ancient chinese constellations

The Role of Astronomy in Society and CultureProceedings IAU Symposium No. 260, 2009D. Valls-Gabaud & A. Boksenberg, eds.

c© International Astronomical Union 2011doi:10.1017/S174392131100319X

Ancient Chinese constellations

Junjun XuBeijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Room 424, Apartment 20, No. 37 Xueyuan Street, Beijing, Chinaemail: [email protected]

Abstract. China, a country with a long history and a specific culture, has also a long and specificastronomy. Ancient Chinese astronomers observed the stars, named and distributed them intoconstellations in a very specific way, which is quite different from the current one. Around theZodiac, stars are divided into four big regions corresponding with the four orientations, andeach is related to a totem, either the Azure Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, the White Tiger or theMurky Warrior. We present a general pattern of the ancient Chinese constellations, includingthe four totems, their stars and their names.

Keywords. China, constellations, mansions

1. IntroductionThree enclosures, four symbols and twenty-eight mansions characterise the ancient

Chinese constellations. This division of the starry sky began to appear in China beforethe Zhou and Qin dynasties. The three enclosures refer to three areas around the Northcelestial pole: the Purple Forbidden enclosure, the Supreme Palace enclosure and theHeavenly Market enclosure. The four symbols are distributed near the ecliptic Zodiacand the lunar orbit and are represented by four totems: the Azure Dragon of the East,the Vermillion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West and the Black Tortoise ofthe North. Every symbol was divided into seven sections which were know as mansions.There are twenty eight mansions in this system and the Moon goes through approximatelya mansion every day, reflecting the lunar month. The twenty eight mansions† were namedHorn, Dipper, Legs, Well, Neck, Ox, Bond, Ghosts, Root, Girl, Stomach, Willow, Room,Emptiness, Hairy head, Star, Heart, Rooftop, Net, Extended net, Tail, Encampment,Turtle beak, Wings, Winnowing-basket, Wall, Three stars, Chariot, as show in Fig. 1.

2. Tables of star namesThe following tables are a comparison list of star names both in traditional Chinese

characters and in English. They are classified in seven tables according to the threeenclosures and the four animal images which they belong to‡.

3. ImplicationsAncient Chinese astronomy has taken an important role in both the Chinese culture

and the world astronomical culture. Chinese ancestors divided the constellations and de-nominated the stars in a quite different way as the Greeks did. It will be an interesting

† see also http://baike.baidu.com/view/17723.htm?fr=ala0 1 1‡ http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Space/Research/StarName/c research

chinengstarzone b.htm

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108 J. Xu

Figure 1. Ancient Chinese constellations. Artwork by Zuojing Guanxing.



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Ancient Chinese constellations 109

Table 1. The First Enclosure: Purple Forbidden Enclosure

Purple Forbidden Enclosure

Northern pole Left wall Right Wall

Crown prince Left pivot Right pivot Threeexcellencies

Emperor Second premier Second chiefjudge

Prime minister

Son of Concu-bine

First minister First minister Judge fornobility

ImperialConcubine

Second minister Second minister Guard of theSun

Celestial pivot First imperialguard

First imperialguard

Royals

Four Advisors Second Imperialguard

Second imperialguard

Celestial prison

Curved Array Second primeminister

First primeminister

Eunuch

Great Emperorof Heaven

Second premier Celestial GreatOne

Administrativecentre

Celestial Pillar First minister Frist Great one Inner steps

Maids-in-waiting

Second minister Inner kitchen Three topinstructors

Female protocol First imperialguard

Northern dipper Eight kinds ofcrops

Official of royalarchives

Second Imperialguard

Celestial pivot Guest house

Royal secretary Second primeminister

Celestial rotatingjade

Celestialkitchen

Celestial bed Celestial shiningpearl

Celestial flail

Chief judge Celestial balance

Hidden virtue Jadesighting-tube

Six Jia Opener of heat

Interior seats offive emperors

Twinklingbrilliance

Canopy of theemperor

Assistant

CanopySupport Sombre lance



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110 J. Xu

Table 2. The Second Enclosure: Supreme Palace Enclosure

Supreme Palace Enclosure

Seats of thefive emperors

Left wall Right wall

Crown prince First premier Right lawadministrator

Upper step

Retinue First easternminister

First westerngeneral

Middle step

Officer ofhonour

Second easternminister

Secondwesterngeneral

ower step

Five feudalkings

Second easterngeneral

Secondwesternminister

Emperor’sbodyguard

Nine seniorofficers

First easterngeneral

First westernminister

Junior officers

Threeexcellencies

First premier Captain of thebodyguards

ong wall

Official ofimperial guard

Astronomicalobservatory

Imperialguards

Cosmologicaltemple

Three steps Usher of thecourt

work to carry out a comparison between these two systems. Ancient Chinese constella-tions were rooted in a strong belief of harmony among the heaven, the Earth and humanbeings. By studying the stories behind the the names of the stars, one learns ancientChinese astronomy and also Chinese history and philosophy as well.

ReferencesChen, J. 2005, Ancient Chinese Constellations Decoding (Beijing: Qunyan Publisher)Sun, X. & Kistemaker, J. 1997, The Chinese sky during the Han: Constellating Stars and Society

(Leiden: Brill)



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Table 3. The Third Enclosure: Heavenly Market Enclosure

Heavenly Market Enclosure

Emperor’sseat

Left wall Right wall

Astrologer WEI HEZHONG CelestialDiscipline

Eunuch official ZHAO HEJIAN Woman’s bed

Dipper forliquids

JIUHE JIN Coiled thong

Dipper forsolids

Celestial spear ZHENG Sevenexcellencies

Jewel market QI ZHOU

Commoditymarket

WUYUE QIN

Municipaloffice

XU SHU

Official forroyal clan

DONGHAI BA

Official ofReligiousCeremonies

YAN IANG

Patriarchalclan

NANHAI CHU

Textile ruler SONG HAN

Butcher’sshops



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Table 4. Seven Mansions which belong to Azure Dragon

Horn Mansion NeckMansion

RootMansion

RoomMansion

HeartMansion

TailMansion

Winnowing-basket

Mansion

Horn Neck Root Room Heart Tail Winnowingbasket

Flat road Great horn Boats andlake

Lock Group ofsoldiers

Changingroom

Zhongshan

Celestialfarmland

Left lawadministrator

Mattress ofthe emperor

Door bolt Celestialriver

Pestle

Tripod of theZHOU

Leftconductor

Celestiallance

Punishment FUYUE

Recommendingvirtuous man

Executions Twinklingindicator

Eastern door Fish

Celestial gate Trials Celestial milk Western door Tortoise

Judging Gate ofYANG

Celestialspokes

Sun

Arsenal Battlechariots

Retinue

Pillars Chariots andcavalry

Railings Chariot andCavalrygeneral

Southern gate Imperialguards



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Table 5. The Seven Mansions which belong to Vermilion Bird

Well MansionGhosts

MansionWillowMansion

StarMansion

ExtendedNet

Mansion

WingsMansion

ChariotMansion

Well Fourchannels

Ghosts Willow Star Extendednet

Wings Chariot

Battle axe Palace gate Cumulativecorpses

Bannerof wineshop

Celestialpremier

CelestialTemple

DONGOU Leftlinchpin

Official forirrigation

Market forthe soldiers

Beacon fire Celestialcereals

Rightlinchpin

Celestialwine cup

Wildcockerel

Outerkitchen

Xuanyuan Changsha

Five feudalkings

Celestialwolf

Judge toestimatethe age ofanimals

Maids-in-waiting

Greenhill

North river Grandfather Moon Highjudge

MilitaryGate

Accumulatedwater

Son Celestialdog

Masterof Con-

struction

Pile offirewood

Grandson Celestialearth god’s

temple

House forMusicalInstru-ments

Water level Old man

South river Bow andarrow



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114 J. Xu

Table 6. The Seven Mansions of the White Tiger

LegsMansion

BondMansion

StomachMansion

HairyHead

Mansion

Net MansionTurtleBeak

Mansion

Three StarsMansion

Legs Bond Stomach Hairy head Net Celestialgate

Turtlebeak

Three stars

Wangliang Greatgeneral of

theheaven

Mausoleum Celestialriver

Whisper Celestialtally

Deity incharge ofmonsters

Punishment

Whip Official incharge of

forest

Heaps ofcorpses

QI Celestialstreet

Interpretersof ninedialects

Seat flags Jade well

Auxiliaryroad

Official incharge ofpasturing

Celestialboat

Rolledtongue

Celestialhigh

terrace

Banner ofthree stars

Axe

Southernmilitary

gate

Squarecelestialgranary

Storedwater

Celestialslander

Feudalkings

Imperialmilitary

flag

Militarywell

Flyingcorridor

Ricks ofgrain

Celestialfoodstuffs

Whetstone Fivechariots

Celestialorchard

Screen

Outerfence

Circularcelestialgranary

CelestialYIN force

Pillars Toilet

Celestialpigsty

Hay Pool ofharmony

Excrement

Master ofconstruc-

tions

Celestialmeadows

Celestialpier



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Table 7. The Seven Mansions of the Murky Warrior

DipperMansion

OxMansion

Girl MansionEmptinessMansion

RooftopMansion

EncampmentMansion

WallMansion

Dipper Ox Girl ZHAO Emptiness Rooftop Encampment Wall

Celestialkeyhole

Celestialdrumstick

Pearls onladies’wear

YUE Deifiedjudge of

life

Tomb Restingpalace

Celestialstable

Market officer Drum atthe river

Rottengourd

Rightconductor

Deifiedjudge of

rank

Roofing Flyingserpent

Official forearthworks

andbuildings

Establishment Left flag Goodgourd

ZHENG Deifiedjudge ofdisaster

and goodfortune

Temple Thunder andlightning

Thunderbolt

Celestial cock Right flag Celestialford

WEI Deifiedjudge ofright and

wrong

Celestialmoney

Official formaterialssupply

Cloud andrain

Dog Weavinggirl

XIZHONG HAN Crying Humans The line oframparts

Sickle

Territory ofdogs

Clepsydraterrace

Basket formulberry

leaves

JIN Weeping Pestle Palace guard

Celestialspring

Imperialpassageway

Twelvecountries

YAN Jadeornamenton ladies’

wear

Mortar Materials forMakingTents

Peasant Networks ofdykes

ZHOU Celestialramparts

Big yardfor

chariots

North gate ofthe military

camp

River turtle Celestialfarmland

QIN DecayedMortar

ZAOFU Chaff

Nine waterwells

DAI Celestialhook

Net forcatching

birds



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ancient chinese constellations

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