Michael Saso

Solar Eclipses and Science in early China

By Michael Saso July 23, 2009

Eclipses of the moon, and even more of the sun, have always been studied, recorded, and considered extremely important in China.

Long, long ago, since 2000 + BC in fact, China’s ancient scholars had already begun to record eclipses, comets, and sun-moon phases in Oracle Bones. Farmers as well as rulers relied on their findings, for abundant crops and heaven’s blessing.

Two astronomers, Hsi and Ho. who served under Emperor Chung K’ang ca. 2134 B.C., were executed because they failed to predict an eclipse, that occurred on October 22 of that year. The ancient Chinese Shu Ching, records their beheading.

The famous Cambridge historian Joseph Needham (1900-1995) in Volume 3 of his lifetime work “Science and Civilization in China,” notes that there were 112 sightings of eclipses, in official Chinese Imperial records kept between 28 BC and 1638 AD. This was begun before telescopic observations in the West, (starting with Galileo).

The first great Jesuit missionary-scientist, Matthew Ricci, SJ, brought the works of Copernicus, and Clavius’ “Astrolobe” to China, only to find that the Chinese, as well as Arabic astronomer-scientists, (introduced to China by Kubilai Khan, the first Mongol ruler of Yuan dynasty China, 1281-1365), had built fully equipped celestial observatories in Beijing and in Nanjing.

But the scientific use of these instruments had been neglected, and became outdated. First the Ming dynasty, then the Manchu-Qing emperors, let politics get in the way of science.

Then, lo and behold, the Jesuit scientists –Christian missionaries — came to China, and were welcomed to the Imperial Court — first by Wanli, the last Ming emperor, then by the Manchu Qing emperors, who were amazed at the depth of their scientific learning, as well as morally upright teachings.

Fr. Matteo Ricci, SJ was introduced to the Emperor by the Prime Minister, Xu Guangqi, who was the first great mandarin to become Christian. Xu Guangqi served as Prime Minister for Ming as well as Qing dynasty emperors. He used Ricci’s knowledge of astronomy, and the ability to predict eclipses, as one of the most important reasons for allowing Christians to make converts in China.

Astronomy, map making, and agricultural improvements, as well as their moral virtue, totally in line with Confucius’ teachings, were compelling reasons for the Emperors to accept foreigners and their religion into 17^th and 18^th century China.

The coming of the Jesuits to farming and merchant areas of China, as well as the Qing dynasty court was filled with heart-and-mind boggling opposition. It was a solar eclipse, on June 21, 1619, that convinced the emperor to allow Christianity into China!

The Board of Rites, at that time, was headed by Xu Guangqi. The Chinese members of the Board, and the Jesuit Father Terrenz were asked to accurately predict the time of the next solar eclipse. Father Terrenz’s calculations were correct! From then until the Jesuits were “suppressed,” in 1762-67, A Jesuit was always appointed to the Astronomy department of the Board of Rites.

The suppression of the Jesuits in China, with the acrimony and “Back biting” of missionaries against each other, convinced succeeding emperors to outlaw further Christian missons in China. It was not until the colonial invasion of China by the west, the Opium Wars, and the “unequal” treaties of the 19^th and 20^thcenturies, that Christian missionaries were again allowed entrance. But their presence was always seen as colonial “oppression,” part and parcel of western economic and political presence.

All of this changed, however, with the coming of the Economic reforms of The People’s Republic of China, after 1980. The perception of Christianity in modern China is not only good, but downright welcoming – part and parcel of modern China’s basic cultural and social value system. The original vision of the Jesuits, who saw China as culturally and philosophically “ready” for the Christian message, was realized when the Church in China became totally Chinese, no longer ruled or dominated by the “nature and matter are evil” mentality that dominates European culture. Confucius and Laozi have at last “eclipsed” neo-Platonic European thought, in the subconscious mind of modern China.

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Some notes on the meaning of “Eclipse” in ancient China.

“Eclipse” “r-shi” 日食 literally means “eating the sun,” or “the sun is being eaten” in colloquial Chinese. An ancient Chinese myth says that a dragon, who dwells on the path of the moon and son, will eat or devour the sun, and more frequently the moon at certain intervals.

An eclipse of the moon is not as dangerous or significant as an eclipse of the sun, both in Asian an Caucasian cultures. This is partially because the solar eclipse is much more rare, and difficult to predict, until modern times.

The two places where the moon’s path and the sun’s course meet and cross each month are called “nodes.” When the moon is going north, it is called the Dragon’s Head (Caput Draconis), and going back to the south it is called the Dragon’s Tail (Cauda Draconis). In India they are called Rahu (dragon’s head) and Ketuno head, tail only). In China and Indian, eclipses are caused by this Dragon, who tries to devour the Sun and Moon.

There are many variations of the myth in India, telling how Lord Vishnu cut off the head of the dragon, naming the head “Rahu” and the tail “Ketu.” Rahu takes vengeance, by eating the sun or the moon, whenever the ever-changing position of the lunar “nodes” allow him close enough to do so. But his banquet is very fleeting, lasting only 5 or 6 minutes, before the sun or moon move away, out of reach. Ketu empties out what Rahu ate, bringing blessing and restoring nature, and our inner self, to union with “Dao.”

This myth comes into China through stories contained in the Buddhist scriptures. For the Daoist tradition, the two “hidden” stars are kept secret. Scholars and ordinary people are not supposed to know about them or see them. They are residents of the area around the “Big Dipper” (Ursa Major) in the northern skies. Daoist priests and nuns chant prayers to turn their anger into blessing.

Predicting the time of an eclipse (obscuration of the sun’s light) is very important throughout south and east Asia. Pregnant women are warned to stay indoors, and businesses to close down, during the time that the sun’s light is obscured. Dogs must not bark, nor birds sing, during the brief few minutes of a solar eclipse.

See Dwight Ennis, http://www.astrologyclub.org/articles/nodes/nodes.htm for an excellent scientific explanation of eclipses, and how they happen.

Read George Dunne’s “Generation of Giants” (Notre Dame Press), for more about the early Jesuits and their work in China.

Read Jonathan D. Spence’s wonderful book “The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci” for a stirring account of the Ricci’s amazing work in China.

The Chinese classics, the “Shu Jing”, “Spring-Autumn Annals,” and especially the “Yijing” (I-ching) Book of Changes show a highly developed cosmology, and (in the case of the Yijing) a computer like math formula for understanding nature’s changes.

Photo 1. Rahu, the spirit who eats the sun and moon during eclipses

Photo 2.  The six spirits who control Rahu in the Daoist/Tantric Buddhist systems