Introduction

More solar eclipses are recorded in the history of China than in the annals of any other civilisation. Not only were these events regarded as important astrological omens by the Chinese from an early period, but they also played a major role in the maintenance of the calendar.

Eclipses of the Sun have been systematically observed in China from at least the eighth century BC. The many hundreds of reports which are preserved since then are part of a huge corpus of accounts of celestial phenomena of various kinds (including eclipses of the Moon, lunar and planetary conjunctions, comets, novae and supernovae, meteors, sunspots and the aurora borealis). Most of these events were noted by official astronomers, who were employed by the ruler to keep a regular watch of the sky for ominous happenings. Nearly all of the original reports have long since been lost. Existing records – as found in the standard dynastic histories and other historical compendia – are usually no more than summaries of what may well have been detailed descriptions. These secondary sources are readily accessible in major libraries throughout the world, having been printed and reprinted many times. Block printing was discovered quite early in China (eighth century AD) and as a result older manuscripts have been phased out and are now relatively rare.

During the early centuries of its history, Chinese writing gradually evolved from simple pictograms to an advanced form of ideographic script.