Invited Keynote Lecture

When the Chinese met the West: A Review of the Dissemination and Influence of Indian, Arabic and European Astronomy and Astrology in the Imperial China

by Professor SHI Yunli, Department of the History of Science, University of Science and Technology of China

In traditional Chinese ideology, the tianwen ?? (Celestial Patterns) and lifa ?? (Calendar) are important matters in the legitimization and maintenance of a regime. From very early times, astrology and astronomy became a crucial element in statecraft and establishments were always installed in the government to take care of these matters, which formed a tradition very scrupulously observed and documented by every Chinese dynasty without substantial interruption in thousands of years. A special system consisting of astrology and astronomy was developed and kept on developing on its own track. Such a long and well established tradition did not prevent China from receiving, though sometimes with reluctance and selection, arts and knowledge in astronomy and astrology from outside that might supplement and enhance the indigenous ones. This talk will give a survey on the history of the Chinese reception of astronomical and astrological knowledge from “the West”, namely, India in 7th to 10th centuries, Arabic area in 13th to 15th centuries and Europe in 16th to 18th centuries. Except tracing down the cultural impacts of the new knowledge from outside, I will concentrate on how the new knowledge was appropriated by Chinese governments, as well as by Chinese astronomers and astrologers.