April 20, Beijing, China, National Museum of China/中国国家博物馆 (Part 6 – Ancient Chinese Jade exhibition/中国古代玉器展 and part of The Power of Science and Technology exhibition/科技的力量展):
Starting with the Ancient Chinese Jade exhibition today, this is a Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911) Qianlong era (1736 - 1796) jade brush holder. It’s impossible to tell from this angle (my bad lol), but the relief on this brush holder actually depicts the Sanxing/三星 (lit. “three stars”), which is the name of a group of three Daoist deities: Fuxing/福星 (lit. “Fortune Star”; Jupiter), Luxing/禄星 (lit. “Prosperity Star”; Mizar of Ursa Major), and Shouxing/寿星 (lit. “Longevity Star”; Canopus). These three gods are frequently depicted together for auspiciousness.
A Qing dynasty Qianlong era jade gaiwan/盖碗 (lit. “lidded bowl”), decorated with gold inscription of Qianlong Emperor’s poetry and plum blossoms. Gaiwan are a specific type of Chinese tea cup that can be used to both infuse tea and drink tea, and may consist of three parts–a bowl, a lid, and a saucer. Because of this three-part structure, it’s also called sancaiwan/三才碗, where the lid, bowl and saucer correspond to “heaven”, “human”, and “earth” respectively. Alternatively gaiwan can be more literal like the one here, which only has a bowl and a lid. Some say the gaiwan originated in Sichuan in Tang dynasty (618 - 907 AD), but evidence suggests that true gaiwan (with lid) only appeared in late Ming dynasty to early Qing dynasty (around 16th-17th century). Gaiwan was very popular in Qing dynasty and remains popular today.
Left: Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644) diancui/点翠 and jade ornament, with egrets and lotuses carved into the jade part. As mentioned before in the second historical fashion exhibition post, diancui (the blue parts) is a method of decoration that uses the iridescent feathers of kingfishers. Because all species of kingfishers are now protected by law, all diancui on the market currently are imitations.
Right: Ming dynasty wooden table screen with carved jade insert depicting a dragon. This is pretty cute tbh considering how small it is
Qing dynasty jade decor called a shanzi/山子, with a visual depiction of the chengyu 老马识途 (“old horses know the path”) carved into the jade. Shanzi pieces are characterized by their retainment of the original shape of the jade, and depictions of scenes and stories within the jade with methods including reliefs, full reliefs, and openwork sculpting.
Left: Jin dynasty to Yuan dynasty (1115 - 1368) jade ornament depicting chrysanthemum flowers.
Middle left: a Ming dynasty copper daikua/带銙 (basically belt decoration) inlaid with carved jade depicting deer and pines.
Middle right: a Qing dynasty jade pendant in the shape of two badgers.
Right: Qing dynasty jadeite daigou/带钩 (basically belt buckle) with fish and bat motifs. In traditional Chinese symbolism, fish symbolizes “surplus” (鱼 is a homophone of 余), and bats symbolize “fortune” (蝠 is a homophone of 福).
Notice how each of the above pieces utilize the colors inherent in the jade itself to lend color to the subject depicted. This method is still widely used today in modern jade/stone sculpting, and sometimes the finished piece can be stunning. Here’s a modern example that’s not from this exhibition: the piece 山乡晨曦 (“Mountain Village in Dawn’s Light”) by 黄日富. This entire scene is fashioned from a single stone.
And back to the exhibition, I forgot to take pictures of the placards for the next two artifacts, and the museum’s complete online catalogue doesn’t have a search function (UGH)……so I’ll put my best guess here, but don’t take my word for it lol
A jade decor depicting a dragon, probably from either Ming or Qing dynasty:
This seems to be a jade jianzhi/剑璏, no idea what time period it’s from. Jianzhi are basically flat belt loops attached to the sheath of the jian sword scabbard, so that the jian sword may be carried on its owner’s belt.
And onto The Power of Science and Technology exhibition. The pictures I’m sharing here will be primarily focused on ancient Chinese science and technology.
Ink rubbing of the famous Southern Song dynasty (1127 - 1279) star chart stele (called 天文图碑 in Chinese), showing the positions of the Chinese constellations. This star chart was drawn by Southern Song dynasty astronomer Huang Shang/黄裳 based on observations made between 1078 and 1085 (during Northern Song dynasty), and the stele was erected in 1247. The stele itself still stands in the Confucian Temple in Suzhou, China. Here’s a link if anyone wants to see a clearer image of the rubbing (to avoid confusion: the rubbing in this webpage was made in Qing dynasty, but the stele was erected in 1247).
Chart of the Twenty-Eight Mansions/二十八宿 from the Ming dynasty illustrated encyclopedia Sancai Tuhui/三才图会, Volume 1. The Twenty-Eight Mansions are regions around the ecliptic used to identify the location of the Sun, Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn. This is an important concept for both traditional Chinese astrology and astronomy.
Top left: ancient observation of a solar eclipse documented in the Book of Documents/《尚书》.
Bottom left: ancient observation of a nova documented in Book of Han/《汉书》 (completed in 111 AD).
Bottom right: ancient observation of a sunspot documented in Book of Han.
If one flips through any of the 24 official histories of China (二十四史), one will find these records of historical events peppered with observations of astronomical phenomena. This is because of the traditional Chinese astrology concept known as “interactions between heaven and mankind” (天人感应), where it’s believed that whatever happens in the heavens will be reflected in the mortal realm in some way, and vice versa. Because of this indistinction between astronomy and astrology, the vast majority of Chinese dynasties would have an imperial bureau set up just to observe, record, calculate, and interpret the movement of celestial bodies and astronomical phenomena, since these were viewed as reflections of the state and fate of the entire country. In reality however, this bureau often functioned as a special panel of political advisors to the emperor. This bureau is referred to by different names throughout Chinese history, but the two most well known names are 司天监 and 钦天监.
A representation of a piece of ox scapula oracle bone from Shang dynasty (~1600 - 1046 BC; original artifact is in this museum) inscribed with terms from the Sexagenary Cycle, called Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches (tiangandizhi/天干地支) in Chinese, or Stems and Branches (ganzhi/干支) for short. This cyclical system of 60 terms is used to record the year, month, day, and hour in traditional Chinese calendar (for example right now is still the year 甲辰, but after Chinese New Year, it will be the year 乙巳); however, in Shang dynasty, this system was only used to record days. The Sexagenary Cycle is still used by traditional Chinese painters and calligraphers when dating their works.
Four of the calendars used in different time periods in Chinese history, the Taichu Calendar/太初历 of Han dynasty (top left), created in 104 BC; the Daming Calendar/大明历 of Southern dynasty (top right), created in 462 AD; the Dayan Calendar/大衍历 of Tang dynasty (bottom left), created in 729 AD; and the Shoushi Calendar/授时历 of Yuan dynasty (bottom right), created in 1281. All of these are lunisolar calendars.
The Northern Song dynasty (960 - 1127) official military compendium Complete Essentials for the Military Classics/《武经总要》, by Zeng Gongliang/曾公亮 and Ding Du/丁度. The version seen here is the version included in the Qing dynasty book collection Complete Library of the Four Treasures/《四库全书》, completed in 1782.
And the book that has appeared a couple times throughout this series of posts already, the Ming dynasty illustrated encyclopedia Sancai Tuhui/《三才图会》:
This is the Ming-era Chinese translation of the mathematical work The Elements by Euclid, titled 《几何原本》. The translators were the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci and Xu Guangqi/徐光启 (there’s more information on the placard).
Here is one of the ways in which ancient Chinese science and technology still contributes to the world today, a lesser known example than the famous Four Inventions: the discovery of the antimalarial drug artemisinin (named qinghaosu/青蒿素 in Chinese) by Chinese chemist Tu Youyou/屠呦呦 in the 1970s. Artemisinin is derived from the plant Artemisia annua L., which was recorded in The Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergency Treatments/《肘后备急方》, a book on traditional Chinese medicine written by Ge Hong/葛洪 in 340 AD, as effective against malaria. Since its discovery, artemisinin and its derivatives have saved millions of people, and are now recommended by the WHO as part of the frontline therapy for malaria. For her discovery of artemisinin, Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2015. On display here are Tu Youyou’s letter to the Chinese plant biologist Qian Yingqian/钱迎倩, and her revisions to the draft of Discovery and Development of New Antimalarial Drug Qinghaosu (Artemisinin).
For thousands of years, Chinese people gazed at the stars in awe and wonder what messages the heavens wished to convey. Today, with modern science and technology, the heavens are not so mysterious and out-of-reach anymore, and people can appreciate the universe simply for its vast beauty. In 2013 China sent its first lunar rover, Yutu/玉兔, to the moon. In 2020, Chang'e 5/嫦娥五号 brought back a sample of lunar soil. The names of Yutu and Chang'e come from the names of the moon rabbit and the moon goddess of traditional Chinese mythology respectively (here’s an old post I wrote on Chang'e and the moon rabbit, if anyone’s interested in the legend).
Left: 1:1 model of the 2013 Yutu/玉兔 rover. (both pictures from National Museum of China official site; I saw the actual model and the actual sample but didn’t take a picture of it)
Right: part of the lunar soil sample that Chang'e 5 brought back in 2020.
Looking at the lunar soil sample really made me appreciate how far humanity has come, and how much China has developed. I remember witnessing China’s first manned spaceflight in 2003, that was just a little over 21 years ago. These are truly exciting times.
Phew. Another post that ended up being way more involved than I initially thought……the next post will be the last one of the museum posts in the 2024 China series, and it will be on the history of tea, wine, and food in China (mmm). It will be posted by the Friday before Chinese New Year. Stay tuned!
Well, tiny correction: Su Daji is not the incarnate of the Heart Moon Fox, but Wu Zetian, China’s one and only female emperor, is said Lunar Mansion incarnate in Flowers in the Mirror, a Qing dynasty novel.
In another Qing dynasty novel, Shuoyue Quanzhuan (说岳全传), the notoriously corrupt historical figure, Qin Hui’s wife, was the Maiden Earth Bat (女土蝠) incarnate: having been killed by the Golden-winged Peng for farting during Buddha’s lecture, she would take revenge on his reincarnation, the heroic general Yue Fei.
About the 28 Lunar Mansions themselves: originally, they are kinda like the Chinese equivalent of the 12 zodiac in western astronomy.
Like, think of the sky as a belt, divided into 4 quadrants, each quadrant containing a giant constellation that represents the Divine Beasts of the Four Directions: Azure Dragon(E), White Tiger(W), Vermillion Bird(S), Black Turtle(N).
Each of these giant constellations can then be broken down into 7 smaller stars/star clusters, corresponding to a section of the sky. They are used to mark the position of the moon during a given month, as well as determine the seasons via the sun’s location in a given mansion.
Black Turtle: 井(Jing)、鬼(Gui)、柳(Liu)、星(Xing)、张(Zhang)、翼(Yi)、轸(Zhen)
However, like many things astronomy, they were later appropriated by astrology and used in divinations, by assigning an element/phase and an animal to each of these stars, making them into the “Beast Stars” (禽星) who can faciliate or obstruct each other, with different implications on your best course of action that day.
Now, look back at the list above. Each vertical column is assigned an element, in this order: Wood, Metal, Earth, Sun, Moon, Fire, Water.
So Star Lord Mao of the White Tiger Quadrant would be the “Sun Rooster Star”, Star Lord Xin of the Azure Dragon Quadrant would be the “Moon Fox Star”, etc.
But wait, there is more! Outside of the Beast Star divination system, traditional Chinese astrology also viewed the starry sky as the Heavenly Emperor’s palace, with each constellation representing an area/building/resident of said palace.
Following that line of thought, people in the Tang dynasty came up with a catchy poetic star catalogue, 步天歌(“Song of the Sky Pacers”), in which the 28 Lunar Mansions are kinda like managers who watch over their own group of stellar officials.
And the big 4 quadrants they are part of? Well, they are like four departments, each with their own general themes.
These themes aren’t absolute; for example, the Azure Dragon Quadrant represents the front gate all the way up to the main palace halls, so they have a lot of stellar officials in charge of chariots, gates and honor guards, but also…grain baskets.
As for the Moonbird of Net, a.k.a. Bi Yuewu the Moon Crow Star: well, ain’t this the damnest coincidence, I actually had an old OC concept based on this very Lunar Mansion!
In traditional Chinese astrology, the Bi star was the god of rain, the “Master Rain”(雨师) to the “Duke Wind”(风伯) of Ji star: it was believed that whenever the moon came near this star, there would be a huge storm.
Since the Grand Compendium of the Three Religions’ Deities stated that “Master Rain” was actually a one-legged divine bird called Shang Yang, who first appeared in 孔子家语 as this little creature who’d dance before every downpour like a goofy weather forecast guy, I drew his Stellar Beast form as a one-legged crow.
(OC-specific stuff below, not mythos canon)
He is very skilled at creating cloud formations, to the point where he got “borrowed” by the Wind and Thunder Bureau more than some of the Water-aligned Lunar Mansions.
After the Havoc, he has also become the new guy in charge of the Peach Garden(one of the constellations falling under Bi’s section of the sky is Tianyuan, the Celestial Garden).
Anyways, traditional Chinese astrology is super fascinating, and I’ve only gone into a tiny fraction of it here. Hope it helps, though!
✏️The Twenty-Eight Mansions 二十八星宿 are part of the Chinese constellations system. They can be considered as the equivalent to the zodiacal constellations in Western astronomy, though the Twenty-eight Mansions reflect the movement of the Moon through a sidereal month rather than the Sun in a tropical year.
Ancient Chinese astronomers divided the sky ecliptic into four regions, collectively known as the Four Symbols, each assigned a mysterious animal. They are Azure Dragon/Qing Long青龍on the east, Black Tortoise /Xuan Wu玄武on the north, White Tiger Bai Hu白虎 on the west, and Vermilion Bird/Zhu Que朱雀 on the south. Each region contains seven mansions, making a total of 28 mansions. These mansions or xiù correspond to the longitudes along the ecliptic that the Moon crosses during its 27.32-day journey around the Earth and serve as a way to track the Moon’s progress. In Taoism they are related to 28 Chinese generals.
㊀Azure Dragon of the East東方青龍🐲
The Azure Dragon 青龍 Qinglong in Chinese, is one of the Dragon Gods who represent the mount or chthonic forces of the Five Regions’ Highest Deities 五方上帝. It is also one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations, which are the astral representations of the Wufang Shangdi. The Azure Dragon represents the east and the spring season.
As with the other three Symbols, there are seven astrological “Mansions” (positions of the Moon) within the Azure Dragon. 角Jiao 亢Kang 氐Di 房Fang 心Xin 尾Wei 箕Ji
㊁Black Tortoise of the North北方玄武 🐢
The Black Tortoise玄武 is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. It is usually depicted as a tortoise entwined together with a snake. It represents the north and the winter season.
As with the other three Symbols, there are seven astrological “Mansions” (positions of the Moon) within the Black Tortoise. 斗Dou 牛Niu 女Nv 虚Xu 危Wei 室Shi 壁Bi
㊂White Tiger of the West西方白虎🐯
The White Tiger白虎 known in Chinese as Baihu, is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. It is sometimes called the White Tiger of the West 西方白虎. It represents the west in terms of direction and the autumn season.
As with the other three Symbols, there are seven astrological “Mansions” (positions of the Moon) within the White Tiger. 奎 Kui 婁Lou 胃Wei 昴Mao 畢Bi 觜Zi 參Shen
㊃Vermilion Bird of the South 南方朱雀 🦜
The Vermilion Bird 朱雀/zhu que is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. According to Wu Xing, the Taoist five elemental system, it represents the Fire element, the direction south, and the season summer correspondingly. Thus it is sometimes called the Vermilion Bird of the South南方朱雀. It is described as a red bird that resembles a pheasant with a five-colored plumage and is perpetually covered in flames. It is often mistaken for the Fenghuang due to similarities in appearance, but the two are different creatures.
As with the other three Symbols, there are seven astrological “Mansions” (positions of the Moon) within the Vermilion Bird. 井Jing 鬼Gui 柳Liu 星Xing 張Zhang 翼Yi 軫Zhen
✏️The traditional Chinese cosmological system is mainly based on the positions, relationships and movements of the sun, the moon, the five major planets in the solar system a
nd the 28 constellations in the sky. It was established more than 2,200 years ago during the Warring States period (330 BC – 221 BC), serving the purpose of observing and monitoring the impact of climate change on agriculture, and reflecting and forecasting the celestial influence on politics and warfares.
In “The Library”, we learn that the Avatarverse keeps track of time using the Chinese Zodiac, so it would be fair to assume that they also use Chinese constellations. Fortunately, the Chinese constellations are pretty well-documented. Here’s a quick overview on the subject:
I was suddenly reminded that there’s a very romantic Chinese myth and festival relating to the stars Vega and Altair, known in Chinese as Zhinü (織女) and Niulang (牛郎).
Zhinü and Niulang are cosmic beings, with Zhinü being a weaver woman and Niulang being a cowherder man. The two were so in love that they neglected their duties: Zhinü stopped weaving cloth for others while Niulang allowed his cows to roam free and cause trouble. As punishment for their irresponsibility, Zhinü‘s father forced the two to live on opposite sides of the Silver River (Milky Way) so they could better focus on their duties. The two may only visit each other on the 7th day of the 7th month of the year, when a bridge magically appears on the river to unite the two lovers (The Deneb Star). This story also got passed on to Japan and Korea as the Tanabata myth and the Chilseok myth.
I think there’s a lot of fanfic potential here. Anyways, pretty much all cultures have astronomy myths, oftentimes of the romantic variety, so you’re bound to find some shimmering symbolism no matter where you look.
I love what’s already here, but I’d like to add on. This isn’t strictly constellations, but you could find this useful.
I’ve talked about this before on another post, but there’s a concept in Chinese culture and astrology called the Four Heavenly Animals/Four Auspicious Beasts. Essentially, there are four symbols, or mythological animals, that appear in the stars. Japan’s adopted this mythology too, but there are some discrepancies when it comes to the elements of each animal.
The animals are: the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West, and the Black Tortoise of the North. There’s plenty of directional, elemental, and color symbolism you could use as well, as each animal is associated with each of those ideas–and is the guardian of each cardinal direction. Additionally, each is associated with seven mansions, or ecliptic positions, of the moon.
Basically, the sky ecliptic is divided into four regions, which represents each of the Heavenly Beasts. There are seven mansions in each division. Thus, there are 28 mansions in total. Each mansion has a name. I’d suggest familiarizing yourself with these concepts via Wikipedia, then using the resources linked at the bottom to look for the details you need.
China, during the imperial period, believed that the universe revolved around the emperor. They believed the ruler was given a divine mandate, so events happening in the sky meant something important was about to happen to the land the emperor oversaw
Chinese thinkers assigned meanings to heavenly events + interpreted the stars
Divided sky into regions and assigned four animals to constellations:
· Black Tortoise, for the north and winter
· Blue Dragon for the east and spring
· Red Bird for the south and summer
· White Tiger for the west and fall
o Believed that a spherical sky surrounded a flat Earth; only at arrival of Western astronomers they started looking at their findings differently
The Dunhuang Star map is one of the first known graphical representations of stars from ancient Chinese astronomy, dated to the Tang Dynasty (618–907). Before this map, much of the star information mentioned in historical Chinese texts had been questioned. The map provides a graphical verification of the star observations, and are part of a series of pictures on one of the Dunhuang manuscripts. The astronomy behind the map is explained in an educational resource posted on the website of the International Dunhuang Project, where much of the research on the map has been done. The Dunhuang Star map is to date the world’s oldest complete preserved star atlas.
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