Title

Selection of Auspicious Dates and “Calendar Lawsuit” in the K’ang-hsi Reign Period 

Author

Yi-long Huang 

Genre

Article  

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Abstract

The anti-christian movements of Yang Kuang-hsien (1597-1669) in the K’ang-his reign period deeply influenced the scientific and cultural exchanges between China and the West in the Ch’ing dynasty. Most previous studies about these movements were focused on the calendar controversies among Yang Kuang-hsien and the Jesuits. This paper, however, indicates that choosing the funeral date for the fourth son, Jung, of the emperor Shun-chih played the most critical role in this lawsuit. Two different traditions for selecting auspicious dates in hemerology were used by two 

groups of people, led by Yang and Schall respectively, as tools to gain control of the Imperial Astronomical bureau. As a result, the hemerological dispute, which had been a long-standing disagreement between civil astrologers, was brought further to the notice of royal astronomers. Undoubtedly, this event is one of the most significant ones that were profoundly affected by the astrology in ancient China.