An Analysis On Cosmologies In Han,Wei And Jin Dynasties:Examing Their Origins And Transmissions In A Wider Background Of Communications Between China And The West

The origins of both sailing technologies and cosmologies in China,Gaitianshuo（盖天说）in Zhoubi（周髀）and Zhangheng（张衡）’s Huntianshuo（浑天说）in particular,have long been puzzling.They appeared quite late and sudden in the development of ancient China,being hardly able to reasonably claim any local predecessors,whose conterparts in the ancient West,particularly ancient Greece and the Near East,on the contrary,had already ownd a much longer and more tracable history when they came into being.Given the circumstances that from the time of Alexander the Great to Zhangqian（张骞）and later,China and the West had more chance to communicate with each other than ever,both personally and materially,the possibility that the origins of both sailing and cosmologies in Han,Wei and Jin dynasties were resulted from stimulations from the West,directly or indirectly,should be carefully considered.In the Introduction to this treatise,first of all,the scopes of ancient China and the ancient West are clearly defined,so that they would not turn out to be some temporal convention,but have characteristic political and cultural borders.Then the mothodology of historical writing used here is clarified.There have been various discussions on the origin of sails in ancient China,all taking its independence for granted.However this bold assumption has not yet been proved in any way.In Chapter One,by checking history records about contacts between foreign ships and China in Han Dynasty and comparing which with ambiguous descriptions on sails in Late Han and Early Wei,meanwhile analyzing the gap between scale of people and goods exchange and capability of ship-building of China in Han Dynasty,a new theory is proposed which argues that the emergence of sales in Late Han and Early Wei may probably be a result of foreign influence.The communications between China and the West in Han Dynasty might go well beyond traditional image and this history needs to be reexamined.Traces of sea boat coming from abroad began to be found frequently during Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms period.Continuing what was discussed in this chapter,studies on the origination of sails and relevant theories are reviewed,then cross region comparative investigations are carried out based mainly on first hand historical records both Western and of China.Thus,a general picture is drawn for the sailing and sea boat technologies’First Wave of spreading gradually eastward,from Mediterranean to India,then to coastal China,between 2^nd century B.C.and 2ⁿdd century A.D.Why this Wave aroused in China only the birth of sailing boat instead of prosper for sea boats is also explained,with the influence of Sailing Revolution on politics and sciences discussed.Finally,celestial navigation methods used by ancient Greek and Phoenician seamen,and astronomical achievements of navigator are analysed,together with what kind of cosmological ideas they may carry and spread.Though as milestones for the achievements of ancient West sciences,science works in classical time like Almagest have drawn wide attention,era information within can be further drilled.In 1-2 centuries CE Greek sciences more or less revived,yet not to the extent of the widespread prosperity in 3-2 centuries BCE.In Chapter Two,by comparing works of these two periods,changes in academic environment could be revealed so as to depict social background for the decline of ancient Mediterranean sciences.It was just when the West sciences climbed over peak and went downhill,that cosmologies boomed in ancient China.Northern celestial pole,being crucial in ancient Chinese view about the universe and its unique equatorial coordinate system,was not seperated with pole star in writings by astronomers in Han and Wei Dynasties.In Chapter Three,after analysing and identifying how words like beichen（北辰）,jixing（极星）were used in literatures before Tang Dynasty,it is clear that they referred mostly to a group of stars near northern pole,so what’s said in Lunyu（论语）beichen stays where it is around which other stars revolve doesn’t mean that the pole star lays exactly on northern pole and Lüshi Chunqiu（吕氏春秋）can’t prove the two have been distinguished during late Warring States Period;before time of Zugeng（祖暅）only Zhoubi Suanjing（周髀算经）had such differentiation and orthodox view maintained that pole star is on northern pole.However,results from skymap simulation favors that Huntian（浑天）theorist in Later Han Dynasty actually measured obliquity of ecliptic using armillery sphere（浑仪）or at least meridian circle;the distances from the sun to the pole was averagely 0.7°smaller in Later Han Sifen Calendar（四分历）,indicating that they were measured relative to a point higher than northern pole.Contrast between literature traditon and observing method can be understood with cautiousness due to political tension,and the 36 degrees of northern pole altitude was quite probably a misunderstanding combining celestial globe with obliquity defauted to latitude of Rhode Island and traditional Chinese view of the flat earth.Furthermore,in Chapter Four,by collating and contrasting tradition of fixed height for northern celestial pole systematically in both ancient China and Greece,it is discovered that the former seems simple yet incomprehensible while the latter,though complicatedly evolved,can be traced clearly with reason.It was just in later300 years period in which the tradition was firmly established in Greece,that the parameter suddenly appeared in Chinese astronomy as an unchangeable basic character of newly created theory of huntianshuo（浑天说）,unlike its counterpart in Greece,totally without any traceable origin and development.As to this challenge among other doubts,the requirement of avoiding ad hoc assumptions make theory of Introduction from Outside a more convincing construction than Locally Origination.Chapter Five examines the universal structures of Gaitianshuo（盖天说）in Zhoubi（周髀）and Zhangheng（张衡）’s Huntianshuo（浑天说）as a whole,discovering that some features of them have not been adequately emphasized,mainly circular earth floated above water,ocean around the whole earth,ocean outside the heaven,heaven revolting through water,among others.In China,they,except several in Warring States Period,all appeared first in Han Dynasties.If,however,observed in a broader view,their counterparts had all existed in earlier Western cosmologies,and when tracing back from Homer to the Near East myths,more complete accordance is revealed,while no roots can be found in China.The route of Panbabylonism seems more reasonable among theories trying to explain the origin of these revolutionary changes.In Chapter Six,3 kinds of Gaitianshuo Style（盖天式）cosmological models as described in ancient Greece,India and Zhoubi Suanjing（周髀算经）are compared,latitudes’information contained analysed,and probable connections of their mutul origin with migrations of ancient peopels are discussed,combined with historical-comparative linguistics and archaeology.The final Chapter Seven gives lists of prooves concerning the theroes for the originations of sailing technologies,Huntianshuo and Gaitianshuo,with remarks on advantages and disavantages,as a easy-to-read conclusion.