Li Chunfeng

Li Chunfeng (Traditional Chinese: 李淳風; Simplified Chinese: 李淳风; Hanyu Pinyin: Lǐ Chúnfèng; Wade-Giles: Li Ch'unfeng, 602–670) was one of major Feng shui scholars in Tang Dynasty, China, a mathematician, astronomer, and historian who was born in today's Baoji, Shaanxi during the Sui and Tang dynasties. He was first appointed to the Imperial Astronomy Bureau to help institute a calendar reform. He eventually ascended to deputy of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau and designed the Linde calendar. His father was an educated state official and also a Taoist. Li died in Chang'an in 670.

Background

The Sui Dynasty was integral for uniting China, so it was a good time for learning. But when Li was sixteen the Sui Dynasty fell, and the Tang Dynasty rose. Nevertheless, the Tang did not harm the conditions for education. Indeed, it rather strengthened it. The Imperial Academy's math teaching was formalized. He was appointed as an advanced court astronomer and historian, he then was promoted to deputy of the Imperial Astronomy Bureau in 627.

Astronomy or calender making was a very important job because of the Chinese belief that political governance is spiritually controlled and morally justified by the Mandate of Heaven. If a ruler become against or in discordance with the Mandate of Heaven, the ruler is no longer have spiritual support from and moral justification by Heaven. Spiritual principle of Heaven is tied with celestial constellation which astronomers can read. Astronomers had to have both scientific knowledge and hermeneutic skills to interpret movements of stars and link them to events in social life which included from affairs of daily life to historical events.

Emperors determined when and how they should conduct major events by calender in consultation with court astronomers. Those astronomers are not only scientists but also prophets, spiritual consultants, fortune tellers, and political advisers. The calender included various components that called for astronomers interpretations. If one altered the calendar, that person would have some control over politics including the emperor.

Together with geography, astronomy is one of two major constitutive components of Feng shui which is rooted in ancient theories of Yang Yin, I Ching, Qi, and others. Li Chungfeng was one of major feng sui scholars in Tang Dynasty. During Tang Dynasty, Feng Sui reached its maturity. The theory was widely applied all kinds of social life, particularly to the Imperial Examination through which general public had a chance to become a bureaucrat. Passing the examination was a path of social success in Chinese feudalistic society and Feng Sui was used to find "fortune" of passing the exam and climb up the bureaucratic hierarchy. Some of the popular beliefs for the reason of success are: good style of tomb leads to spiritual supports from ancestors, which leads to passing the exam; good forms of life (good flow of Qi engergy) can bring a fortune of literary success that lead to the passing of exam then to a social success.

Linde calendar

Armillary sphere diagram

The Wuyin calendar, a calender used at his time, was inaccurate and could not accurately predict eclipses. Li was selected to reform the calender.

In 665, Li introduced a reform calendar. It was called the Linde calendar. It improved the prediction of planets' positions and included an “intercalary month.” That is similar to the idea of a leap day. It would catch up a lunar year to a solar year because twelve lunar months are 1.3906 days short of one solar year. It was added every three years. The Linde calendar is the most prominent accomplishment of Li.

Li wrote a document complaining about the use of outdated equipment in the Imperial Astronomy Bureau, so he was commanded to construct a new armillary sphere. An "armillary sphere" (variations are known as "spherical astrolabe," "armilla," or "armil") is a model of the celestial sphere.

Throughout Chinese history, astronomers have created celestial globes (Simplified Chinese: 浑象) to assist the observation of the stars. The Chinese also used the armillary sphere in aiding calendrical computations and calculations. Chinese ideas of astronomy and astronomical instruments became known in Korea as well, where further advancements were also made.

Li Chunfeng created one in 633 C.E. with three spherical layers to calibrate multiple aspects of astronomical observations, calling them 'nests' (chhung). He was also responsible for proposing a plan of having a sighting tube mounted ecliptically in order for the better observation of celestial latitudes. However, it was Yi Xing (see below) in the next century who would accomplish this addition to the model of the armillary sphere. Ecliptical mountings of this sort were found on the armillary instruments of Zhou Cong and Shu Yijian in 1050 C.E., as well as Shen Kuo's armillary sphere of the later 11th century, but after that point they were no longer employed on Chinese armillary instruments until the arrival of the European Jesuits.

Mathematics

Li added corrections to certain mathematical works. Examples of this are in Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art by Liu Hui. He demonstrated that the least common multiple of the numbers two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve was 27720, the answer was flawed in the original text. Yet another instance of this was in Zu Geng's work about the area of a sphere. Li gave 22/7 (3.1428571428571428571428571428571) instead of three as a better approximation of what we know now as pi. He began each annotation with the words “Your servant, Chunfeng, and his collaborators comment respectfully on…”

Although Li also wrote some mathematical works of his own, little is know about them. With Liang Shu and Wang Zhenru, he also wrote Shibu Suanjing (十部算经) in 656. These were ten mathematical manuals submitted to the emperor.

Literary works

Li wrote about the discoveries in astrology, metrology, and music to the Book of Sui and Book of Jin. The Book of Sui (Traditional Chinese: 隋書; Simplified Chinese: 隋书; pinyin: Suīshū) was the official history of the Chinese dynasty Sui Dynasty, and it ranks among the official Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was compiled by a team of historians led by the Tang Dynasty official Wei Zheng and was completed in 636. The Book of Jin (Chinese: 晉書) is one of the official Chinese historical works. It covers the history of Jin Dynasty from 265 to 420, which written by a number of officials commissioned by the court of Tang Dynasty, with the lead editor being the Prime Minister Fang Xuanling, drawing mostly from the official documents left from the earlier archives. A few of the essays in the biographical volume 1, 3, 54 and 80th were composed by Emperor Taizong of Tang himself. Its contents, however, included not only history of Jin but also the history of the Sixteen Kingdoms which were contemporaneous with the Eastern Jin. The book was compiled in 648.

The book Massage-Chart Prophecies is generally credited to Li. The book is a collaboration of attempts to predict the future using numerology. Therefore, Li is often thought of as being a prophet. The book gets it title from a poem near the end, discussing how much time it would take to tell the story of thousands of years, it would be better to take a break and enjoy a massage. Li wrote a book discussing the importance of astrology in Chinese culture called Yisizhan in 645. This is around when he would have been working on the Linde calendar.

He also wrote Commentary on and Introduction to the Gold Lock and the Flowing Pearls. In this book he describes Taoist customs that was probably part of influence from his father.

References

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This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

• Zhuang, Tianshan, "Li Chunfeng". Encyclopedia of China (Astronomy Edition), 1st ed.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Needham, Joseph. Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3. Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986.

External links

• Li Chunfeng biography—The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
• Liu Hui and Zu Gengzhi on the volume of a sphere
• Starry Messenger
• Instructions for constructing an armillary sphere
• AstroMedia* Verlag in Germany offers a cardboard construction kit for an armillary sphere ("Das Kleine Tischplanetarium")

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