Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Frontispieces
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Calendar Functions
- Abbreviations
- Mathematical Notations
- Preface
- Credits
- License and Limited Warranty and Remedy
- 1 Calendar Basics
- I Arithmetical Calendars
- II Astronomical Calendars
- 14 Time and Astronomy
- 15 The Persian Calendar
- 16 The Bahá’í Calendar
- 17 The French Revolutionary Calendar
- 18 Astronomical Lunar Calendars
- 19 The Chinese Calendar
- 20 The Modern Hindu Calendars
- 21 The Tibetan Calendar
- Coda
- III Appendices
Coda
from II - Astronomical Calendars
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 March 2018
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Frontispieces
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Calendar Functions
- Abbreviations
- Mathematical Notations
- Preface
- Credits
- License and Limited Warranty and Remedy
- 1 Calendar Basics
- I Arithmetical Calendars
- II Astronomical Calendars
- 14 Time and Astronomy
- 15 The Persian Calendar
- 16 The Bahá’í Calendar
- 17 The French Revolutionary Calendar
- 18 Astronomical Lunar Calendars
- 19 The Chinese Calendar
- 20 The Modern Hindu Calendars
- 21 The Tibetan Calendar
- Coda
- III Appendices
Summary
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.
Ralph Waldo Emerson: Journal (May, 1849)The following description of the presentation of the annual calendar in China is taken from Peter (Pierre) Hoang (A Notice of the Chinese Calendar and a Concordance with the European Calendar, 2nd edn., Catholic Mission Press, Shanghai, 1904):
Every year, on the 1st of the 2nd month, the Board of Mathematics presents to the Emperor three copies of the Annual Calendar for the following year, namely in Chinese, in Manchou and in Mongolian. Approbation being given, it is engraved and printed. Then on the 1st of the 4th month, two printed copies in Chinese are sent to the Fan-t‘ai (Treasurer) of each province, that of Chih li excepted; one of which, stamped with the seal of the Board of Mathematics, is to be preserved in the archives of the Treasury, while the other is used for engraving and printing for public use in the province.
On the 1st day of the 10th month, early in the morning, the Board of Mathematics goes to offer Calendars to the Imperial court. The copies destined to the Emperor and Empresses are borne upon a sedan-like stand painted with figures of dragons (Lung t‘ing), those for the Princes, the Ministers and officers of the court being carried on eight similar stands decorated with silk ornaments (Ts‘ai-t‘ing). They are accompanied by the officers of the Board with numerous attendants and the Imperial band of music. On arriving at the first entrance of the palace, the Calendars for the Emperor are placed upon an ornamented stand, those for other persons being put upon two other stands on each side. The copies for the Emperor and his family are not stamped with the seal of the Board of Mathematics, while the others are. The middle stand is taken into the palace, where the officers of the Board make three genuflections, each followed by three prostrations, after which the Calendars are handed to the eunuchs who present them to the Emperor, the Empress-mother, the Empress and other persons of the seraglio, two copies being given to each, viz.
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- Calendrical CalculationsThe Ultimate Edition, pp. 385 - 386Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2018