A new interpretation of Shen Kuo's Ying Biao Yi (Q610715)

The present article contains a scientifically valuable presentation of the critical analysis of the problems raised by the determination of meridian gnomon shadows and their use in astronomy, propounded by the polymath Shen Kuo (or Shen Gua) towards 1072. However, its uselessness is severely limited due to the carelessness of its critical apparatus. In particular, its bibliographical references are not related to the main text and they do not respect the necessary editorial norms. Consequently, it will be difficult to base further research on such a study. For example, the date of edition of the main source on which the article is based has been edited several centuries after Shen Gua, under the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty, not under Shen Gua's Song dynasty. Moreover, concerning the primary sources, no indication of the editions used are given no more than cross-references to chapters and pages numbers. Still worse, what concerns Chinese secondary sources is systematically translated into English, the original Chinese names of journals and of editors being wholly discarded.