage-kings would need the assistance of astronomical instruments and astronomers to understand the celestial phenomena, it is quite impossible to exhaust the profundity of the universe. Consequently, the urgent task of the sage-kings was not to exhaust every aspect of the celestial phenomena but to understand the sun and moon, since these directly influenced the livelihood of their subjects. The irregular aspects of the universe led Tai to emphasize the symbolic significance of astronomy and to construct a Confucian vision of astronomy which emphasized the ruler's responsibility in taking care of the common people. For Tai, astronomy was more than a branch of knowledge that addressed the problems of the celestial order. It had a direct bearing on human society.

Although in discussing this Tai Chen was expressing his opinion about astronomy, his feelings reflected the general views of his time. In his letter to Tai Chen, Ch'ien Ta-hsin criticized Chiang Yung: "The Way of Heaven is extraordinary profound. It simply cannot be exhausted by one person's method. . . .The deferents, equants and epicycles in the new method are artful calculations, not reality." Since neither Western nor Chinese astronomy was able to present an absolute picture of the universe, neither could claim the privilege of possessing the ultimate truth regarding the universe. Some Confucian scholars even argued that because Western cosmology was so problematic the Chinese method must be superior. In agreement with Ch'ien Ta-hsin, Juan Yüan contended that the Westerners simply made up all their private theories about the universe to explain why an event happened by taking the course it did (so-i-jan 所以然). But Westerners had changed their models several times over the course of a century. Some of these theories ran so counter to Chinese ways that they violated the Tao in the Classics. Only the Chinese method, which explained only the course of an event (tang-jan 當然), could be flawless. In other words, only those methods that could be embedded in the Chinese cultural milieu could be considered effective. People like Juan Yüan no longer believed in an ultimate reality of the universe. Instead of making up grand but false theories to account for the ultimate reality, the Chinese method humbly limited itself to describe phenomena. This, it was argued, showed intellectually integrity. In this intellectual climate, Ch'ien Ta-hsin, thus, concluded that Mei Wen-ting was able to manipulate the Western theories, while Chiang Yung was simply used by the westerners. Within this intellectual atmosphere, Western astronomy was simply one of several methods which might be used in astronomical calculation, neither superior nor inferior to the Chinese method. Western astronomy was no longer infallible in describing the reality of the universe.

Although these Confucian scholars believed that the profound irregularity could not be completely grasped by human efforts, this did not mean that they all acknowledged Yang Kuang-hsien’s idea that the principle of the calendar was more important than its calculation. On the contrary, they sought to improve their technical knowledge by reviving the astronomy and mathematics of the ancient Chinese, a program directed by the "Chinese origins of Western learning." Tai's was also famous for his collation of ancient Chinese mathematical texts preserved in the Yung-lo ta-tien. Although Tai's work on these texts is generally considered sloppy by modern scholars, it was the rediscovery of these texts that led to a revival of the study of ancient mathematics by applying Western knowledge. Tai’s endeavors serve the intellectual taste and interests of evidential scholars well, and thus enjoyed a higher reputation than his mentor Chiang Yung.

The Rites Controversy forced the Jesuits serving at the Ch'ing court to express their loyalty clearly. They could be either the servants of the Pope or the savants of the emperor, but not both. Ricci's canny strategy of accommodating Christianity to Chinese culture while demonstrating the superiority of Christianity through scientific achievement failed completely. The Ch’ing emperor exerted strict tight control over the missionaries and prohibited proselytism after the Rites Controversy. This, however, did not mean that the Manchu emperors were xenophobic. They continued to be fond of Jesuit painting and music and understood the usefulness of the Jesuit sciences, particularly military technology, though it must be conceded that their enthusiasm was not as great as that of the K'ang-hsi emperor.

Although many Confucian literati were well versed in mathematics and astronomy, almost none of them had been appointed to the Bureau of Astronomy. Both Mei Wen-ting and his grandson Mei Chüeh-ch'eng had dedicated their lives to astronomical research but never served as official astronomers in the Bureau of Astronomy. Scion of a long line of astronomers, and recipient of an honorary chin-shih degree from the K'ang-hsi emperor because of his astronomical expertise, Ho Kuo-tsung 何國宗 (?-1766) though sometimes involved in the affairs of the Bureau of Astronomy, served mainly as a normal civil bureaucrat. The Ch'ing government seems to have made an effort to reserve the positions in the Bureau of Astronomy for the Jesuits. In the emperor's eyes, Confucian literati and the Jesuits were two distinct groups serving different purposes and operating in different locales.

Despite the vigorous efforts of the Confucian literati to address the cultural significance of the calendar, the Ch'ien-lung period saw the official recognition of only a small portion of their opinions. What was accepted was irrelevant to the precise computation of the calendar but had cultural significance to the Han Chinese. The Manchu emperors turned a deaf ear to the idea of setting cheng-shuo according to the traditional Chinese p’ing-ch’i method. They ensured their monopoly on power by separating the two groups--one in a specialized institute, the other in the larger cultural environment--and by managing the information flow between the two. The emperor released Jesuit knowledge to the general Confucian readers by publishing a series of astronomical and mathematical encyclopedias and involving them to translate Western astronomical works with the Jesuits. This prevented anyone from stirring up a calendrical debate which might have damaged the legitimacy of the emperors as alien rulers. The Jesuits and the Confucian astronomers were effectively segregated while the emperor stood between them controlling the flow of information and mediating the conflicts between the two groups and enjoying the legitimacy that both groups constructed for him.