Eclipse theory in the Jing chu li. I. The adoption of lunar velocity (Q2254171)

Calculation techniques of eclipses, solar and lunar, are a fundamental and developed part of Chinese astronomical canons, starting from the reform of Chinese astronomy in 104 BC. However, as the author rightly remarks, their study is difficult and still not well understood by historians of Chinese astronomy and mathematics. The present article begins with a general presentation of the subject and the historical context of official adoption of the Jingchu astronomical canon (pp. 103--108) and a quick survey of methods of eclipse prediction during previous periods (pp. 108--110). Next, eclipse calculations are tackled by closely following Chinese original texts (pp. 110--120), but not always: sometimes, important details -- such as the domain of validity of such and such formula, containing non-explicited possibility of choice between a plus or a minus sign -- are skipped. Hence, it is impossible to redo exactly the corresponding calculations (that is the case of the two formulae p. 117). Then, an extensive glossary of related technical terms is given (32 items, pp. 120--122) and lastly, a list of references, composed of 24 items, is provided. Unfortunately, however, primary and secondary sources are not distinguished, the ones form the other and reference is made only to contemporary publications, without warning. Consequently, some bibliographical items, concerning ancient Chinese sources, are liable to be interpreted as contemporary publications by readers not aware of the sinological context! More fundamentally, a very important and much more detailed publication on the same subject by a Taiwanese researcher, \textit{L. Jinquan}, is omitted. See [``Dunhuang xieben 'Beiwei Taiping zhenjun shiyi nian, shi'er nian liri' zongyan (Research into the Dunhuang manuscript calendars of the eleventh and twelfth years of the True Lord of the Great Peace [450 and 451 AD] of the Northern Wei dynasty)'', Chengda zhongwen xuebao, 37--78 (2008)] -- the connection with the present article comes from the fact that the calendars in question have been calculated with the Jingchu techniques and that the calendar manuscript of the year 451 mentions two lunar eclipses, fully conform with the Jingchu mathematical techniques, explained and analysed with a great wealth of details by Lin Jinquan.